I am Reshma Xavier (2nd year MBA of Welingkar Institute of Management & Research)

Like every MBA student, even I was super excited about my Summer Internship. As you all know Summer Internship is the gateway for PPO (Pre-Placement Offer).

So as my 1st year of MBA started, we were briefed about the internship scenario by our seniors and faculty members.

The 1st year of MBA is very crucial as it covers a lot of concepts, practical work, and fieldwork which comes handy for cracking interview whether it is a summer internship or final placement.

I’ll list down a few preparation tips:

•    Be clear on which vertical to choose. The early you decide the better it is, as you can prepare accordingly.

•    Keep a tap on current affairs, news, international trades, etc.

•    Apart from academic studies, go through articles that are related to your field. It would give you an edge over the others.

•    Go through the company offerings, website, etc. Do a background check of the company before you apply for the job.

•    And at last, whatever you know, just be confident while you talk and wear a smile, it always helps to create a positive environment.

OK, now coming to my internship experience. I will start off with how I was shortlisted and interviewed.

The company that I interned was Pentation Analytics for Marketing profile. The company came for an internship during January 2019.

Out of many students who applied three of them were shortlisted.

I had got a call from HR regarding the shortlist and was told that there would be a telephonic interview. It was taken by the Business Development Head.

Questions that were asked are listed below:

1.    Tell me about yourself?

2.    Define yourself in three words?

3.    What are your strengths and weakness?

4.    Which Political party do you follow?

5.    How well would you work in a dynamic environment?

6.    Are you comfortable making a few calls and meeting clients for the company?

7.    Go through the company website and make a presentation within a day.

So I had to make a presentation about the company.

I submitted the presentation within the deadline that was given.

Then after a couple of days again I got a call from HR for a Face-to-Face interview. So the date and time were fixed.

So when I reached the venue I was offered tea, relaxed for 10 min and then my turn was up.

Questions asked for Face-to-Face Interview:

•    Tell me about yourself?

•    Define yourself in three words

*above two questions were asked twice (telephonic & Face-to-Face)

•    Talk about your hobbies.

•    How would you make an impact in our organization?

•    Talk about your previous work experience.

•    What are your achievements?

•    What would you do if the management won’t listen to your opinion?

A small tip to crack the interview:

•    Not necessary you answer all the questions asked, if you feel you can’t/shouldn’t disclose any information you could say so

•    Be true to yourself

•    Talk more realistic

•    Read through the Technologies that the company is using

Now coming to my internship experience:

At the initial phase, I was told to go around and interact with the team members and understand the project they were working and the projects which they had already worked on, and after that, I was told to write blogs on a couple of projects. Those blogs were then uploaded on the website after approvals.

Then I was directed towards Lead Generation. Initially was told to get Lead generation agency, I managed to get some of the good agencies. After that, I was told to get clients directly by pitching about our product to the potential clients. It was not as simple as it seems, had to decide the location, target audience, how to pitch and whom all to contact. Through all this, I got some good potential clients.

Next phase, was creating an online/ offline presence through social media, created infographics, posters and content for LinkedIn posts. I was also sent for TiE events on behalf of the company to pitch about the offerings and acquire new customers.

After some time the company was facing a lack of human resource, as the employee attrition rate was higher. So at that point of time, the need of the hour was an immediate requirement for Big Data Engineer. Thus I was given the task of hiring Big Data Engineer. Here my Engineering knowledge was helpful, to screen resumes and understand the candidates’ knowledge in a better way. Thus screened 55+ resumes out of which 5 were given offer letter. Thus the management was happy with my work as one major problem was solved.

Another major project which was given was regarding Customer Relationship Management. It is software that solves the problem as well as saves time and money of the customers. So I was one of the core members of the project.

The tasks included;

•    Designing the website (micro website )

•    Gather requirements from clients

•    Go and meet the clients for recommendations and insights regarding the software

•    Create content for the micro website

•    Promote the software

Overall the experience was good as I had to perform multiple roles within 2 months. Due to which I gained knowledge in various domains.

Some of the key learnings:

• Learned a lot on time management as I had to perform multiple roles
• How to interact with the clients
• Learned to write blogs, create infographics and poster
• How to pitch about the company and its offerings
• Hiring quality candidates
• How to perform Lead Generation

How to be a team player

As the company was a start-up, you get to work on multiple areas and you have an opportunity to interact with the clients, understand the core operations.

Apart from all, I had the opportunity to directly report the founders of the company. It was really great to interact with them, understand their vision for the company and keep up with the momentum which they expect.

Coming to my mentor:

My mentor was Ms. Himanshi Bhatia, Manager of Business Development. She had a wonderful personality and character. If there were any concerns to be conveyed, she was always ready to help. She was more like a friend throughout. She would direct you to the right person to contact to while you are working.

So everything ended on a good note.

My suggestions to my Juniors are:

•    Try to make most out of the internship

•    Build good contacts

•    Internship in a start-up is better as you would get more exposure.

ALL THE BEST FOR YOUR FUTURE !!!!!!!!

The above article has been posted on insideIIM.com