Summer Internship Experience At Pidilite - A Journey Against All Odds And My Learnings From It

No, that’s not it.

Then?

See, your interpretation of MBTI isn’t right. The “I” doesn’t stand for Introvert but Introversion. It’s not about whether you exhibit the behaviour of an introvert or an extrovert but it is about where you “derive your energy from”. You could be someone who has no problem interacting with people but that act could be draining your energy. So, if you rank high on introversion then it means that you derive your energy from spending time alone.

Wow! I didn’t know that, that’s something new I learned and will remember for a long time. But then back to the question - why were you surprised to know I was an INTJ?

Not surprised. I expected the I, T and J but I thought you were an S over N. Guess that is something I learned new about you.

For those who think the above conversation seems to be in Klingon, the translation is just a google search away. “Type MBTI”. For HR folks who can’t recollect what MBTI is, don’t panic; you are perfectly normal and you probably slept through that class.

That was one of the many memorable memories etched in my mind from my internship with Pidilite. It was one of those conversations that made me realize how great of a learning experience an Internship is. It makes you reconsider what you learnt in the class and tells you how much more there is to learn outside the class.

But first - how did I get an internship with Pidilite?

My internship with Pidilite was a chance that I got when all odds were against me. About 10 days before my summer placements, I came down with Chicken Pox. Something that I thought I had escaped for life bit me in my prime most hour. As the placement day approached I dreaded the thought of being left out of placements. But thanks to the efforts of my Placecomm, I took part in the process remotely. It was down to the companies to choose to interview me.

Pidilite was one of the first to take a chance on me, and for that, I will always have a place for Pidilite in my heart. In fact, they were willing to meet me in person (by that time, my scabs had dried off and I was not contagious). That’s how I got the opportunity to sit for Pidilite’s interview and I made it through. Now, the reason I was able to is because of one thing I believe. I was not able to study as I would have due to me being sick but during that time I spent a lot of time thinking about my life and what I had done. I discovered the answers to a lot of 'Why' questions in my life like “Why HR?” “Why I did what I did in my life so far?”

I believe cracking an interview is about being clear with your “Why” more than your “What” and “How”.

I encourage anyone preparing for an interview to spend some time walking disconnected from all devices and solely thinking through your answers and articulating them to yourself.

Now, back to my internship.

We were 11 HR interns, seated in a conference room waiting for our projects. The CHRO Mr. Rahul Sinha walked in and shared our projects. He told us that the projects were real problems that the organization was facing and urged us to bring on the best problem-solving efforts.

My Project

To revamp the hiring process of front-line managers. My project mentor - the Talent Acquisition Head of Pidilite whom I would meet only later in the day.

To meet him I had to head to the Talent Acquisition block which was strategically placed right at the beginning of Pidilite’s Head Office in Kondivita, Andheri East, Mumbai.

My Mentor

Two of us interns were assigned to the same mentor. Both of us were seated in a room in the TA block, waiting for our mentor. Soon, in walks this tall and energetic person with Airpods in his ears, an Apple watch on his wrist, and a smile on his face - my mentor Mr. Pratik Thakkar. With that began a relationship that I will cherish in my life.

At the very beginning, Pratik said that he would like to meet us for at least 15 minutes every day irrespective of how busy he was. But I must say he has spent more than that over the course of my internship. In fact, he allowed me to accompany him on his day to day interactions with various stakeholders. I have realized that spending time shadowing my mentor and getting the Mentor’s inputs was very critical to my project’s success and I recommend it to every summer intern.

I remember spending time late into the night in our Atelier room (It was a video conference room designated for binge working by us, fondly named by Pratik as Atelier :))

The great thing about Pratik was that he welcomed any and every idea and allowed me to explore it but always wanted me to gather learnings from it. He also spoke the language of “Why don’t you give this a try” over “Do this” and “Do that”. He encouraged me to reach out to any stakeholder that I wished to. Be it vendors or managers or employees, my mentor ensured I got the opportunity to meet them. As a result, I was able to speak to some of the top leaders in the organization and also gather a diverse set of ideas.

