How to get an internship in Flipkart
Editor’s note: This post was originally published on Oct 29 2018 and has been updated to make it more comprehensive and up-to-date.
“Ab har wish hogi poori” is not only applicable to Flipkart’s customers but also to the eager students who wish to be a part of the Flipkart family. To the glee of the students, the e-commerce war between Flipkart and Amazon has driven both of them to acquire a higher number of interns. However, the Flipkart recruitment process for these coveted internships continues to be equally taxing.
What are the types of Flipkart internships and who can apply?
Flipkart internships are open to students pursuing bachelors or masters in computer science or business management; they also hire students from other backgrounds if they can prove their mettle during the interviews. Software development, product management, operation management, and HR are a few profiles in which one can find an internship at Flipkart. Flipkart offers virtual and in-office internships and provides interns with a stipend of 25K-35K. At the end of your Flipkart internship, it’s possible to land a pre-placement offer.
How to apply for a Flipkart internship?
There are 3 ways to secure an internship at Flipkart –
1. Referrals – You can connect with Flipkart employees via LinkedIn and Facebook and request them to refer you for an internship interview. Watch Yask’s experience to know how he approached the VP of Engineering to get an internship.
2. Campus placements – Flipkart visits several selected colleges like IITs, IIMs, XLRI, NID, and NIFT as a part of its campus placement program.
3. Mailing the HR executive – It is possible to gain a lateral entry if you forward a skillfully structured resume and a statement of purpose to the HR executive.
4. Participating in competitions – Flipkart hosts case-study competitions such as WiRED. All B-school students are eligible to apply and winners get a chance to participate in pre-placement interviews for internships and full-time roles in business, HR, and supply chain teams.
Other than the case-study competition, Flipkart also hosts competitions for engineering students such as GRiD.
5. Runway internship program – This program is an off-campus placement program that aims to hire 2nd-year female students.
6. Launchpad – Since 2019, Flipkart has been organising a 45-day internship programme around the Big Billion Days sale. Interns are hired from all UG, PG, and diploma courses except B.Tech for supply chain management roles.
You can browse the Flipkart careers page to know more about internships at Flipkart. Are you hiring like Flipkart, post a job vacancy and find the right candidate for the job.
What after placing your Flipkart application?
Flipkart’s hiring committee is highly meticulous when it comes to filtering possible candidates. The process varies according to the profile of the internship, though it generally consists of three rounds – an online test followed by a technical and an HR round.
Online Test –
For technical profiles, Flipkart conducts a 90-minute coding test where an applicant’s programming abilities are evaluated. Thorough understanding of certain data structures like hashing, binary tree, queues, and stack comes in handy during the test. For non-technical profiles, they conduct an aptitude test or a group discussion, wherein you’ll be given topics related to general awareness such as ‘Is social media good or bad?’, ‘Is India ready to be a cashless economy?’, and ‘Discuss the problems of e-commerce in tier 2 and tier 3 areas’.
Interview rounds –
Technical internships: Following are a few Flipkart interview questions posed during the technical round –
1. Check whether the given binary tree is a binary search tree. Discuss various approaches.
2. Which is the fastest method to sort an almost sorted array?
3. What is a hash table? Explain how hash function and buckets work.
4. In the given array of integers, find Pythagorean triplets.
5. Compute the nearest palindrome number of the given number.
Non-technical internships: Generally, they ask guesstimate and real-time questions during this round. Few sample questions are –
1. What is the weight of an aircraft?
2. How many windows are there in Chicago?
3. How many vehicles are there on the Chennai roads between 5 and 6 p.m.?
4. Do you think e-commerce would flourish in India?
5. What are the factors that should be taken into consideration if you want to set up a grocery shop?
6. Provide some solutions to reduce shipping costs to remote pin codes.
HR round –
Few sample questions are –
1. What are your strengths and weaknesses?
2. Why did you apply for a Flipkart internship?
3. How will you contribute to Flipkart?
4. What challenges did you face in your previous stint(s) and how did you tackle them?
You can check out this video for more Flipkart interview questions.
What to expect once your internship in Flipkart starts?
While most Flipkart internships have been virtual during the pandemic, Flipkart will be switching to a hybrid working model in the coming year and there might be scope for interns to experience the in-office internship.
The Flipkart interns or Flinterns are received from the airport and put up at a hotel for 2 weeks until they can arrange for an accommodation on their own. The orientation day is designed in a way as to ensure that all Flinterns feel right at home. The interns participate in fun-filled group activities and receive a goodie bag along with a Flipkart T-shirt.
Flipkart has an informal and non-hierarchical work culture. Each Flintern is allocated a mentor and a buddy to show him the ropes. Thanks to this approach, the intern not only gains a holistic understanding of the operation but also imbibes the culture of the company. Flinterns also have the liberty to select their own projects and are given complete ownership of their projects. Flipkart has a stress-busting zone that consists of video games, archery, bowling, air hockey, bunker rooms, and a well-stocked pantry.
Former Flinterns’ Gyaan –
1. Know the Flipkart website inside-out and understand how its operations are structured. A holistic understanding of e-commerce would come in handy.
2. Make sure that your resume is up-to-date and has the relevant experience listed out. Your projects and previous internship experience(s) are of interest to the hiring committee so you can expect questions regarding those in the Flipkart interview.
3. If you’re applying for a technical internship, brush up your coding skills. You can use this site to practice technical questions.
Read Vivek’s exhilarating internship journey at Flipkart to know more about the Flipkart world. You can also watch this video encapsulating the life of a Flintern.
Now that you are acquainted with the Flipkart hiring process, are you all fired up to apply for a summer internship at Flipkart? Go ahead and send your Flipkart application immediately! You can look for similar computer science and management internships by registering here.
Image credits: www.thenational.ae.com