Summer Internship At ABG – Group Internship Program (HR) - 2018

Preparation for Summers

With discussions from seniors (thanks to all my seniors and particularly my mentor Ratika Garg), I got an idea as to what needed to be done broadly for the summers preparation. I divided all their suggestions into 3 categories which needed to be prepared which are as follows:

• Labour Laws – Prepare this in whatsoever manner possible. This subject is to HR Students what Mathematics is to Engineers (at least in an academic sense!). I just focussed on 3 Laws which were being taught to us during the first semester i.e. Standing Orders Act, Industrial Disputes Act and Contract Labour Act. There are different sources from which preparation can be done. Mine was from a book by Padhi and Google Search! A lot of mugging up may be required but that’s how it is. Believe me, someone might just ask you labour laws in your interview.
• Organization Behaviour – This subject is one of the core areas for any MBA curriculum and for HR, this is a holy subject because here all students coming from different academic background understand the importance of behavioural fitment of a candidate for any job. Best book (which I think !) is by Stephen Robbins. Apart from that other source could be online portals like edX, Coursera and NPTEL and final source is YouTube where you can understand different laws and theories through various storyboards which help in better retention of concepts. Honestly, I read some chapters of the book only.
• Know Yourself and the Company Better – Here is the most important aspect for an interview - You should know yourself completely i.e. whatever you write in your CV, you should be thorough with it as the interviewer can ask anything and everything from your CV. Apart from that, you should know the details of the company such as their business areas, revenues, basic business models, key personalities, etc. On the individual front, you should know the projects that you have done, core concepts of your graduation stream, your internships, your strengths and weaknesses, your career goals, future plans, hobbies, etc.
• Now adding to all the above is the question "Why HR?"  which I am sorry to tell you that you are going to face for your entire lifetime (should you chose to remain in this profession!)

Basic Tips :

• Focus on your health and nutrition because MBA curriculum is really hectic and particularly during summer placements.
• Keep all your pieces of stuff like blazers, formals, documents and everything else well stacked so that you do not mess with anything at the last moment.
• Do take the help of your seniors (they are the best people to guide you)
• Don’t take too much mental pressure. Study in a calm and planned manner.
• Summer Placement is not the end of this world. So, don’t worry if you don’t get the company of your choice.

Coming to my own experience, Aditya Birla Group (ABG) was my first company to be interviewed for and I got through. Frankly speaking, when I got an interview shortlist from ABG, I thought that I would never be able to make it finally (because of lots of rumours about this company wants this kind of academic background or CV and things like that) and when I knew that I got through, it took some time for me to let the news sink in. So, a myth was broken that ABG only takes people with exceptionally high academic achievements and people who have done their graduation from the top colleges of the country.

I was excited that day and told this to my parents and all my friends and I was then eagerly waiting for the summer internship to start, and months passed with new learnings in the second semester.

At the end of the 2^nd Semester, on 17^th March, I flew back home as internship was going to start on 1^st April. After spending 2 weeks at home, finally, it was 1^st April, the day on which my flight to Mumbai was booked. My parents came with me to drop me to Ranchi Airport. We reached earlier and were having some random talks.

The weather when I reached was sunny but it was becoming cloudy. In some 40-50 mins, it seemed a little darker and lightning sounds also started to increase. It was about to rain. It was only around 4:00 PM but, it seemed 7:00 - 7:30 PM because of darkness that comes before the rains many times. I could only stay with my parents for 10 -12 days and I was sad as I came back home after 5 months. But, again I was going to come back home after my internship is over. With that feeling, I consoled myself. I hugged my mom and dad and then I went through the departure gate directly without looking back. Only when I crossed the security and reached the boarding pass kiosk, I looked back. Their face said many things, I just waved bye to them with a smile and they also did the same.

Till that time, it had already started raining heavily. I took my boarding pass, gave the luggage in the counter, went through the security check and sat near the gate from where I was going to board my flight.

I met another ABG Summer Intern there namely Adarsh from IIM Bangalore (we already had a chat over WhatsApp a day earlier and we decided to meet in the Airport as we had the same flight). As it was raining, our flight was delayed by about 1 hour. Till that time, we were chatting on different topics. The usual talks of some common friends, acquaintances or connections.

