I’m a 2017-19 batch PGP student of IIM Shillong. In the summer of 2018, I interned with Wipro in the Pre Sales Team.
The Wipro process had a GD and an interview. I was well prepared on the vision, mission, and verticals of the company. I went through their website thoroughly. The GD topic was about AI and its effect on jobs. Just a few days before the process, I had attended sessions of Kaleidoscope, the HR Conclave of IIM Shillong. Over there, a speaker had enunciated on the same exact topic. The benefit of paying attention was that I had many talking points in the GD. The interview was a smooth process with questions from the HR and tech perspectives.
After bagging the internship, I was assigned the Healthcare division and my location was Kochi. However, due to extenuating circumstances, my location was shifted to Bangalore at the last minute. A piece of advice would be to be prepared for any situation and be flexible. I had to cancel my PG booking in Kochi and be ready to travel to Bangalore.
The internship in Wipro began with a 2-day orientation. The internship was titled WiSE (Wipro Summer Internship Experience) 2018 Program. The first day focused on registration, company structure & culture, our roles & responsibilities, and the timeline for our internships. Day 2 was about collaboration exercises and how to perform in teams. Then I met my manager and was briefed on my project and deliverables.
The first part of the internship went in identifying innovative marketing campaigns of Healthcare companies across the world. This time also went in getting used to the Corporate life (I have no pre-MBA work experience) and the culture of Wipro. This period was an intense learning experience for me. Some of the marketing campaigns I had read about it were very interesting and I was able to get deep insights.
The second part of the internship was about preparing client pitching decks and templates to be used by Sales and Pre Sales teams in client meetings. I had to creatively use the Wipro templates and make modifications to make the PPT files stand out. This phase of the internship involved editing information so that confidential data and client information are kept out of the PPT files. I had to meet several stakeholders, such as Project Managers, Developers, and Architects. Networking is often an underrated aspect of an internship. The networking I was able to do during my internship was a big asset in completing my project.
All the interns had to undergo a mid-review. In my mid-review, I presented my work until then and next steps. I was then given feedback and additional work to do in the next weeks. One thing to note is that my manager in Bangalore was more of a facilitator. The project was assigned by my manager’s manager, he is based out of the US. This meant massive time zone differences. Our calls were usually after 6 p.m, even sometimes happening at 11 p.m. A tip for everyone reading this is that you need to be involved with work at all times.
The third and last aspect of my Wipro internship was designing a B2B Marketing Campaign for the firm in healthcare space. In my first year of MBA, I had learnt B2C marketing but not B2B. I had to learn all about B2B Marketing and then apply it for Wipro. I had only about 2 weeks to execute this. This was a memorable and challenging time.
The client pitching decks I prepared are being put to good use by the company. And they are in the process of implementing the recommendations of my B2B Marketing Campaign.
The WiSE journey concluded with a final review with the senior leadership of Wipro and submission of the internship report. It was an eventful journey filled with learning and experiencing new things.