Summer Internship Experience: Nihal, IIM Rohtak

Learn and get an insight into the details of the project, prepare the HR and technical questions to crack the interview to get the dream job.

The summer internship is one of the most significant aspects of every premier B schools and getting a PPO out of it is a dream for most of the students in a B school.

I got the opportunity to do a summer internship with Berger Paints. In this article, I would share my summer internship experience that helped me to secure a PPI from Berger Paints and finally convert it as well.

Our summer internship process at Berger began at the Kolkata head office, where we had to go through a formal induction program for seven days. Once this program got over, we were allotted a project for different locations.

Every intern was assigned two projects and two different locations. The duration of the first project was five weeks, which may or may not be the same for everyone, the period for the second project was two weeks was the same, although the location was different. We were assigned a mentor for the projects who was very helpful. 

Based on the performance of my internship, I was called for the PPI process in the first week of October, and the process took place through video conferencing. The interview started with a question from the HR, and then the panellist asked about the project, my findings, and my recommendation.

The duration of the interview was forty minutes, out of which around twenty-five minutes only the project was discussed. Once the questions related to the project got over, I was asked some of the primary management textbook questions such as “What is a product? What is a brand? Difference between them?”  and so on.

During the interview process, the interviewers put me in different managerial situations and I was expected to respond accordingly.

Some of the things that helped me in converting my PPI into the final offer was are given below:

• During the SIP, I talked with a lot of stakeholders. Not only my mentors but also the employees at different levels. I think that communicating with the stakeholders is the best way to know the ground reality and the problems of the industry. The stakeholders belonging to the lowest part of the pyramid would give the best insights.
• While working on the project and suggesting recommendations, it’s better to give a realistic solution rather than a fancy one. Give a straight solution. A brief calculation related to the project would also help.
• Generally, the interview of PPI revolves around the project and the findings. So it’s better to have insight into the products and services related to the project as much as possible during the summer internship itself. Also, before going for the final interview process, go through your project once or twice and memorise the important points.
• It’s also better to prepare the essential HR and technical questions. For the situational ones, take a small pause and think about it from different perspectives.

About the Author:

Nihal Singh has completed his MBA in Marketing from IIM Rohtak (2018-2020). He has also completed BE (Mechanical) from Birla Institute of Technology, Mesra. After scoring 98.37 percentile in CAT. He has experience in Teaching. He completed his summer internship with Berger Paints and bagged a job offer after getting PPI