He had a unique style of working too. Whenever we sat in the Atelier room, we would work for about 45 minutes and then Pratik would regale us with stories filled with learnings from his professional and personal life for about 10 to 15 mins and then we’d get back to work again. This made the whole experience memorable and enjoyable. This ability of him is something I felt rare and valuable.

(Picture above) With My Mentor Mr. Pratik Thakkar (Left) and my fellow intern Sambuddha Rakshit (Right). Internship Ending. Thank You Pratik and Sambuddha.

My Project Execution Strategy - Why, What, How

I decided right in the beginning that I would use Simon Sinek’s strategy of 'starting with the Why'.

For the first month, I wished to explore the “Why” behind my project. Why was my project needed? Why the problem? The way I found the answers was largely by talking to people specifically the TA team and observing the processes and people executing them.

Then I explored the “What” - what are the solutions available to solve the problem. Again, I found the answers by talking to people specifically vendors and also researching the internet.

At the end of the first month, I sat before the CHRO to present my progress. I spoke about all the answers that I had discovered for my “Why” and also the “What”. He listened to me inquisitively and I will always remember what he said next. He asked “me”- a humble intern with no experience in the HR field “Tell us at what point should we start investing in these technologies and what value we will get out of them. Give us a road map”. Those words made me feel as if I was a consultant and made me feel responsible and valued.

I took up the challenge seriously and worked with my mentor on figuring out the “How”. I sat through Vendor meeting one after the other consolidating my observations and learnings. I explored the feasibility of the options by talking to managers and the TA team. I must say the TA team was very supportive and helpful without which I wouldn’t have made it through my internship.

I had the answers but I did not know if they would be correct or wrong but I did know that I had explored them to the best of my abilities in the time that I had. But the problem before me was how to represent all of my answers – a.k.a The Famed Final Presentation that makes every summer intern anxious.

I had no idea how to go about it. As it always has been when I am out of ideas, I went for a walk across the Pidilite campus. I walked through the same road, again and again, trying to formulate my final presentation. After much contemplation and burning 200 calories I stopped staring at the road with nothing in my mind. And that is when it struck me. I had to project the road and not just the destination and so, I put a road on the first slide of my presentation which looked like this:

Picture: First Slide of my Final Presentation

I used the Prezi style of presentation, something which my mentor asked me to explore. It allows you to give a bird's eye view of the whole picture and at the same time allowing you to deep dive into each aspect without missing track of the bigger picture. It basically is a style of presentation in which everything flows from a single slide. This style of presentation is possible through Prezi software or Office 2019 or 365.

Final Review

I waited anxiously to present it to the CHRO, and I was the last one to present that day. Mr. Rahul Sinha greeted me enthusiastically, despite himself having a very busy day and encouraged me to go ahead with my presentation. Throughout my presentation, he listened to me patiently and at no point did I feel I was being assessed but I felt as if I was involved in a discussion aimed at arriving at the right solution and exploring together.

In the end, Mr. Rahul appreciated me for the work that I had done and also thanked me for my efforts which made me feel that my efforts were valued and I was valued.

My Learnings Summarized

• Attitude is more important than your competence. Be polite and kind.
• People are sources of information. Reach out to as many of them as possible and as wide a variety of them as possible.
• Don’t just work on your weekends but plan your work for the upcoming week. A well-planned week gets more work done than a week filled with more hours of work.
• Always Document and Document Everything. I had an excel workbook with sheets for each week and one for overall. I had a word document where I documented everything I had discovered.
• Don’t just think about what you can do but also how well you can do it.
• Get creative – it elevates your work. Creativity comes from exploring different things – talking to different people / exploring different software/ Reading etc.
• Ask not what the company can do for you but ask what you can do for the company, and you will undergo a great learning experience.

With the TA Team on the last day of Internship. It wouldn’t have been possible without them and they made it memorable.

Thank you, team!