Read more to find out in this regular column by Indira Bisht, Consulting Editor for ‘Jobs & Career’ domain at MBAUniverse.com. Summer internship is exciting; most likely this is your first brush with a corporate job which will mark the start of your career. Therefore, it’s obvious that there are a lot of questions running through your mind when it comes to embarking on this test-run for your future. In this column, I’ll address the common queries and questions regarding Summer Internships.
First up, understand what are the typical companies that come to your campus for taking summer interns. This will help you put a context to your search. You also need to check whether your campus is open about you signing up for a summer internship on your own. Most Business Schools should have no problem with that and so you must prepare your own plan of action to get a great summer training experience.
You need to begin by evaluating the industries that are
- Of interest to you career-wise value your strengths – For example, if you are great at creating communication ideas, you are well-suited to look at a career in events, advertising, promotions, marketing. Create a list of the top companies in these areas and then connect with them.
- Promise a potential for a career in the future – It is important to get a macro view of the market and understand the trends that will impact industries. Currently, for instance wellness, education are spaces that are poised for growth in the future. If you have an interest in these, you could go for an internship in these sectors rather than pursuing the traditionally preferred options. I would round this point up by saying that most industries in India provide options for growth, so do not just try to track the market to make your decision; let it be a combination of both these aspects.
How should I decide which company should I look at from the summer training point of view?
Once you have a list of the typical companies who turn up at your campus and of those who don’t but you would like to approach them; the next step is to understand what do they typically look for in their summer interns. By speaking with seniors, alumni and others you will be able to get the answers. For those who do not come to your campus, you ll need to tackle another area – how do I contact them? Using personal networks helps the best where you can get someone working for company X to recommend you for a training position; you can also try reaching the HR managers at mid and small companies on your own by writing a customized email on why you would like them to consider you.
What should you look at deriving from a summer training stint?
Once you have nailed that interview and are on your way to joining the organization of your choice for a summer internship, what should be your plan? You would say it would simply be to do great work on your project. You are not entirely right. There is a lot more that you should derive from this experience in order to benefit your career in the long-term.
Jyotirmoy Bose, founder of Whitespaces Consulting suggests students should open up to this experience as a lesson in learning the corporate reality. “Most MBA students have no prior work ex, so for them this is a time to really learn how well the theories and textbook concepts and processes apply in real corporate scenarios.” An approach of an observer where you observe and absorb the details of how things are done; what are the challenges in implementation of ideas and strategies etc.
Here are two stories of MBA students who utilized this opportunity to get benefits that served them well in the long-term and the lessons from them
Anu, 22 got a chance to do her summer training in a leading media organization. While she was there, she made sure that she interacted with as many people as she could and though her project mainly revolved around research; her eventual choice was a media sales job. She made sure that she extended the scope of her project to include taking inputs from the sales team and built a rapport with them. She also displayed initiative by constantly tying the project with organizational objectives and made sure she took time to understand the company culture. At the end of the project, not only was her work appreciated; she got a job at the company by staying in touch with the sales team through the second year and she even helped a few friends out by getting references from her friends in media sales.
Kshitij 21 started his summer training at the FMCG company of his choice and besides working hard on his project, he made sure that his guide and him shared a great rapport. He went the extra mile to unburden his senior at times and at the time of final recruitments, his guide argued for hiring Kshitij in his team. He ended up with the job of his dream.
- Utilise this opportunity to network as much as you can across the organization. The best way to do this is to extend the scope of the project or take an initiative that demands you to interact with many teams in the same organization. Even if you choose at the time of placements to look for opportunities in another industry, you would benefit from the network you have created. Jyoti extends a very relevant caveat when it comes to networking “Don’t be aggressive about networking; collecting business cards is not the objective. It’s about creating contacts that would help you in the future, so quality of the network matters a lot”. He is right; an over-aggressive networker would turn off people in an organization; rather you could find ways to expand your work so that you are expected to interact with many people. Cultivate contacts, spend time nurturing them and don’t go with a target number of visiting cards or people to add to your linkedin profile. Quality over Quantity, anytime.
- Display the qualities of hard work, initiative, team spirit, respect for the organisational culture and understand what kind of an employee the organization prefers. If you are keen on joining the organization where you are interning, it’s important to seal your case for a sure shot PPO. This means displaying qualities that anyone would expect in a good employee but also understanding the nuances of an organization and then choosing to showcase them in your behavior. Again, don’t fake it; just bring out aspects of yourself that would resonate well within the organization. Also, creating a favourable impression on your boss or project guide will go a long way in getting you on board a year from now. She will be the best lobbyist inside the organization for your placement so you need to target her and make her feel that you will add immense value by being in the organization.
- Pay as much attention to learning about the reality of corporate life. Immersing yourself in the project is great but not at the cost of ignoring the real learning that needs to take place. Picking up these nuances is an extremely important part of your learning experience.
What are companies’ thinking of when they hire a summer trainee?Sruti Bora, Capability Manager at Cadbury’s India talks about the dual approach to hiring “Companies follow either of these two or a combination of these two hiring policies for hiring. Some choose to build by hiring, fostering and developing talent within the organization and for them the summer training system is an important part of identifying talent at an early stage. The second approach looks at hiring based on need, a ‘buy’ model versus a ‘build’ one. These companies could take summer interns but for them there is not necessarily the promise of a job at the end of this period.
Sruti talks about the premium that Cadbury’s as a company places on talent and therefore looks at the summer internship program with a lot of importance. “There are process and checkpoints in place to make sure we hire the kind of students that could become a part of the organization a year down the line and further take on leadership roles. “
Overall, the process will evaluate the candidate’s intelligence and soft skills connect with the organization. Based on the company’s preferences and the function for which they are hiring, they would look at a combination of these factors. Companies that focus on the ‘build’ model will have a detailed process for summer intern selection; others would be a relaxed in their approach by not following strict codes and rules. Sruti talks about the importance of Judgment, Drive and Influence in various permutations and combinations which is the template for selecting candidates in any scenario.
To break it down further, Judgment refers to the ability to understand a problem in a context and to analyse this to arrive at solutions. Drive refers to the motivation levels and the ability to persist and influence is a combination of both that results in having a soft power of influencing people to act a certain way. So companies are looking for a mix of IQ, Motivation and ability to lead people.
Summer internships provide you a host of opportunities and challenges. A planned approach and clarity of purpose will help you in maximizing the value you can derive from it and provide a great start to your career.
Columnist Indira Bisht runs Spinach Placements, a recruitment agency which she founded in 2008. A post-graduate from MICA in Brand Management, she has worked with companies like Hindustan Times, India Today, exchange4media and Miditech India. She also has a MA (Intl. Relations) from JNU. She is the Consulting Editor for the MBA Jobs & Career domain on MBAUniverse.com.