Finally, we boarded the flight after one hour of scheduled time (flight was delayed) and landed in Mumbai at around 8:30 PM. I had asked my friend Harshit (another ABG Intern) to wait for me as his flight from Hyderabad was to land an hour or so earlier than mine. He waited much longer as my flight was delayed! We met in the airport and Adarsh had some friends coming from Bangalore and I also met one of another classmate Prashant who was also an ABG Intern. In total, we were 8 people now. We booked 2 Ola SUVs and left for Hotel ITC Grand. Yes! our induction was scheduled there.

It was an experience I was eagerly waiting for. We checked-into hotel and I went to my room. The room was very beautiful and a bag with a name tag of “Vivek Ranjan” was already kept there. I was curious to know what goodies that bag had and I opened it quickly. I was excited after all everyone likes freebies!

Post that I got a call from my friends about going for dinner. It was a buffet dinner. Honestly speaking there were many dishes, which I was seeing for the first time. We all had a great time that day in dinner.

Next day we had the induction. Meanwhile, I also met my roommate there in Hotel ITC Grand. His name was Aayush and he was from XLRI Jamshedpur.

Next day in the morning we had to go to the banquet hall for the whole day event. Just outside the banquet hall, breakfast was being served. I must say breakfast was also grand. During the breakfast, I with my friends met Pooja, Head- Young Talent Management (now she has moved to Pulp and Fibre Business). We talked for some time and then all of us moved inside Banquet Hall for the event to start.

One of the YTM members Avande Vakil who was anchoring for the event asked us all to sit in the tables with students of different colleges (earlier we were sitting with our college mates!). It started with an ice-breaker activity of making the tallest tower by using balloons, straws, tapes, etc. Around 6-7 students were sitting at each table and were considered a team. As we were mixed with different colleges, we all were unknown to each other. But, we started planning and working even. In just a matter of minutes, we all identified a work we will be doing. So, it was a division of labour by our own choice. Someone was pumping balloons, someone was cutting the tapes, someone was stitching straws, etc. It was just so fantastic as an activity that was in all sense a real ice-breaker as we all got introduced to each other (in each team) quite well till the time process came to an end. Fortunately, my team built the tallest tower and all of us got some more goodies for that.

After that fantastic ice-breaker activity, Young Talent Team introduced all their members and also the new Head of YTM, Mr. Kaustav Bhattacharyya. The first speaker was introduced. He was none other than Mr. Ashok Ramachandran. Honestly, I don’t like people giving me gyaan from stages, but I don’t know what was unique about his talk that I listened to him with so much attention. It was something very real life he was talking about. Then after his talk, I even asked one question as well. For someone like me who does not even asks questions in his class most of the times, it came to my mind and I simply asked without any second thought. The question was about ‘Integrity’ in the workplace.

Then after that session, next speaker was by Mr. Ajit Ranade (Chief Economist of Aditya Birla Group). His talk was completely non-conventional. He was moving among us in the audience and talking. He asked many questions from audiences which usually we consider as frivolous, but here this man was creating a story out of those questions to make us understand ABG. I simply loved the way he conducted his session.

Then we had the lunch break. After that, we had a presentation round. All 70+ interns were divided into 10 teams, each team represented one business unit of ABG like Pulp & Fibre, Retail, Hindalco, Ultratech, etc. We were given a small case problem and we needed to come out with solutions and present our solution in a chart paper in front of the judges (Pooja & Kaustav were judges). Different teams came up with their own ideas. The winner was one team where I remember one intern namely Pranav Srinivasan of IIM Kozhikode backed all ideas with numbers as well.

After this round, we had a break for evening snacks and tea. Post the break, Kaustav (our new YTM Head) took a session. He was an investment banker earlier and aura of an Investment Banker is still visible in him. He talked about many things but I could sense a kind of passion and enthusiasm in his talk. This was one of the few days in the last 7-8 years that I have listened to many speakers with this much interest. Later, when I introspect, it was amazing to me as well.

Post that Bhavna Tanwani (YTM Member) took us through all the basic rules regarding internship, travel, expenses, evaluation, etc. It was a detailing out session.

Post that we had a session of Pooja. In a way, it was a farewell day for her as well in YTM. We all sang a song along with here in that session, lyrics of which was flashing on the screen.

