Virtual Internship Journey At Lear Corporation 

In these uncertain times where the pandemic has taken a toll on employment and when LinkedIn was flooded with students losing their internships and offers being revoked, I was scared to miss my internship opportunity. But LEAR kept its promise and all the interns were onboarded virtually on 27th of April 2020. My internship at LEAR Corporation was truly an enriching experience. I could not have asked for a better learning experience through virtual mode.

In this stint of 2 months, I got to work on 3 projects which provided me with a wide range of learnings in the HR domain. My projects dealt with the digitization of HR query resolution process, channelizing employee exit process and benchmarking practices of Best Companies for Women in India (BCWI). I was quite fortunate to learn a lot from experts while working on these projects. The cherry on the cake was seeing the HR query resolution portal getting implemented while I was still interning. That is how Lear made every contribution feel so valued. At every step, I was learning and at the same time, I knew my ideas and my contribution is valued.

My biggest support during the entire internship period was my mentor. Continuous guidance and insights from my mentor right from the beginning of the internship made it an invaluable learning experience. She kept motivating and inspiring me and apart from working on projects she always encouraged me to follow my hobbies over the weekend and de-stress myself.

The best part of the internship was interacting with stakeholders and getting to know the business insights. Though it was a virtual internship for a short period of 8 weeks, my projects demanded interaction with the entire HR team across locations in India and I was able to do so. The entire team was so generous and helpful and insights from the entire team was a great value addition and helped me achieve my goals.

If I talk about LEAR’s culture, I never had to think twice before approaching my mentor or HR functional heads. Everyone was so supportive and always open to patiently listen to my ideas and guide me in the right direction. LEAR’s culture is really friendly and I felt connected and belonged to the organization.

My key takeaways from this internship would be:

a.   To always break down your entire project into small achievable weekly goals and try to accomplish them as planned.

b.   Your ideas must always be relevant, always back your solutions and suggestions with examples and industry practices.

c.   Keep your mentor/guide always informed about the direction you are working in, because it may so happen that you research and work too much on a particular suggestion but it is not fit for the organization.

I have a few suggestions for the upcoming batch of 2020-22. Whatever you learn during the entire first year, just make sure to follow practical implications of every concept. Keep upskilling yourself, follow HR trends and articles and always stay industry-relevant.

My internship with Lear was my first step in contributing to the HR fraternity, it was indeed a memorable experience!