The first major milestone after joining your b-school is Summer Internship! Before joining MBA, I was gasping in disbelief when I heard that summers (Summer Internship placement is fondly called as Summers) would happen in September. It was hard for me to believe as I would have barely gained much “MBA Knowledge” and on what grounds would I get selected and all that. The sequence of the recruitment is Pre-process and/or resume based shortlist and/or psychometric test, case discussion/group discussion followed by an interview(s). In the same order, let me brief you how to ace each of these rounds.
Hailing from the engineering background, when I thought of pursuing my career in HR, little did I know that I will land up getting an internship in Mercer Consulting (India) Private Ltd - where many HR professionals dream of their career. But bagging an internship at the company where you want, doesn't complete the work. The real journey starts after that....
"What's your favourite show?" my boss asks as I walk into his cabin. "Iss pyaar ko kya naam doon," I reply with sparkling eyes. Oh, it's coming back for a new season; replies my boss with a smile. I struggle to control the surge of happiness that courses through me at the thought. Thus starts my first day at Star India Pvt Ltd. A refreshing cocktail of starry-eyed sightings of TV actors and former cricketers, TVs at every desk doling out generous portions of melodrama, romance and conspiracies to homely, warm and trusting housewives and a project that involved me analysing movies and shows, Star TV is only the best organisation I could have hoped to work for in my life. I can only hope that all MBA interns have half the luck I did to end up at a summer internship organisation that combines creativity with analysis, hard work with fun and global with local. On a work trip to Patiala, amidst gruelling focus groups discussions, Punjabi food feasts, horror stories of staying at a former palace alone, spiritual mornings doing seva at a gurudwara and phulkari dupatta shopping expeditions, I learnt a little about people and life; about priorities, living in the present and ambition. About the simple life, the importance of family and needs and desires of the masses. We get so caught up in the rat race in school, college, work and life that we forget that one doesn't need much to be happy, perhaps money, success and prestige are not what one should strive for, perhaps simplicity, love and family are more important and one shouldn't lose sight of them. These two months gave me some time to think about my future, career and what it is that I wanted to do in life. I asked myself why I was enjoying my internship so much, was it the industry (being a mass media graduate, the exhilarating world of media had always called out to me), was it the product which I was so passionately involved with, was it the work environment with friendly bosses and guides who were there to guide me every time I needed it, was it the project that spoke to the writer in me while also appealing to the logical, rational part within me or was it simply the fact that I was finally working for my dream organisation. I realised that it was probably a combination of all these factors and that I didn't need to find a reason for the happiness I felt as I walked through the glass doors of the office. Very few people know what they're looking for and even fewer find it and have the luck to make a career in it. They say "Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life." I have found what I love and no matter what happens in the future, I shall forever remain grateful to Star for helping me find my calling in life.
We all see a lot of mutual fund advertisements on television and most of us wonder how these things work. I was so very fortunate to work in a company which is at the zenith of Mutual Funds and Financial Services.
In an exciting initiative for enhancing MICA’s connect with Ahmedabad city and the community, MICA invited a panel of some of the most successful and illustrious leaders of Ahmedabad from various walks of life to engage in an invigorating and enlightening discussion on their vision and journey of leaders and institutions in the city. The illustrious panel members included Padmashri Reema Nanavaty, Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA); Abhay Mangaldas, The House of MG; Sushama Oza, Director, Strategy & Sustainability at Adani Foundation, Ahmedabad; Indu Capoor, Founder-Director of Centre for Health, Education, Training and Nutrition Awareness (CHETNA); Debashish Nayak, Founder-Director of Centre for Heritage Management, Ahmedabad University; Each of these members have made significant contributions towards shaping the city of Ahmedabad, touched many lives in the society, and worked for the betterment of the city and its people. They shared their experiences and journey of success in the city. A unanimous thought amongst the panellists was the belief of the people of Ahmedabad in giving back to the society and how they have always played a crucial role in providing opportunities and supporting their work for social causes.
