It was a warm September noon, precisely 19th of the month at 4:52 PM, when I woke up from my power nap to a continuous ring from the phone’s notifications. I woke up a little annoyed, and checked my phone, only to be taken aback! I had been selected for Deloitte’s Summer Internship. Now, this was something I was not expecting at all and that’s why despite all the nervousness, I rushed back to my hostel room right after my personal interview to sleep and wake up from the dream.
When I woke up from quick nap, the first thought that came to my mind was why was I even being selected? My academic and professional background was inclined to commerce stream with two years of work experience at the tax department of a shipping firm. But the role of the summer intern at Deloitte was of “Tech Consultant” in the SAP domain. Both, the role and my background were contrasting and that’s why this selection came as a pleasant surprise, not short of a fairy tale.
After convincing myself that this indeed happened, I quickly rushed to the main building to find other three selected candidates standing in front of the interviewer’s room. From there we were called for a quick interaction, which is still one of the most thrilling memories for me because the opening lines went like, “Welcome to Deloitte(W2D) and be prepared for the 2 amazing months of your summer 2018!!” Like earnest students we went through all the briefing about the internship, which ended with them warning us, ‘the internship would be anything but a vacation’. Now while I thought to myself that it was a clever way to scare the freshers, but little did I expect that within just 7 days of my internship, those word’s couldn’t feel any more real!
So finally the day came, it was the 2nd of April when I stepped into the Deloitte USI office in Gurgaon with both excitement and nervousness bubbling within- I was excited because I was finally at the place any Finance MBA graduate would want to land up in and nervous because I didn’t know what kind work would I be assigned and if I would be able to deliver it to my best potential.
Even before the internship began we were handed over our work laptops & ID cards which spoke of how valuable the internship process was for the organization. The first day began with induction session “W2D” which was like a gateway to the Deloitte’s culture and organization work environment and made me realize how fortunate I was to be interning with the Big 4!
The very next day I was given my project and was introduced to my mentor & coach and was also given my agenda for the first week, which proves how structured the internship was at Deloitte!
Soon, after the 3rd week, I had my mid-review wherein the Managing Director himself was present to hear our project’s proposals and to guide us on how to go about for the rest of the internship. Personally, the mid-point check-in was like an eye opener to me as it helped me to streamline my project to a well-structured business case.
During the rest of my time at Deloitte, I got to interact with the top leadership and discuss the scope of my business case and run through with them, how I was preparing for my final review. Discussion on the aspects of cost of my project with one of the senior manager was the most interesting interaction I had, as he made me look at the costing calculation from a different perspective and it helped me learn something new. I believe that was one piece of advice that will always be at the back of my mind whenever I would be doing costing in future.
The role of my Mentor & Coach was most crucial and supportive throughout my internship experience! I don’t think I could have managed to present my final deck with so much confidence if it hadn’t been for my mentor’s constant support and feedback that he used to give during the mock presentations which we had daily all across the week of final presentation.
I gave my final presentation to the leadership and other managers on 23rd of May. While the presentation went well, the Q&A session was very intense as the managers were keenly involved in knowing more about a solution to my business case. It finally ended on a good note.
If asked to describe my internship experience in one sentence, it surely would be “Challenging yet interesting” as it was something I had no prior experience in, but still waded through in two months’ time. Many people helped me learn all that I did, and they were always ready to help and contribute to my growth in every way possible. I am lucky to have gotten this opportunity in an organization like Deloitte which has a great culture and professional work environment and that’s the reason I was able to make my SUMMERS MATTER!
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About the Author:
Nishi Saxena
"Second-year student pursuing MBA at Institute for Financial Management & Research (IFMR)."