Navigating Uncharted Territory - Summer Internship At Cognizant

Having come from a Consulting background and being born and brought up in Delhi, my internship in an IT company in Chennai required me to be very adaptive not just in terms of the work but also the location and culture. Excited with the prospect of what lies ahead, I began my internship. My project was in the area of Talent Supply Chain. In a world where recruitment is the more highlighted function of HR in the corporate world, Talent Supply Chain represents the underrated process of internal fulfilment which is critical for an organisation’s success. Any organisation that has a strong internal fulfillment function, wherein it fulfils its resource demand from its internal pool of candidates, saves on the recruitment cost which they would have incurred if they hired an external candidate for the same.

Over the course of the next two months, I worked on a project relevant to their internal portal, diagnosed certain roadblocks that hindered its efficiency and effectiveness, and gave recommendations to minimize the same. My project gave me insights into the functioning of the IT domain, the concerns both Project Managers and Associates might have in reaching out to each other and how HR can help in facilitating that. It also introduced me to a grey area in organisations wherein an individual’s goals and aspirations of career advancement do not align with the organisational goals, and the challenge that reconciling them brings. It was almost surreal to see textbook concepts that we had been studying over the course of our first year playing out in real life.

Every task that seemed daunting at first was made simpler by my mentor Mr. Chandran, who extended his full support throughout my internship period. Right from making sure I had adjusted well in a new city, to guiding me and giving me feedback and nudges in the right direction, I could not have hoped for better.

My internship journey, beginning with a healthy mix of excitement and nervousness, has given me takeaways for a lifetime. The much needed perspective it has given me will surely prove to be invaluable as I navigate through my second year in college.