A learning-packed journey at Linenwalas – How Sushmita made the most of her internship
About the Author: Sushmita Sharma is pursuing MBA in Foreign Trade from Banaras Hindu University. She interned at Linenwalas and provides an insight into her first experience of the corporate world.
This summer was all about stepping a foot in the corporate world. Although I was nervous, I knew the key to learning lay in facing my fears. My interactions with my seniors about corporate experiences resulted in a decision to intern. I had been searching for an internship which could provide me insights on the functioning of an organization and push me to the limits.
Recruiters from various companies visited our college but neither were they reputed enough to match my expectations nor were they providing any stipend. After days of fruitless search, I finally came across a business development internship at Linenwalas, a brand of Singhal exports, an e-commerce company which manufactures, supplies, and exports bed, kitchen, and bath linen. I applied to it and was asked to visit their office for an interview.
Since I was based at Varanasi and the company was in Jaipur, I was interviewed over the phone. The telephonic interview started with the most common question which was to describe me, followed by questions about the company and what it dealt in. HR ma’am also asked questions regarding my specialization and technical knowledge. Then she asked me how I would ensure working as per their expectations being a novice. I didn’t quite know how to answer it at that instance but I convinced her that I was ambitious and dedicated enough to fulfill their expectations. As the next step in the process, I was given an assignment which aimed at testing my computer skills. My ongoing exams made it a little difficult to submit the assignment before the deadline, but I somehow completed it on time. After few days, I received an email stating that I had been hired as a business development intern and I couldn’t be happier.
Linenwalas has more than twenty-five products and several departments; I knew interning there wouldn’t be a cakewalk. During my internship, I coordinated with customer relationship management department to communicate the demands and grievances of the customers and interacted with the production and the quality check departments to produce goods ensuring quality. I did order analyses in order to manage the inventory ensuring that only in-demand goods were produced owing to the limited capacity of warehouses. I also worked as an account manager for e-com listings of products on Amazon, eBay, Shopclues, and Craftly, which helped me gather details of the products. I took on various promotional strategies such as exhibitions, social media advertising to increase the visibility of the brand, email advertising, and messaging customers via Zoho to inform them of the new products. Another responsibility I undertook was helping the organization increase sales and reducing returns. While working on reducing the returns, I found that there wasn’t a timely tracking of the shipped products which resulted in delays in delivery. So, I began seeking feedbacks from the customers, analyzing the problems, and communicating the same to the respective departments.
The journey never fell short of learning. Each day brought new challenges and I accepted them gladly. My mentors and the CEO of the company, Madhur Singhal, guided me throughout my tenure and I learned a great deal from them. It has been a wonderful experience working at Linenwalas.
Do you also want to be a part of such an exciting journey? Check out these cool MBA internships.
Editor’s note – If you also have an interesting story to share, you can now participate in Your Internship Story Contest 2017 and win cash prizes and goodies worth INR 1 Lac!