Then Nakul (YTM Social Media Handler) took over. He was an interesting and funny person who asked all of us to stand and clap for him. Then he showed us our campus dance videos that we sent to YTM before coming for the internship. Then he told us about the social media challenge we will have every week with a different theme during our internship period. It was one of those fun activities that companies want their employees to engage with. It was a good initiative in my opinion. Then at the end, he again asked us to stand up and clap for him. It was really funny for me! Then Prateek announced that we have networking dinner and we should come back by 7 PM. We had a dress code for networking dinner. We had to formals with blazers.

In networking dinner, interns are divided into groups and allotted a table. One senior leader (ABGLP) and one buddy (someone who has joined ABG in the last 2-3 years through ABGLP) are also allotted in each table. Here drinks along with dinner are served while having chats and discussions. I can recall the name of my buddy was Sumit Jha and Senior Leader was Kinshuk Mishra. In my table, I had Yash (IIM B), Richa (IIM C), Rajat (MDI G), and Vibhor (IIM A). First, we had a comedy show by Sorabh Pant (stand up comedian from EIC). In the first few minutes his jokes were nice but after that, it was a little boring. He was not able to make people laugh as he is used to in some other places. I personally was not finding his jokes that funny. He tried to go on to different spheres of life to make fun, but the audience was not that much interested in giving him big claps. So, in my opinion, Sorabh Pant was a waste of money as he was giving those same old used-to kinds of jokes which are very hackneyed nowadays. Better natural comedians can be called in lesser fees I think.

Post that boring comedy show, Sumit narrated his journey in ABG briefly. Kinshuk Sir asked about our individual likes and dislikes and many other casual kinds of stuff were discussed. It was a nice experience for me to hear stories of other interns.  After around one hour or so, Pooja introduced each of the senior leader sitting in different tables. At around 10 PM networking dinner was over and DJ was started. I was little tired but still, I sat there watching my fellow interns dancing. All were looking very happy. This is how the induction ended.

Next day i.e. on 3^rd April, our stint started in our assigned company. I was placed in Aditya Birla Retail Limited (ABRL) in its Head Office. So, in the morning I and my classmate and co-intern Kunal shifted to our accommodation for the summers (which was also provided by the company) and then left for the office. My office was in Skyline Icon in Andheri. When I reached there I came to that company induction was also planned and apart from me, there were 7 other interns in ABRL. Ms. Shweta Hede and Ms. Karishma Khurana of the HR Team gave us the brief detail of the company and then took us individually to let us meet our respective managers.

My manager was Mr. Hrishikesh Kashyap who was Talent Head of Aditya Retail Limited. Hrishi (the short name by which we called him!) was the manager of one more intern from MDI Gurgaon namely Saumya Khare. So, Shweta took us together to meet Hrishi. He met us very warmly, asked about our academic backgrounds and other stuff. He also asked us about our expectations out of the 2 Month internship apart from getting a PPO/PPI.

Then he gave a brief description of our projects. My project was to assess, suggest changes (if required) of revamp (if required) Retail Leadership Program (RLP) which was basically a management trainee program. Just in one meeting, I could make out one fact that my manager Hrishi was very sharp. I expected a lot of learning from him that turned out to be true after 2 Months. Also, he outlined two rules of engagement (1) If you have a doubt, ask it (2) If you have a disagreement, voice it.

Later that day Shweta described our projects in a more detailed way.  That day when we went back to our accommodation (I was sharing the room with a friend and classmate Kunal who was interning in Pantaloons). In our flat, we were provided services of 2 cooks. So, we were getting good food (although some of my co-interns did not like the food that much).

From the 2^nd day, our work started with full rigor. I made a project charter which Hrishi has asked me to prepare along with timelines so that we are able to set our goals in a realistic way.

During this time, one difficulty I faced was that the laptop that was given to me by the company had some issues with regards to network drivers and passwords of different domains. So, IT team in ABRL was not able to fix it there and asked me to take the laptop to Worli Head Office. On my 3^rd day, I went there and got my laptop configured properly.

After 2 days, I sent the project charter to Hrishi and then next day he called me for a discussion regarding the same. He suggested some changes with regards to the structure so that efficiency of doing the work that I mentioned in project charter gets increased. His ideas made a lot of sense. My first task was to assess the RLP program and for that, I needed to talk to various stakeholders like Senior RLPs, Senior Managers and Executive Committee (Senior Leadership). I somehow realized that the summer internship program of ABRL (not ABG GIP) last year faced some problems and out of 67 interns only 1 PPI was rolled out. So, I thought of talking to last year summer interns as well. So, I interviewed around 130 people including COO, CFO, CMO, HR Head, Supply Chain Head, and MPR & IT Head.

