Background
I am a currently a 2nd year student of MBA Infrastructure Development and Management (IDM), a niche course offered by one of the top ranked institute of India, Symbiosis Centre for Management and Human Research Development (SCMHRD). This program is a blend of technical and commercial knowledge, which has both the core management technique and infrastructure conceptualization and knowledge. Before joining SCMHRD I was working at a my family business in real estate sector. But I always dreamt of pursuing an MBA from a top notch institute, I wasn’t able to clear the round in the first attempt, I tried second time and this time I got admission at SCMHRD. I did my summer internship with RITES ltd. Rites is promoted by ministry of railways and for me it was a honour to work with RITES.
Interview preparation
One of the most exciting phase for any B-school student is the phase of summer placement. When the HRs of big corporate house are all set to test the managerial skills, when they drill you on your past. This is the best learning experience for a student like me. Looking at RITES’s domain of work, it was perfect for a civil engineer like me. I was expecting question in an interview from technical aspect as well as from the managerial aspect. I brush up my technical knowledge by looking into the past projects in my undergraduate and made myself clear about my role, when I was working in a family business. More important for me was to show them that I have the capability to use both the technical and managerial skills at same time and for that I also studied the practical application of every concept which I was thought in the first two semester of MBA.
Interview
And then comes the D-DAY, the day on which company came to campus for selection. I was ready to reach campus well before the stipulated time. The last thing I wore was the SELF-CONFIDENCE, which is very much necessary for any kind of interview. Being a child who has a well-established family business, this summer internship phase was very exciting as I never gave interview before this. I enter the room where the panellist were taking the interview and greeted them with a smile. As to my expectation after the regular question of introduction they started to drill me on my technical knowledge with variety of questions, I gave answer to almost all the technical question. They also test my managerial and aptitude skill by asking a general questions on India’s condition in infrastructure industry and where should India concentrate more on infrastructure front. I gave answer to their question while keeping confidence in my voice, I politely denied the question whose answer I didn’t knew. They didn’t declare the result on same day, declared it two days later. When I came to know that I am selected by RITES for a summer internship, I was very happy, felt like it is a perfect company for me where I can enhance by technical as well as managerial skills.
Internship experience
I was very excited to go to delhi and work at the RITES bhawan. I never got a corporate exposure and my dream of exposing myself to corporate was going to be true. But destiny didn’t want my dream to come true and there was a national lockdown announce due to covid-19. All my excitement became null and void on knowing that I would not be working at RITES bhawan. Our internship got delay and when it started it was a virtual internship. I was given two project, the first project for me was to set a benchmark for modalities of operation for private trains in India by studying the modalities of other developed country globally. I studied the modalities of Argentina, brazil, Australia, New-Zealand, UK etc. I compare it with the Indian context and made a presentation as to what are the best practices adopted by some of the developed countries in world and how it can be fabricated for Indian context.
The second project was preparing a financial model for a big-ticket airport project and determine the share that can be given to airport authority of India per passenger after determining the pre decided project and equity IRR. For this project I studied AERA guidelines for determining the tariff that can be charged on aeronautical and non-aeronautical activities an also studied the cash flow statement of airport with similar capacities. The overall experience was enriching and will be a important curve in the journey of MBA as I got to learned about the contract management and financial management.
Learning from first year of MBA that aided in the internship.
Contract management and project finance are the core subject in first 2 semesters which were taught by the eminent personalities having vast experience in the industry. The knowledge from the contract management subject was useful in my first project as to how a clause can be designed that can facilitate both the parties and also follows the international standards. The project finance subject was a whole case study approach where we were made to prepare the financial model of the case with various varieties. Both this subject help me in delivering the objectives of my project with utmost accuracy.
Tip for the junior batch
To get hired for an internship in the company of your interest, it is very important that have a total grip on your interested subject and also have a thorough understanding of your subject domain. Always be curious to grasp knowledge, especially something that will inch you closer to your dream company. On D-Day show confidence to panellist answer them politely and in case you don’t get select for your dream company, don’t be sad, the personality so developed in a B-school will always be the biggest asset for you. All the best.