Life is full of questions and the right way to handle it is to keep on finding their answers. The moment I decided to pursue MBA the question raised was "Why MBA?" which was very well followed by "Why XIMB?" and then, "Why Business Management?"
After a relaxed 2nd year at XLRI, thanks to having cracked the PPO, Kartik Arora was all set to start his 1st stint as an ABGLP. He started his journey with a buying & merchandising role with Van Heusen, then jumped to a finance role with Novelis and then moved on to a store manager's role with More (Aditya Birla Retail). He is currently the Sales & Operations Head for North & East India with Forever 21.
It was scorching 45 degrees on 6th May 2019 when I reported at Bharat Petroleum’s (BPCL) depot at Mathura Oil Refinery, Mathura for my Summer Internship. After reporting to the Territory Manager, Mr. Supratim Bhattacharjee, I was asked to spend 2 weeks in Mathura for orientation & to understand the working of BPCL, it's Strategic Business Units (SBUs), work culture and other management processes.
Summer Internship is often the gateway to the world of corporate for many MBA students, to associate with top brands of the world and to be a part of the legacy of some of the finest global organisations. While the focus of the summer internship narratives is on the project that was given to them, how the interns went about it, and how the mid and final reviews panned out, my takeaway from the summer internship was much more about the feeling of organisational unity and smooth interpersonal dynamics between my colleagues and me.
After cracking that 8-minute summer placement interview, Kartik Arora flew to Bangkok for his summer internship. He worked on a market research project with Birla Chemicals. His international stint experience, insights into exploring new markets and crazy stories will motivate you to put your best foot forward during your summer internship.
“Should I bold this word?” “Can you help me paraphrase this line?” “Should I add this at the top?” The first-year students came to me for CV advice. Most of the questions were typical. I was in the same shoes last year with the same set of questions carrying a handful of fears and a list of insecurities. The resume can make or break the chances of getting a good shortlist, as my seniors had said. The stakes were too high. In the pursuit of a “masterpiece” (wink) resume, I toiled hard for hours, managing mid-term exams alongside.
Sometimes all you need is an honest conversation with your senior and this video with Kartik Arora is just that. Kartik heads Sales and Operations (North & East India) for Forever 21, Aditya Birla Group. He'll take you through his engineering days in MIT to his short stint at Mahindra before he joined XLRI. His stories on clearing the dreaded finance paper, not laughing in a GD and being your honest self during your summer placement interview are great pieces of advice that will hold you in good stead when you're at the campus.
