Students’ Speak: Practice these 5 tips to bag internship offers with top brands

By: Udit Attri

Internships can often be the foundation for good pre-placement offers in case of management students. Udit shares some excellent tips to get internship opportunities with top corporate houses.

Internships are the proven catalysts towards your ultimate goal of being placed in a reputed company at a handsome package.

Almost 75 percent of the questions in the personal interview round of final campus placement revolves around the learnings and roles & responsibilities you have undertaken during your internship. It is very important to do internships, particularly in the domain in which you are looking to land your dream job.

For MBA, almost in all the reputed institutions and universities, Summer Internships are the compulsory part of the curriculum.

Tips for getting selected in internship drive:

• Keep your analytical skills brushed up for the online/written exam. Most of the questions will be from Quants, Statistics, English and Current Affairs related to the industry in which you are seeking to get an internship opportunity.
• For clearing Group discussion, regularly read newspapers and if you do not have that habit, start reading the online news app of Economic Times.
• Most of the GD topics will be from hot topics and current trends in the industry. A few of the examples are Citizen Amendment Bill (CAB), the economy of India, GDP trends of India, America-China trade war, Brexit, etc.
• After GD, the next step is Personal/Panel interview, where the interviewer evaluates whether the candidate has basic knowledge of domain/industry, let it be Marketing, Finance, HR, Operations, etc.
• Never show any location constraints to the interviewer. You should ideally reply that you are ready to relocate anywhere for the internship as per the company requirements.

Internship project topic should always be formulated by the industry mentor under whom you are doing internship and with the college teacher or mentor allotted. Your institute will allot you a teacher who will help you with any challenge faced during the internship.

You should always be regular during internships i.e., an intern must try to maintain attendance above 90 percent if you are looking for a pre-placement offer from the company. 

There is usually an industry feedback form provided to you by the university/institution which should be filled by your industry mentor under whom you are doing internship. The mentor will be giving you marks based on the various parameters such as regularity, punctuality, attitude towards the project, performance/target achievement if your internship is in Sales.

Look for any bottlenecks if they exist in any department of the company and come up with the cost-effective and realistic suggestions that can be implemented.

Work tirelessly and show a positive attitude towards doing any work in the organization. This hard work of 45-60 days will help you prove that you know about the ins and outs of the industry as well as the organization and will surely pave a path for your entry to the corporate domain.

About the Author:

Udit Attri is a student at Lovely Professional University, studying Masters in Business Administration. He is a second-year student and has interned with brands such as Walmart India and Decathlon Sports. He is also a State Representative from the state of Haryana in the Indian Red Cross Society.