Guest blogger, Meghana Kanisetti, an MBA student at SIBM – Bengaluru, shares her experience of interning at global business management giant, Genpact.
Despite having made quite a few unconventional academic and career choices in my life, my Summer Internship with Genpact is still one of the most eye-opening experiences of my life. Why? Because no school or college can prepare you for what it feels like to work in a corporate environment – a market leader in its sector at that. For me, the internship hit all the right notes – from feeling nervous and insignificant on the first day, to being surprised when we (other interns and I) were greeted with personalized goodies to finally walking out of the Corporate Headquarters two months later, with a successfully implemented project, a much-enriched professional network, and a Best Intern nomination to boast.
Genpact has very thorough and well thought out Internship program for B-school graduates. No surprise there, considering their best-in-business Campus Recruitment Team, which ensures that they leverage the talent they have in the best way possible. We got to meet around 80 other MBAs from some of the best B-schools in the country. The induction was a fun-filled and interactive two days – Leadership sessions, networking dinners, and orientation tours (yes, we got unlimited face-time with the Leadership as well as unlimited ice-cream).
I was assigned a Talent Supply Chain project, and was personally mentored by the Vice President of Strategy and the Global Hiring Head. I was based out of the Corporate HQ in Gurgaon, which was an added advantage as I got to see many of the company’s bigwigs in action, and learnt the subtle art of networking productively in a corporate setting. My mentor, despite being a Vice President, ensured that she took time out of her busy schedule to make my experience a fruitful one. In the beginning, when I was truly baffled by the organizational structure that Genpact has, with all its verticals and bands, she sat me down over coffee, and made me a schematic diagram of the organization structure on the first page of my diary – a page I would refer to almost every day I was there. She helped me make all the right connections across the People function, and only later did I realize how important those connections would be in getting high quality output. From the difference between data to insights, to condensing a 26-slide deck into three meaningful slides, I learnt endless number of invaluable tips and tricks, and went on to complete my project with time to spare. It was reviewed by the C-Suite level, and much to my delight, chosen for immediate implementation.
Finally, I conclude by saying that although I’m sure that every internship is a learning experience in itself, there are few who do it with the kind of style and panache that Genpact does. If you’ve managed to stay awake through all my rambling and reached this paragraph – here are a few tips: never be afraid to ask questions (it’s natural to be confused at the start), don’t underestimate yourself (they’ve recruited you for a reason), take full advantage of your internship – work all day, party (network) all night, and learn every possible skill you can. Do this, and you’re sure to have an amazing Summer Internship experience as I did!
