Students’ Speak: Challenges we face during internships help us prepare for the future

At Lovely Professional University, for an internship, a student has to appear for an exam. The score is added in your trimester core courses. There is a team of analysts that analyses the work you have done in your internship.

Internship is a must for those studying Master in Business Administration (MBA). During my course of studying MBA, I had the opportunity to undergo two internships. Both my internships were with public sector companies, Bihar State Milk Federation (COMFED), and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), working at the ground level.

During my first internship of a duration of two months with COMFED, I worked as a marketing training wherein I had to analyse the market of the nearby localities. Based on the market survey, I had to prepare a marketing plan for the company. This helped us develop strategies on how to increase the sales of milk and milk-related products and beverages during summer.

The second internship was for a duration of six months with NABARD. I worked there as a Volunteer Staff with a focus on “stubble burning” and “crop residue management”. During the internship, I had to make farmers aware of the ill effects of stubble burning and ideas about crop residue management. Also, I was asked to create a business proposal for the farmers about new tools and machines of farming. The most challenging thing during this internship was the language of the community, which was Punjabi. I, being more fluent in Hindi and English, took a while to understand Punjabi. Another challenging thing was to gather a crowd during the farming period in Punjab and to convince them to not to burn stubble. Also, the timings were odd during the internship as I had to get up early to talk with the farmers while they were in the field.

At Lovely Professional University, for an internship, a student has to appear for an exam. The score is added in your trimester core courses. There is a team of analysts that analyses the work you have done in your internship. There is also a viva, PowerPoint presentation and report. Those who have already registered for the placements get the opportunity by the college to sit in the internship drives organised by the placement cell. Some of the well-known companies that come for the internship recruitment include Aditya Birla Group, ITC, KPMG, Amazon, etc.

The average package offered during the internship is Rs 7,000. Most of the companies start visiting the college from the very first trimester.

During my internship viva exam, I was asked questions related directly to the report of the marketing plans I had created. LPU also considers the company's feedback on the intern. So, always give your best in your internships. After the completion of the internship, many students also get pre-placement offers just because of their better performance during their internship period.

About the Author:

Aman Kumar is an MBA student at Lovely Professional University with experience in marketing, banking, educational management and strategy. Some of the key skills include leadership, team building and strategy-focused work along with problem-handling skills. Experienced in crop residue management, Kumar has worked as an intern at Bihar State Milk Federation (COMFED).