Summer Internship with UEM India Pvt. Ltd. – Shobhit Singhal from Shri Ram College of Commerce

Daily Winner for: –  9th August 2013

Name of the intern: – Shobhit Singhal

Institute: –  Shri Ram College of Commerce

Organization interned with: – UEM India Pvt. Ltd.

My name is Shobhit Singhal and I am currently pursuing my Post Graduate Diploma Program in Management. I am a student of Shri Ram College of Commerce – Global Business Operations, University of Delhi. I was fortunate enough to get a chance to work with UEM India Pvt. Ltd. which is a part of Florida-based STP/ETP solution company, UEM Group. My Internship was in the domain of Human Resource Management.

My internship story is not filled with awesome experiences or fairy tale stories that might get the eyeballs rolling in terms of an attention-catching read. It is a story of realization, a story of coming to terms to the fact that the corporate world is demanding and anyone who thinks there is place for complacency is already out of the race.

I had wanted to enter Marketing but was always faced with options that required on-the-field sales job. I, being the part of the Placement Committee of my College, was determined to get an internship for myself based on my own efforts and it became possible with UEM. I was selected along with two other classmates and it was a fulfilling experience to know that my internship, along with the other two was the outcome of my rigorous follow up and dedication. So even HR, which was the second best option for me was satisfying enough.

Our mentor gave us projects covering areas like Industrial Relations, Goal Setting, Performance Management, Learning & Development, Compensation & Benefits and HRMS. All the interns were given separate seating arrangements and we were asked to bring along our laptops.

The initial days were a little relaxed and mostly we were asked to read as much as possible on myriad topics and make ourselves acquainted with the company policies and the various Government Acts that need compliance as the plant construction was mostly a contract based activity.

My first eye-opener came in when I was asked to get actively involved in the Goal Setting exercise at the organization. I was asked to prepare a presentation on the same, which had to be presented to the VP, MD and other likes of the highest management level. Now, personally, I always felt that I was pretty good with PPTs and had always received positive feedback from the teachers and fellow mates after every presentation in the class. But this was different.

After having spent a considerable amount of time and effort, when I presented the result for the first time, the response that came was, “Is this a presentation worthy of being presented to the MD? Shobhit, where is Your Value Addition?”

I was baffled and petrified to an extent. I had put in more than 5 hours of non stop dedicated effort and the outcome was not even close to what was expected of me as a Management Intern. Luckily I had one of the coolest mentor that one can have while interning. He was a man who put in more than 100% and expected the same from us. He would make us realize our short comings and immediately turn into a helping hand. We worked on that presentation for a few more hours. He would point out the problems and I would use all the skill that I could to solve it. As they say, Success Comes after Many Failures. So was the case. The final presentation was made to the Management and was received with positive feedback and applauds. That was the time I realized the what it means to be a protege and why one should follow his/her mentor religiously.

This was just one of the many incidents where the eye-opener moments that struck me and made me realize that as students, we have this tendency to be complacent, especially those who think they have made it to the best of the colleges (no offence to any at all).

We had a great time learning skills ranging from the ‘right way to staple a bundle of paper’ to the skills of MS-Word and Excel which are not specifically brought to our notice while we are students.

Now that I am done with my intern, I look back and realize that it was not a time of learning academically but it was more about the knowledge that shaped me as a person.

We had times of fun too. During the lunch breaks, all the interns would have lunch together and even steal a short nap whenever we got a chance. After all, there is no better pleasure than sleeping at your workplace and even watching movies at your desk. It was a wonderful mix of work and fun. The staff was very co-operative and helped us with whatever problems we faced. The thing I missed the most were the ‘intervention sessions’ that we used to have with our mentor whenever we would delay any task or feel confused about way ahead. There was a tinge of a bossy intimidation with a lot of motivation in the way we were addressed in such ‘scoldings’.

At the end, I must say that I earned knowledge, confidence and a mentor-turned-friend to help me with my future endeavours. It was my first corporate experience and it shall always be cherished that way!

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