What is your destination in life? The meaning, the very purpose of your life? The Endgame? This question has troubled so many of us, for such a long time. Many of us actually learn the answer at a very nascent stage of life and others like me, well, we struggle to find our spot. After joining SRM University as a computer science major, I thought I had found my calling. And I did, at least for a couple of months.
But, as time went by I slowly realized coding programs for the rest of my life was not something I imagined doing. As you might have guessed by now, I am always interested in the Endgame. So I thought why not go to a different level, and instead of creating tools, understand the impact of them on the business as a whole. Why not do an MBA?
Now people come to a B-School with high hopes of finally finding their calling in life, but I was cautious. Because been there, done that. But the first few weeks at MDI changed my life. I saw academic rigour which I had never seen before. I saw levels of intellect which I could not fathom. The feeling was overwhelming. Another thing about B-school, things don’t stop for anyone. I didn’t even realize when my inhibitions turned into excitement, that is the power of the culture of a B-school. I started participating in various competitions.
Won some, and others gave me a good idea of what not to do. I started reading things, anything and everything from articles on recruitment software to water crisis in an African country. Along with my intellect, my creative side expanded too. I started creating presentations for case studies and posters for events at my college.
All this sounds good and even feels great. After all who doesn’t want to evolve? But the ultimate test any MBA student faces is within the first few months of his or her life at B-school. The summer placements come in your life with a bang. All the sleepless nights, countless hours of preparation, last minute revision of concepts, the mock interviews with the help of your seniors, and every other thing you can think of has finally come down boiling to this. The tension, the panic and all the other horrors you have heard about it are real. On the D-Day, I don’t even remember how many GDs I sat in or how many interviews I attended. What I do remember is my interview for Walmart India and more specifically, what happened differently that paved the way for me.
We all have our answers prepared for interviews, at least to the basic questions. We already know how the starting of our interview is going to be. It all started with those same basic interview questions and it was going pretty much the same way all my other interviews had gone, up until the interviewer said to me, "Palash, your answers sound recorded". Then it hit me, the reason I was not able to crack the other interviews - the lack of enthusiasm in my voice. I decided then then and there to shift the course of the interview. I mentally tore my answer script and just answered what I really felt. I did curse myself for a few minutes after the interview, thinking that I blew it. But a spot offer from Walmart India was all the assurance I needed.
Ever experienced a euphoria? Where you and everyone around you are in a state of bliss? That is B-School after the last student is placed in the summer placements. What follows next is weeks of parties and trips and hill stations. Eventually, you do need to come back to earth to prepare for the next milestone, the summer internship.
Walmart India, with a giant of a corporate parent, owns and operates the Best Price stores in India. It was also the place where Palash Jhawar went for his first corporate stint. Now, if you have prior work experience, your outlook might be completely different. But as a fresher going on his first ‘corporate expedition’, you are filled with a million doubts. Which shirt should you wear? What if you get late on your first day? Does your breath smell? What if you break something? How do you look 'corporate', if that even makes sense.
Overthinking has not helped anyone achieve the Nobel prize in life. Or has it? Anyway, my stint at Walmart India started as smoothly as it could. It was in Gurgaon itself, saving me from the hassle of moving. On the first day, I met all the other interns and realized that all of were from different colleges and were interning in different functions as well.
With a unique experience at the ‘Monday morning meeting’, our three-day long induction period started, which armed us with all the basic business knowledge, post which we were handed over to our respective department and guides. I was interning with the Rewards team of Walmart India and soon I met my supervisor, a lady with the kindest of attitude and a knowledge of compensation which was quantum leaps ahead of mine. She immediately introduced me to the entire department and somehow, I felt at home.
We discussed my internship project for the next two months. She gave me the context of the business problem I was supposed to address and gave me full autonomy to create a problem statement and the scope of it. I soon met the Chief People Officer of Walmart India, who was also the sponsor of my project. He talked to me about my project and asked me to create a project charter which would help me better define and create a business case for my project. But my internship would eventually be a disaster if not for my ‘Buddy’ at Walmart India. An alumnus of MDI, my super-senior, he was my first go-to for any issue I faced, not just at work but even back at college.
The next two months flew by as I buried myself in work. I studied, researched, wrote, watched video tutorials, surveyed, interviewed and in the end created something, something worthy of two months of labour and hard work. But it was not all work. It was interspaced with parties and lunches with my team, which were always free because I was an intern. Yes, it’s a thing. Coffee breaks with the other interns which eventually used to turn into cribbing sessions about how college life was so much easier. Maggie and Starbucks treat from my mentor, where she would again awe me with her life intellect and knowledge of the area of Rewards. Chai breaks with my buddy, where we would discuss anything and everything under the sun. All in all, I never complained.
You might be tired of hearing it. What is the point of this unique experience without understanding the endgame of it? What was the learning of my two months of the internship?
Well, it’s pretty simple. I learned about the Rewards area, my knowledge is now leaps and bounds ahead of what I knew before the internship. I now have corporate exposure, which as a fresher is invaluable to me. I know what a company expects from you in terms of knowledge, behaviour and etiquettes. But, most of all, I learned about people. I learned that a corporate is just another place filled with different type of people and you need to learn to work with everyone. Each person works differently, each person thinks differently and all of this combined forms the umbrella which we all hold at the highest regard, the culture of the organization.
Now, since she would not forgive me if she read this article, a few words about my mentor at Walmart India. I have already mentioned of her expertise in the Rewards area. She is also the most hardworking and ethical person I have ever met. It was a difficult task to find an empty spot on her calendar. Despite her busy schedule she always made sure I could reach her whenever I was in need of some guidance. She made frequent stops at my desk to ask if I needed any help. I was the first person she ever mentored in a corporate scenario, but she never made it seem that way. I honestly can’t imagine my internship and my project without her guidance.
That was the story of my internship at Walmart India which left me with a lot more of knowledge, experience, learnings and memories. So, do you think the Endgame is clear to me now? Have I found my place in life? No, not entirely true.
One thing’s for sure though, I do feel like I am on the right path.