Preparations for my Summer Internship Program
I was super excited and hence began with my preparations for my SIP by December 2019 itself, starting with basics on advanced excel, PPT skills, Data analysis techniques, basic HR core subjects, labour laws etc. I also managed to complete 2 Live Projects by then for having an idea of corporate life before my Summer Internship. Little did I know that my most awaited corporate experience would turn out to be a virtual one, thanks to Covid-19. We were the first batch to work on virtual summer internship projects in the history of B-Schools and in the Corporate world too! While organizations were busy restructuring and transforming their businesses to adapt to the “new normal”, the Talent management teams were super busy in exploring creative ways to onboard us, their Summer Interns!
Internship Experience
Talking about my SIP experience at ABG, our Young Talent Management (YTM) Team had a world full of opportunities planned for us. It was a very structured program. Our projects were well detailed, Mentors and HR SPOCs were arranged well in advance. We had numerous engagement activities that happened on a weekly basis, a simulation game, social media challenges and also access to a bunch of extremely useful online Courses made available to us apart from our Project. Without any doubt, I can say that ABG has provided me with the best learning opportunity and an extremely engaging virtual internship experience. The quality of work and resources provided were exceptional. It was great to e-meet and share thoughts with like-minded folks from various premier B-Schools and Industry Leaders at ABG.
Learnings and Takeaways
Working closely with the HR Team at UltraTech Cement Ltd, my project involved designing an HR Intervention to improve collaboration and agility for the Salesforce, at PAN India level. The team was supremely warm, welcoming very cooperative. I'm super happy that I was able to implement my recommendations during this short, yet enriching journey with the help from the Leadership team. Even though it was a completely virtual internship, the experience was so seamless and realistic. Be it my Mentor, my HR SPOC or any internal stakeholder for that matter, each of them ensured that we were given enough time to discuss and improve our work regularly. We had regular feedback sessions and chat sessions with our stakeholders and our Business Head as well. Throughout the journey, I felt like I was part of the organization because of the warmth with which the team accepted and supported new ideas and helped me with each step that leads to its successful implementation. My key learnings from the project were the importance of branding a program, strategic and agile thinking, leadership and execution of large scale interventions and collaborating a large population virtually and improving productivity.
My advice to the Batch of 2020-22
It is only with the help and guidance from my Faculty mentors, Seniors, Alums and my Project Manager, that the journey so far culminated to be a successful one. Summer Internship is undoubtedly one of the most crucial yet the best learning opportunity one can have during their MBA life. So, make the most of it, irrespective of whether it is virtual or not. It depends on you how you utilize what you have in hand and turn it into wonders. All the best to Batch of 2022!! I’m sure you’ll have a much more adventurous story to tell us next year. I’d like to leave some food for thought to my juniors with John Quincy Adams’ words, “If your actions inspire others to Dream more, Learn more, Do more and Become more, then you are a true Leader”.
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