Summer Internship Experience 2021 - Tata Consumer Products - Rajvi Agrawal, SIBM Pune

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On joining the company as an intern, how has your onboarding experience been like?

One of the best things at TCPL is the openness with which everyone approaches. The onboarding was smooth and seamless. We were welcomed by the top industry leaders in the company, as they explained the nitty gritty of their business units. Post this we were also given fun group task, that proved to be ice breaking along as it required collaborative team efforts along with being realistic.

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How has your interaction with the team members and colleagues been like? How will you make sure to leave the best impression on your supervisors by the end of the internship?

The open culture at TCPL promotes an environment for collaborative learning.
My interaction with the team members and colleagues has been truly an enriching one.
I got the chance to witness and learn about the business, challenges, experiences through my team.
My fellow interns have been extremely helpful and supportive, even though being in competition, they made sure to help. This is something I will proudly remember all my life.
Be honest and authentic to be remembered. This is how you will make people remember you always. Put your heart and soul into the work you do and you will see the results. This is something I have always carried with me.

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Tell us in brief, about the project you are currently working on and how is this project going to help the company? 

The project is confidential in nature,
To put it across, it is an exciting project that requires me to put on my thinking caps and brainstorm. It is an essential key for the business. My project will help the company with frameworks and strategies which will play a pivot role for the brand and for the entire business

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Are You The Best Summer Intern Of The Class Of 2022? Share Your Own Internship Experience.

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Give us an overview of how you prepared for your summer placement season.

Summer Placements: The battle of belief
Summer placements bring with them a lot of anxiety, nervousness, doses of self-doubts and whatnot. More than anything, it is a game of mind. The moment you feel like giving up, just don't!! Try once more!! That once more will always take you place you never thought you will achieve.
Summer Placements test one's faith and belief tremendously. It is natural to feel hopeless and dejected while patiently waiting for your turn and chance, but then the process is meant to get the best of us. It is through the hardships and pain that the greatest people are made.
Like many other students, I started with my college, initially, when you are new to MBA it becomes overwhelming with academics, assignments, guest lectures, extra sessions. And to top, it all comes summer placements. I started with clearing my basics, which included studying about my specialization, reading newspapers and articles on a regular basis, basically being updated about every happening national, international and in the world. The most important of the rounds is to prepare oneself for group discussions and interviews. I used to practise along with my friends wherein we tried to discuss a particular topic from every angle possible. For interviews, our seniors helped us immensely, they regularly took the mock interview by asking different questions based on your personal self, your profile. One major aspect is making the resume for the internship. It is a very essential part of the entire process as it helps us put across our past credentials and work to the organization that does not know anything about us, thus making sure that we leave no stone unturned to put in a well-structured manner.
Summer placements preparation is a never-ending one, if I have to put it across, one can never be fully prepared. It requires efforts on a daily basis. Most importantly, one should always have opinions on things happening, after all this is what makes us smart.

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Based on your internship experience till now, what are some necessary skill sets one must be prepared with before starting an internship? 

The importance of soft skills can never be overemphasised. The most important skills that helped me immensely would be
1)Ability to network.
2)Openness to learning.
3)The art of representation
4)Creativity
The other most important skills are:
1)Excel
2) PowerPoint
3)Editing
Powerpoint is the base work that helps a person to showcase his/her work, ideas etc to the other person. It is a very important skill and one should try to be very strong with how he/she represents their ideas

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What are some new skills that you have developed while working in the company?

I have developed my presentation and storytelling skills. Initially, I used to have a very clumsy and scattered thought process which was reflected in the presentations, but over time with continuous feedback and reiterations, I am now improving upon my representation skills
I also learnt how to network and communicate with different stakeholders. My project required me to interact with many stakeholders with different job profiles. Every stakeholder has his/her own understanding of the goals and ideas for the business, as an intern, it required me to find a common ground so as how to approach them

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What are some of the challenges that you have faced in your internship and how have you overcome them?

As my internship was supposed to be an on-ground internship, that required me to go out and get in hand experience and get a reality check on the ground, but due to the pandemic, it could not happen. The major challenge that I faced was the communication gap, and the difficulties to connect with different people outside the organization. Sometimes it was because the stakeholders were very busy, but mostly because I could not connect with them better.
The other major challenge that I faced was the problem of understanding the deliverables of the project. It took a great deal of reading, learning through examples and guidance from my mentor to properly understand what is exactly needed.
This was my first corporate experience and therefore I did not let the hindrances stop me,initially it was problematic but with time and changing my approach I became better at it and soon the things that felt difficult had now become easy.

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Tell us about a situation where you were complemented by your Manager for your work. 

Initially, I pitched in many ideas without thinking through their impact on the business and the brand, due to which oftentimes my mentor needed to intervene and get me back on track which helped me improve upon my thought process and how to make it more objective and performance-oriented.
It was on a similar instance when I pitched in an idea, now more thought through both for the business and the brand that my mentor appreciated me. He not only appreciated the idea but also my efforts.That was one of the most cherishable moments of my internship.

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What have been your major learnings during the internship? 

My internship has been a roller coaster ride, full of bumpy roads, stoppages, downhills and uphills.
My internship helps me improve myself in many ways more than I know of.
The most important one is the importance of resilience. To not lose hope when you don't see the road and yet try!
One key takeaway is the change in the thought process. I used to be very spontaneous and dynamic with ideas, but this experience made me understand the importance of a well structured, objective thought .
With our interactions with the leadership, I got to understand and learn the humane aspect of any organization. The leadership lessons I got here will stay with me forever.

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Tell us about your final presentation of the project to your manager in brief. What was the toughest question asked during the presentation and how did you answer it?

The final presentation was the fruit of all the efforts and endless discussions of these two months.
The process of making the final presentation excited me the most. the ideas, suggestions etc now needed to be given a structure and shape so that it comes out well. When I first sent my presentation to my mentor, a lot of improvisations needed to be made as suggested by him.
On the day of the final presentation, I made sure to put across all the points across the panel.
The most difficult question I faced was with regards to my personal opinion on the strategy and the area that needs the most improvement. As I had worked on the project and through the insights that I have gained,I was able to answer it.

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Some advice that you would like to give to your juniors based on your internship experience.

Here are some of the key takeaways that I would pass on to my juniors:
1)Be adaptable to any situation and project.
2)Try to maximize your learning experience by trying out different approaches, ideas etc.
3)Never be afraid to put across any idea.No idea is good or bad, execution is what makes the difference. And also you never know what idea can help you make an impact. Park your ideas even if they don't feel relevant at that moment.
4)The connections you develop here are for life, just don't try to network for the work. Make connections that will last you forever. You will always learn something new from everyone.

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What was one of the best moments according to you during your internship?

The best moment in my internship was during the time when one of my ideas was appreciated by my mentor. It was not just the idea that he appreciated but also my efforts. That time I felt it is all worth it.

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