I believe a good internship is indispensable for your CV. Nowadays it goes without saying that employers seek out people who have relevant work experience for the job to which they’re applying. Prior to B-School, I had worked in an engineering consultancy. Going back to the same type of role could have been easier, but it could have prevented me from taking the once in a lifetime opportunity of stepping out of my comfort zone and exploring new avenues.
With this thought, I started to look for internship programs that would give me a platform for leveraging my past experience while enabling me to work in a new & unfamiliar environment for a more holistic learning experience. In my case, I think that having secured and successfully completed this internship with Ascent Health & Wellness Solutions Pvt. Ltd. has made me more acquainted with working in a professional Corporate environment, as my earlier job as a Civil Engineer required me to stay at project sites predominantly.
My project was to develop B2B strategic partnership with multiple brands. My daily role involves working on the job to which I have been assigned in any particular week. This could entail preparing a business strategy for a prospective partner or virtual meeting with the people from the top management of partner brands. Sometimes my mentor would work with me on the same assignment, whilst other times I would be working on the job on my own, in which case my co-workers would be happy to lend a hand if I was stuck on any particular task. The best part is that my mentors and team members were all ears to my suggestions. Even though I was an intern, my ideas were always welcomed and I have actually been able to execute them in such a short duration of time.
I have also organized several partner meetings, which have contributed in key decision making for the deals to reach closure. Since it was the company’s very first structured summer internship program, I held multiple interactions with the HR to develop a standard operating procedure (SOP) and recommend ways to improve the experience of future interns. I employed my knowledge of contract management to draft out a standard agreement for partner brands who would like to list themselves on AHWSPL’s online platform and mobile app. I also lead interactions on part of my team with other businesses in AHWSPL and some external agencies, which is a huge opportunity for an intern.
Overall, my experience with AHWSPL was exactly as one would expect from any start-up as the responsibility and flexibility I got on my project was outstanding. Another Specialty is that when you're in a startup firm, you can switch and integrate several business verticals while executing projects, like operations, HR, finance and marketing, which helps in achieving the business goals in a more streamlined and structured manner.
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