It is vehemently quoted, “be stronger than your excuses”, and here we the students of Batch 2021 stands. Masters of Business Administration in an individual’s life is nothing less than a rollercoaster and the most pivotal part of that coaster is THE PLACEMENT SEASON. I still remember my Summer Placement season and the joy it brought not only to me but to my friends and family.
Indubitably, the time is not how it should be and hence, nothing else around us is happening the same way. That doesn’t mean it can’t be conquered. All that is required is little tweaks to the daily and long-term strategies that we deploy to achieve our goals.
For someone who likes to call herself an "accidental MBA", little did I know that I will get the opportunity to work as a Summer Intern with not only one of the largest FMCG companies in the world but also one of the most prestigious Summer Internship Programs in the world of B-schools. As soon as I entered Faculty of Management Studies, Delhi, I had no idea about what domain I would want to intern in and eventually, probably build a career upon it!
Around 2 months ago, I concluded my internship with Aditya Birla Group as a part of its coveted leadership program, where every year plethora of future leaders are shaped SEAMLESS-ly, in the mould of COMMITMENT, keeping INTEGRITY at its core, enriched with SPEED and PASSION! Being able to explore a world of opportunities in long-term association with this mammoth multinational conglomerate is like a dream come true for any B-school rookie like me. The idea of exploring the diversities of corporate world fascinated me a lot, and ABG, being globally active in 14 diverse industry sectors, is the best platform I could get to do so.
The summer internships are a milestone for any MBA student in the path of shaping his/her career. The first 4 months is tough for any MBA student in any institute, with competitions, live projects, assignments lined up one after the other. And all these to land the perfect internship. I too had my share of ups and downs during the placement week, but I kept my calm and patiently waited for my chance.
During the months that preceded my internship experience, there was a lot of uncertainty in the air and at the same time, everyone was trying to gain as much knowledge as they could from their seniors. But looking back I felt that I took the right decision of only talking to a few numbers of people that had done internships in the same industry. My internship project could have been in any domain of HR and especially since I was going to work in the consulting domain, cluttering myself with too much information would have taken away the clarity I had in my mind. But on the other hand, I was constantly reading a lot to keep myself updated about what was happening in the HR world. This, in fact, helped me in my internship in connecting the dots a few times.
Meet Mahnaz Shaikh, an HR professional who has worked in the FMCG sector for a whopping 16 years. Starting out from TISS, she did a 12 year long stint with P&G, before moving to Godrej Consumer Products Limited, where she currently works as the Head of HR - India & SAARC. In this video, she talks of her career journey, her learning and insights from the FMCG sector, and the advice she has for students who are anxious about their future as a result of the coronavirus crisis.
“Make the best out of the crisis”- words we as summer interns were told when our induction process began and also the words that resonated with me and challenged me to make the best of my internship.
