Internships always give us a good introduction to the corporate world without being actually deployed in that world. Some have good experience and some have bad experience, but in the end it’s the polishing and insights gained from the internship which helps to decide on the future strategy.
Clearing entrance exams, giving GD’s and PI’s and finally landing in a world that not only transforms a student professionally but emotionally too. Those tight deadlines for assignment submissions coupled with the stress of staying away from your comfort zone actually makes you corporate ready. The academic stress is not over yet, and there comes another villain in the story “SIP Interviews”. The lucky ones get placed in their first interview and rest keep on travelling the placement train. So I was in the latter one. Having failed 12 attempts, finally my stars shined in the 13th attempt. Being an engineer by degree and profession and a zeal for creativity, I always wanted a Digital Marketing role and to my luck, I was able to get one. For my Internship, there were 2 rounds, first technical and second being HR Round. For Technical round, I had prepared on the basics of online marketing (Thanks to Google), the interviewer seemed quite impressed. Then the HR round was the cake walk, may be the prior work experience helped me to sail through the team building questions. Finally after a week the offer letter was in my hand and I was on cloud nine.
Then came April, and my journey of Internship started. I had already worked in an MNC. So I was thrilled about the environment in start-up. To my surprise the work culture in the Internship was very welcoming and pleasing. My job responsibilities mainly included SEO, Lead generation, Linkedin Marketing, Blogging, Presentations, etc. Learning how SEO actually works, website ranking, creative blog writing, etc all were thrilling and creative enough to quench my thirst. Coming to the environment of the Internship, the mentor was knowledgeable and supportive. Your mentor is like potter, he decides how you mould yourself into a beautiful pottery article. The more skillful the mentor, the more beautiful is the pottery. With my mentor the journey was both exciting and full of knowledge. Today whatever basics I know about real world marketing, the credit goes to her. So in those two months of Internship, I have transformed a lot technically as well as professionally. MBA helped me in adjusting to work culture as well as working skillfully under deadlines. The curriculum of MBA is designed in such a way that we don’t even realize when we become corporate ready to handle work place issues.
For the juniors one advice would be to be aware of their interest and decide in which area they want to intern in. This might look very simple but your internship decides your future track. Just be prepared before the company comes, do your home work i.e. read about the company and role and google for the questions expected. Most importantly be confident and be yourself. Just remember patience and consistency always pays in long run.
