Everyone has a very different and engaging internship experience, but what stands out for the lucky few who get to call themselves Freshers is the fact that those two months are their first stint. Yes, you guessed it right, I am also a Fresher, graduated in 2018 March and joined NMIMS Bangalore in June, the same year.
So, we Freshers join without any preconceived notions, absolutely clueless, absolutely lost as to what to expect, how would it be and literally stumble through it, trying all the while to secure that not so/much-coveted PPO/PPI (here the definition of the term "much-coveted" varies from person to person).
If you think all internships are about sitting in front of an excel sheet or selling products in villages or elsewhere, then I would say you haven't met me yet.
This is my story talking about my 8-week internship, with some amazing moments all the way.
The summer internship selection process was about to begin. Reading newspapers, revising finance concepts, preparing an elevator pitch, thinking about the probable interview questions was the order of the day along with the daily MBA submissions, quizzes, and midterm exams. Also in the same month, we had our annual cultural fest "Nityaksh". I was a part of the Fashion Team.
A few days went by preparing for the process.
One day while we were having our fashion show rehearsals we received a mail from Pcomm, the most awaited day had arrived "Summer Internship Selection Process", the following day.
So my "Summer Internship Process" journey began as a Finance Major. Day zero, a renowned finance company came. I sat for the process, cleared the GD, couldn't get through the PI. Shattered, I went for my fashion show rehearsals.
Then the second finance company came, cleared the GD, couldn't clear the PI, the same thing happened in the third process as well.
Disheartened I went home for my Diwali break, my father asked me why are you not able to clear the PIs. I thought about it for a day, then I realized that I never had any interest in Finance, I was more of a Marketing person. For me studying finance and scoring well was easy, but I had no interest in finance (Please think twice, do a thorough analysis of your likes and dislikes and then select your majors). I informed my father about it and we both did some research and finally, he allowed me to switch to marketing.
After our Diwali break, the first company that came to campus was Bigbasket. Received a mail, "open for marketing minors as well" elated I opted in for the process. Prepared day and night for the GD-PI.
This time I was highly motivated because I always had an inclination towards Marketing. Studied, went through the company's website, read all the recent news articles related to the company, revised my interview answers, revised the marketing concepts, ironed clothes, polished my shoes, and by the time I was done with all this it was already 2, slept for sometime woke up at 6 and got ready.
And "My Day" had arrived, GD cleared, anxiously waiting for the PI results (few questions asked were: tell me something about yourself, tell me something which is not there in your CV, which advertisement have you seen recently, which role are you interested in-since I was the winner of Clean and Clear Times Freshface 2015, so I could justify my answer for being interested in the category which was about to be launched "The Beauty Category", suggest a name for the private label under Beauty category-to which I replied "Pearl" since pearl signifies elegance, class, delicateness, beauty which are all the characteristics of a woman), praying, praying and praying, the team came in and started announcing the names of the people who were selected. Waiting, waiting, waiting suddenly I heard "Priyanka Singh". That was it, with a big smile on my face I broke the news to my father.
That was "My Day, My Moment".
Soon our exams got over and we received our offer letters, I was given a project in the "Buying and Merchandising (FMCG) Department".
My internship began on April 15, 2019 and went on till June 7, 2019. I got an opportunity to go home before my Internship, as Bigbasket usually gives a 15 days break before the internship begins, unlike other companies.
Soon our internship began, 9:30 am to 6:00 pm Monday to Saturday, location: Bangalore.
The first two days we had our induction, the National Category Head and all the other Category Heads came and interacted with us. The third day we had a DC (distribution center) visit scheduled for us where we gained knowledge about the retail sector and e-commerce, how Bigbasket works, how the stocking is done, and much more.
The next day the Beauty Category Head came to meet us, he gave us few topics on which we were supposed to prepare a presentation. The next day we gave our presentations on the basis of which we were allocated our projects under different categories. I got a project under the Beauty category.
Bigbasket had recently entered into the Beauty category and my project was assortment gap analysis in comparison with the brick and mortar stores.
The project kickstarted, I went through some research papers on beauty before directly jumping onto my project.
Then the first step towards my project was to define the scope of the project, on what basis will I do the gap analysis, which stores will I visit and at what level will I do the analysis (category wise, sub-category wise or SKU level) and the second step was to prepare a template for recording the data.
Soon I started visiting the stores, I had to cover 10 stores in 7 weeks, and the last week was reserved for doing the analysis.
I had to visit the stores as a customer and not as an intern, I was not allowed to reveal my identity. The first store that I visited was not a very big one since I had no prior experience in this so I wanted to first experiment with the small stores and then visit the bigger ones since the data available at the bigger stores was way more than the smaller ones. I adopted different strategies for collecting data. I used to visit the stores in the morning, return back to the office and record the data till evening and sometimes the next day also.
Also, I had to go through the SAR (Stock Availability Report) and the Beauty Master in order to understand the gaps that exist in the Beauty category of Bigbasket in comparison with the Brick and Mortar Stores.
I found out many gaps that exist in comparison with the brick and mortar stores. There are many brands, price ranges, and assortments that are not offered by Bigbasket, which are offered by the Brick and Mortar Stores and also other e-commerce sites.
We, the interns of the Beauty category, had our weekly review meeting every Friday in front of the National Category Head, wherein we had to give a presentation of the work done by us in each week. And on the last Friday of our internship, we had to give a presentation in front of the entire FMCG team, including the National Category Head and all other category heads. Each intern was allotted 15 mins to give his/her presentation.
Sometimes we used to have some tasting sessions in the cafeteria for Bigbasket's private label and also before getting a particular brand onboard the company wanted its employees to try the products and give their feedback, on the basis of which the decisions were made as to whether to onboard it or not.
Also, my mentor and my guide at Bigbasket were really sweet and warm, they never made me feel like an Intern and were always there to guide me and help me at every stage of my internship. I was able to complete my project on time and also gave some valuable insights into the newly launched Beauty Category of Bigbasket.
I had an amazing experience with Bigbasket. The work culture is really good. I did not feel like an Intern there, I felt like a member of the Bigbasket family. The entire experience was like a dream come true for me: the kind of different experiences I got and also the feelings of dejection and elation I felt alternatively.
I would like to conclude by saying that these 2 months are a crucial part of your MBA life so work hard and party harder (on weekends), make new friends from other colleges who are also interning with you in the same company.
You get to learn a lot especially if you are a fresher, you grow as a person, these 2 months also play an important role in shaping your personality and you also get to network (meet the top executives and work under them), so make the most out of it.