Internship at L&T – Charisma from CMRIT

People will voice their opinion, but it depends on you that where you want to go. Paving your way based on what others say will place you in the same crowd where they all are standing, if you want to have your individuality then do what you want to do, irrespective of what others think.

“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I Learn” – Benjamin Franklin

Internships have become such an important part of a student’s resume that everyone is worried about it in their final year. I thought this internship would be a cake walk, I would just have to go into the office, sit in front of the computer, do what I’m told and get the certificate at the end of two months, but boy was I wrong.

This internship was one of the hardest decisions I had to make till date since I had done an internship during my 1st semester holidays I decided that in these holidays I will sit back but little did I know such a big opportunity would fall on my lap.

L&T was a company I had been trying to get in for an internship for quite some time, I had even sent my resume when they had come to my college for an internship for MBA but I didn’t get through, after that disappointment, the thought of internship at L&T never crossed my mind again.

As I was having lunch on a lazy afternoon with some friends I got a much-unexpected mail from my college placement cell, it read that L&T was coming for another internship opportunity to our college and we had to just go to given address and attend the interview.

This was incredible news but there was one catch, this was an unpaid internship!  Now that is not what every student wants to hear, who wants to work when they are not going to get paid. I was disappointed and it definitely crossed my mind as well, rather, I pondered upon this for a few days.

I decided to ask everyone I know in my contact list who are working in the IT industry, but  that did not make my decision any easy, as half of them told that it does not matter if I get paid or not, the experience will be worth more whereas the other half told the opposite, they told  that what is the point of putting in so much of hours for so many days if you are not getting paid. After hearing these contrast ideas, I was in a dilemma.

On the day of the interview I decided to go, just to give it a shot regardless whether I get selected or not, I’ll just go and give it my best shot. I went in, I had another colleague from my class who attended along with me, since it was an unpaid internship none of the students from my class decide to attend, this made me have second thoughts about my decision.

While I was waiting in the sitting area in the office for my turn to go into the interview, I read a magazine called TS times. It was an internal magazine at L&T. There was an article by Mr.Kapil Bakshi-Business Head-Europe Head Industry, the article was titled – To be or not to be. There was one quote by him that really sparked something in me, it changed the way I looked at the whole situation. He said, “For the first 15 years of your career, do not work for money, fame, position and power. Work to be the best at whatever you do, the next 15 years of your career you will get everything- money, fame, position, and power the best part is by then, none of that will matter to you”.

This really boosted my confidence so much that when I walked into the interview room I failed to realize that I had not taken a copy of my resume along with me. I felt so foolish, how can I forget the most basic thing I am supposed to have along with me when I go in for any interview.

Since the job profile was HR, I just had one HR round. I was flushed with embarrassment when he asked me to hand over my resume, I told him I do not have it, I had only the soft copy and I was honest with him and told him that I forgotten to take it last night and with all the address confusion I forgot to take it in the morning also, to my surprise he believed me.

The interview went quite will, just like any other HR interview a lot personal questions were asked, and since I told my hobby is to sketch, the interviewer  gave me a piece of paper and told me to sketch something. Altogether my interview went really well, I was asked when I could join.

It was an unpaid internship for 2 months as an intern for an HR in Talent Acquisition. I immediately agreed. I had to start the very next day. I have learned so much than any textbook or classroom could have ever thought me. I realized that so much backend work goes into getting a person hired and settled into a particular position in a company; really HR is the heart of every company.

This amazing work experience and this immense learning experience comes with a price, no I still didn’t get paid. But I definitely have to put in a lot of hours each day. Working 9 hours a day and for the past one month working every Saturday was not easy, but it has been an experience of a lifetime.

I am still working at L&T as I have one more month left to finish my internship, I am being mentored under a Senior Executive in Talent Acquisition and I am learning so much in the process. Right from how to send a mail to a client or to your manager, how to talk to different candidates over the phone, how to schedule interview, how to do background check and reference check, so on and so forth.

No work is easy but this little peek into the corporate world has definitely changed my perception about the way I view things. Even to this day I have friends who make fun of me for taking up such a job where u have to put in 9 hours of work per day and not get paid, this especially comes from the people who have internships which pay them. At first such comments used to make me think if I made a wrong move, but after spending an entire month, I know for a fact with what and all I have learnt in this past one month it does not matter anymore what anyone says.

I hear a lot of different comments when I tell anyone that my career path lies in HR or that I am doing my internship in HR, but the most common comment I have heard is –It is such a boring desk 9 to 5 job, there is no drastic growth, you won’t get paid much, there will be no promotions any time soon, and frankly speaking all this does not affect me. I know that’s a very weird thing to say for a student that is looking for a job in a few months, but seriously it does not matter to me.

This internship has taught me a lot that I will carry for the rest of my life. The first thing is to listen to your gut no matter what others think of your decision , I have learnt how to converse better, how to convince people and handle multiple tasks at a time and get your work done at the end of the day.

I can’t talk for everyone else but I like this 9-5 desk job and the free coffee, I’m really good at what I do. So why should others opinion matter at all, as long as you love what you’re doing and you’re learning something useful and growing, it does not matter where you’re working or if you’re getting a really big paycheck.

If Charisma’s experience motivates you, you can check the latest internships in Bangalore and HR internships.

Editor’s note- Have you got an internship story to share? A chance to win cool Internshala T and other cash prizes by sharing your internship story here.