The day any student joins a management college, the very first target is grabbing the best internship opportunity at a great company. Though I was sure about MBA, I was not very clear in my mind about what exactly I wanted to pursue. Through interaction with seniors, I got to know how summer internship helps us explore new fields and gives us perspective on what exactly we want to go ahead in our life.
I did my fair bit of research on all companies visiting XIMB, one thing I was in awe at was, the way every HSBC intern took the name of the company with all pride. This showed how in just 2 months the company made them feel, as they are an integral of it. And I was lucky enough to get selected as an intern in this reputed company.
The onboarding process was very easy and hassle-free, the HR made all efforts that we are aware of the projects assigned to us, and also we know our mentors well before that joining. This made the whole journey very easy. Internship started with a grand orientation program in The Taj Mumbai, the very beginning of the journey showed how the company valued us, and they don’t want to compromise on quality at any point. After the two days of the induction program, I joined my office at HSBC Mumbai. In the first 1 week, my guide ensured that I spend time in knowing all the executives and their perspective on how HSBC operates in India. He made me feel comfortable in the work environment, and also made me feel that how important is my work for the company. This particular step of his gave me the adrenaline rush and made me feel responsible towards my work. Both HR and my guide conducted time to time reviews and also they followed an open door policy, so that helped me a lot in understanding the new environment in a much better way and also in a fast pace. In HSBC they also conducted career cafes, where we could directly interact with top executives of HSBC India, and learn from their experiences and open up about our expectations.
As my project involved making strategy, which means analyzing competitors steps in the Indian market, evaluating our present strategy and then coming up with a new business model. So, it was more of a secondary research which made the project even more challenging. Though I was not able to interact with other banks because of competitiveness and also of non-disclosure policies followed, but still, I had a chance to interact with CEO of Moneyfront, VP marketing of Aditya sun life Insurance and also with relationship managers of both HSBC and Citi. On one hand, I got a more holistic view of making a strategy i.e., how every department operation should be kept in mind, let it me marketing, operations, finance or HR, on the other I got ideas regarding how the customer should be kept in mind before taking any decision.
After a lot of analysis and N number of reviews, I finally presented my ideas to the panel consisting of HR and chief networking officer (CNO) of HSBC India, and his way of understanding every bit of it and appreciating my work felt me elated and much more confident. The 2 months of hard work paid off when the CNO of the company actually thought the effort worthwhile and implementable. And finally, the internship ended with equal pomp and show as it was started with.
The whole journey was obviously not a cake walk, but as it is known, good results come out of genuine efforts, or at least I felt so. The summer internship is a great opportunity to expose to new ideas and experiences. It teaches us fittest of the fit in a true sense, when amongst all the interns from around the country, one has to prove its worth that shows us our true calibre, and makes us see our future in a much brighter way. I am proud to be associated with a company like HSBC India which not only helped me apply my knowledge and gain new experiences but also made me confident about my approach and ideas.
Sushree Acharya
Class of 2019