How I redefined internships at Internshala
About the author: Shailesh Dagar, a B.Tech student at Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Technology, regales us with the tale of his 1-day internship at Internshala.
510 minutes—that’s the time I spent at the Internshala office with a surprisingly young team and 10 other interns. We were the chosen ele’ONE’! It all began when I received an email from my college’s placement cell regarding Internshala’s 1-day internship program. I opened the Google form wherein I had to create my application for the internship, and the first thing I read was ‘Be creative’. I found it quite interesting because I hadn’t come across many internship applications that urged the candidates to be creative with their answers. Soon after I submitted my application, I received a call from Shobha, the HR manager at Internshala. She asked me about my availability and my expectations from this stint. Since the only information we were made privy to was that we would learn how the website works and how an internship is posted on their platform, that’s all I was expecting, though it turned out to be a lot more fun than that!
I must brag that I was the first one to reach their office on the day of 1-day internship. I entered and saw this open-space office architecture which kind of reminded me of the movie ‘The Social Network’ (the scene where Andrew Garfield smashes Jesse Eisenberg’s laptop, thankfully, no one was smashing laptops there). Then, I immediately saw the infamous ‘Do Epic Shit’ wall, which I should refer to as ‘The Wall’ since they have Game of Thrones themed meeting rooms, named King’s Landing, Eyrie, Winterfell, etc. What a bunch of nerds! We toured the office and saw a room with soundproof padding where they torture their interns and even their screams can’t be heard. Don’t be frightened; this room is actually to record voice-overs for their trainings. And finally, we saw the Iron Throne, where Sarvesh, the CEO of Internshala, sits. I was quite impressed to see there was no hierarchy and no cubicles.
The day started with an introductory session followed by a brainstorming session. Members from different teams explained what their teams do at Internshala and answered our never-ending questions. Here’s a secret: these people really know their stuff! We also discussed ways to improve the website and app, and I think I should add ‘Made Internshala better’ to my resume. I was then stationed at King’s Landing where I had the pleasure of meeting a fellow Potterhead, Sehal. He was wearing ‘The glasses’—I should have picked up on that sooner; it is believed that he always carries his Elder wand with him. After about half an hour of being uncharacteristically non-hyperverbal, someone said ‘Kisi ne Gully Boy dekhi kya?’. That was the ice-breaker and then, we all got to talking! The best part of the day was the lunch (and not just because it was free although that is the primary reason). All of us—interns and mentors—had lunch together and bantered like old friends.
We were all assigned a mentor—shout-out to Jaskeerat who taught me how to screw around with internships as an admin. Just kidding! She introduced me to the employer dashboard and explained the entire process of making an internship live on the platform. I was amazed to see how each and every internship goes through a stringent authentication process before being approved. Once I was acquainted with the process, I posted a few internships on my own. I proofread the internships to ensure that they were error-free and complied with the existing terms & conditions. Internshala team has done such a good job of streamlining this process that posting internships seemed like a cake-walk. While working as an admin on the website, I understood the whole journey of posting an internship on Internshala. My mentor and I also played a game where I listed some big brands and we checked whether they post internships on Internshala, and you’d be surprised to know that they have nailed every last one of ’em. Quite impressive, fellas!
Finally, at the end of the day, all the interns gave their farewell speeches and collected their certificates along with an Amazon voucher and Internshala t-shirt. Most importantly, I made 4 new friends on the way back. Yash, Manvi, Manisha, and Charchika, if you’re reading this, thanks for being there that day, and I would love to meet you again. One last thing I must add though: if someone decides to intern here, do not miss the third Friday. Something super awesome happens on third Fridays here. By the way, I’m still waiting for this Friday’s invite!
Editor’s note – If you too desire to be part of a team that successfully combines work and fun, visit here to apply.