Earlier I was not that much comfortable in carrying out discussions and interviews like this but during this period, all my hesitation went away and I developed a lot of confidence in having a conversation (Learning 1).   Earlier I also did not have that much idea about Retail Business and during this time, I came to know a lot about it (Learning 2). 

After interviews and collection of insights and expectations from all stakeholders, I went back to Hrishi and had more than 1 hour of discussion with him. He raised some more questions for which I needed to explore the answers. Two great things about the mentoring by Hrishi was that (1) He gave enough time and attention to his interns (2) He never gave answers on a plate, he always wanted his interns to explore the answers (exploratory learning). These were again a kind of learning for me (Learning 3).

Along with these interviews, I was also communicating to Placement Committees of different campuses for next year hiring as ABRL wanted to look for newer campuses to start their relations with them. I talked to Placement Committees of around 22 well-known B-Schools. I came to know a lot of things about how placement committee interacts with the companies as well (Learning 4). I also had to design campus engagement programs for campus relations. The only condition was that all campus engagement programs should incur ‘zero’ cost. Initially, it was very difficult for me to accept that at zero cost also campus engagement programs can be designed. But, with time, further discussion with my seniors and my mentor Ratika and lots of reflection and introspection, I zeroed in on 4 Campus Engagement Programs to be carried out by ABRL (Till now ABRL did not have any Campus Engagement Program). This was Learning 5.

Things went on and with my insights from those 130 interviews I suggested some changes in RLP Program for the present year and also proposed one revamped RLP program to be implemented from 2019 or 2020. Also, I suggested changes in the compensation and summer internship program. After my proposal, we had multiple rounds of discussion and then Hrishi gave the proposal in a concise format to CEO and HR Head.

Apart from this, I also had to prepare Pre-joining Engagement plan and Induction program for the incoming batch of RLP i.e. 2018 Batch which was to join from 4^th June. For this, we sent out first communication to all the hired people in the 2^nd last week of April. We floated a Google Form, formed a WhatsApp group for seamless interaction, arranged for their medical tests, and other formalities. I conducted some pre-joining engagement programs like Quiz and Visit a more store etc. in which all new RLPs participated enthusiastically. I also helped Shweta to arrange all administration and logistics for the induction day like Hotel Booking, Joining Kit, Information Leaflet, etc. In all my project areas Shweta helped me and mentored me a lot and I learned a lot from her.

Note -: Due to confidentiality I am not disclosing details about the project specifically. 

Doing all these things, weeks passed on and final week came and we all interns were busy with our final presentation preparation and wrapping up the work. On the last day of our stint, Hrishi called me and Saumya individually and gave us feedback and also asked for feedback from each one of us. In the next two days i.e. on 30^th and 31^st May we had a rigorous assessment in Gyanodaya Centre of ABG which is in Navi Mumbai and in the evening on 31^st, YTM threw a grand party for all of us. That party was full of fun and emotions as many interns had become close friends in the last 2 months.

Finally, on the morning of 1^st June, along with Kunal, I left for the Airport for flying back home.

This is how Summer Internship ended with lots of memories, fun moments and learnings.

I would like to thank especially Shweta Hede for all her help. Also, thanks to Karishma, Anish, Bhusan, and Anita for their support at the various point of time in ABRL. Thanks to my co-intern Saumya Khare for giving unique insights and ideas for my project during the course of the internship. Special thanks to Yogesh Grover (last year ABG Intern at ABRL) for his help whenever I required.

I would also like to thank my friends, seniors, and alums and specially Bhavya Sharma, Mridula Garg, Shirvani, Kashish, Kandha, Vighnesh, Sasi Priya, Abhinav, Sulinga, Sanchita, Harshit Loya, Kshitiz Jain, Shama Chalke and all others.

Special thanks to my dear friend Kunal Singh who tolerated lots of my phone conversations with a number of stakeholders during the internship with same interview questions which disturbed him in his conversation with his better half. Last but not the least, a very special thanks to my senior, mentor, and friend Ratika Garg who constantly guided me throughout the internship.