'Internship With Entrepreneurship' - The Start-Up Journey At Creditmonk
From IT world to a start-up – the journey has been long, incredible and interesting.
From IT world to a start-up – the journey has been long, incredible and interesting.
“Hello sir, Soumyashree this side. I’m here at the location that you had mentioned.” “Hi, stay there, I’ll reach in five.” “Okay, sir”, I said, scrunching my nose at the scorching sun as I waited for the DSR (district sales representative) near Goregaon station. My tryst with Marico started even before I embarked upon my internship, during a two-day market visit wherein I tried to gobble down as much information about the sales function as I could. Being a fresher, and meddling with theories and practices of human resources for the past eight months, it was refreshing to study and see live examples of the sales structures and go-to-market models of some products that have been part of people’s lives since the last three decades. At the end of the market visit, I went home with slightly swollen feet and a huge appreciation for the job of salesmen, along with my insights on the sales function.
Sometime in January, my mother called me and said, we’ve received a postal mail from PepsiCo. I did a double take and said maybe I mixed up my permanent and current addresses, my mother said the letter was very much addressed to them. It was a cordial invitation sent to my parents to be a part of PepsiCo family. That gesture really touched me.That an organisation would write to my family and say they are as much a part of the organisation as I am, was very heart warming.
If there's one thing that gets an MBA hatching's mind to start taking their life seriously, it's the Summer Internship season. The priorities, future plans, ambitions and passions start catching up, asking you questions as you sit in that hall with 359 others trying to answer theirs. Thankfully, my priorities perfectly aligned with my internship: summers, so Bangalore; knack for people, so consulting; student of HR, so Aon Hewitt.
Consulting is one of the most coveted career paths as it provides an individual with the opportunity to become one with the main business of the organisation. There are three distinct segments of consulting; first is the realm of specialists in a particular domain who are involved in consulting at the individual level. The second segment includes, the firms that are a steady supplier of service/s to the clients (organisations) in response to a particular requirement and the third is the domain of ‘A Trusted Advisor’ where there is a deep relationship of trust between the client and the consulting firm.
The day I landed the internship in PwC DIAC, I heaved a sigh of relief thinking “Good God, I don’t have to participate in the energy-sapping placement sessions anymore.” Excited I was to relive the corporate life once again. Going by the senior batches’ mantra – “Get a PPO and your life will be relaxed”, I wondered what if I don’t get a PPO. But as the saying goes, “the journey is more important than the destination”. In Mumbai, I was pretty much overwhelmed by the accommodation provided to us. Then came 3rd April – our first day of internship at the office. We went in suits only to find that they had a relaxed dress code. It was such a comforting feeling as I felt uncomfortable with my sturdy physique not fitting in the formals. Once the project was assigned, meeting my mentors was the first priority.
John F Kennedy rightly said, “ask not what your country can do for you -- ask what you can do for your country.” The summer internship is a platform to prove to your organisation how you can add value for them by showcasing all your skills you mastered while burning the midnight oil during the rigorous 1st year of your MBA. It becomes more of a challenge when you intern with the 2nd largest telecom company in the world - Vodafone. Armed with some guidance from my seniors and alumni, I was ready to make a mark in the organisation that gave India it’s lovable pug, Cheeka and the ever charming Zoozoos and Zumis.
"Sometimes it's the journey that teaches you a lot about your destination" - Drake