In this article, Shreya Gupta ,a student of SIBM Pune who interned at ITC Ltd in the Human Resources domain, talks about her summer internship experience. Find out about how she prepared for the summer placements, her onboarding process, her experiences & what her learnings are during this internship.
Hi, Tell us about how you got selected for this internship? Take us through the moment you realized you had got the internship.
It was a pretty normal night until I realised that ITC is coming to our college the next day and that I had to give my best for my dream company. I went through a series of really challenging and comprehensive processes including a Case discussion round and 2 interview rounds which lasted for around 1.5 hrs and 45mins respectively. We were made to wait till the whole process got over and after a long wait of 5 hours, I realised that this is it after I was informed by the placement team that I was placed. I had made it to one of my dream companies.
On joining the company as an intern, how has your onboarding experience been like?
The onboarding experience has been amazing. We've had a lot of interactive sessions with the senior leadership, a 4-day induction process and ice breaker activities to make us feel comfortable, a lot of goodies for the starters and so many helpful people in the company to guide me throughout my journey.
How has your interaction with the team members and colleagues been like? How will you make sure to leave the best impression on your supervisors by the end of the internship?
I'm undergoing an offline internship and hence my experience with the team members and colleagues has been very resourceful. They are always there to help me. They take out time from their schedule and try to help me to the best of their abilities. I am really having a great learning experience in terms of the practical exposure that I am getting.
To leave a great impression on the supervisor, the best way is to meet their expectations and complete the deliverables in time. I'll try to be an asset to the company and my supervisor and accomplish my tasks with all my abilities.
Tell us in brief, about the project you are currently working on and how is this project going to help the company?
I've been working on multiskilling and finding avenues for optimising manpower in the factory. The project aims to study these areas for the managerial staff and hence that's what makes the project more challenging with every manager having a plethora of defined skillsets and responsibilities. If I complete the project successfully, it will help the company in saving a lot of costs and utilise their resources optimally in terms of cost-effectiveness and productivity.
Give us an overview of how you prepared for your summer placement season.
One of the most important things for summer internships is to build confidence. Companies and recruiters look for confidence. Hence, I used to give mock interviews with my seniors, my mentors, and my friends. Few of us in the batch created some group discussion and case discussion Whatsapp groups, I joined the same and ensured that I get the required amount of practice and get comfortable with the same set of people I'm going to face in summer internship selection rounds. Again, our seniors and college councils ensured that we had the best practice materials and sessions before summer internships and hence many mock summer internship interviews and group discussion practice sessions were organised with the alums and some of the seniors who performed well in their internships. Also, one of the important aspect of summer internship recruitments are your ability to be up to date with the current affairs and your domain knowledge. For the same, I used to browse different sites and read newsletters for the same.
Based on your internship experience till now, what are some necessary skill sets one must be prepared with before starting an internship?
Some of the necessary skills that one must know is excel and PowerPoint. One must also have a good knowledge of the frameworks in their domain so that they can be applied to practical situations when the time comes. One can also look for learning analytical tools that will surely help them succeed in their way through data and number crunching. Excel and PowerPoint are the two most used tools while in internships, so one must be really acquainted with these.
What are some new skills that you have developed while working in the company?
During the period of two months, I have developed a lot of analytical skills and new ways to approach a problem through analysis and tools like Tableau, Excel pivot, etc. I have also learnt the basics of SAP so to better understand the nuances of the company and project.
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For the Class Of 2022, we are back with the 8th season of InsideIIM's Best 50 - India's Most Employable MBA Graduates - Class Of 2022! If you're graduating from a B-School in 2022, you're eligible to take part in this competition! Grab the chance to bring out your best side and impress your recruiters and peers. Take the opportunity to show the world why you are special, on your own terms.
If you're using a web browser (Mozilla or Google Chrome), then you can take part through this link. Otherwise, please download the Kampus App (Android | iOS), and head over to Competitions.