Company's problem Intern's Opportunity

These days MBA students are actively looking for summer internships. They will start their summer projects from mid-April and continue until mid-June. What are the objectives of the internships? Is internship a work experience? How is it different than the work experience? What should be focused during the internship? What should students look for during the internship? How to identify good internship projects? This article is an outcome of my 18 years of experience in generating internships for my MBA students, forming projects for them and guiding them through those projects.

An intern has to identify & define company's problems & convert them into live projects, that will be intern's opportunity to learn.

The internship should create an experience like it is explained in the adjoining figure. When a cow grazes a crane walks by her side. It will eat insects which will fly due to cows movement. A cow is also happy because the crane is saving her pain which would be caused by insect bites. The crane also eats the flies on the body of a cow which bother a cow by sucking her blood. Thus there is a win-win situation for a cow & a crane. Companies & interns have to create similar situation during the internship. Here a cow symbolizes the company and the crane symbolizes an intern. The intern has to pick up the problems when a company is running its operations. Plus intern has to work on perennial problems with which a company struggles on the ongoing basis like cost reduction, downsizing, productivity improvement, business development, funds flow management etc. I have seen many interns insisting for some project in their area of interest, e.g. branding or investment banking etc. The company may not be very keen to offer internship projects in those areas. They want interns to work on their problem and make the life easy for the line managers. In real life situation, the line managers have some problems for which they cannot spare time because of other immediate priorities. If an intern takes up such topics as internship project then line managers would happily help them. In such a case, they would provide their executive time, resources & budgets.

Making the internship fruitful for the organization & for the intern is the key objective of the internship.

Company & intern have to work together & create a win-win situation for the both. The company's objective is to get the quantifiable returns from the intern. These returns provided by the intern must justify the time invested by the intern & other employees. It should also justify the budgetary support & allocation of the other resources to the internship.

Playing & practicing with champions is the best way of getting a world class coaching. Even if for a short duration, internship provides you such opportunity. Internship is an integral part of professional education like MBA, Doctors, Charter Accountants, Company Secretaries, Cost Accountants. In MBA Students intern when they complete the first year and about to go for the second year. The summer vacation of about 2 to 3 months gets utilized for the academic activity. Some B schools make it a mandatory part of the degree with an evaluation attached to it, others keep it as an optional activity.

Freshers look at internship as an opportunity to get the corporate exposure, companies look at it as a source of a short-term employment

Usually, education is imparted in a conditioned class environment. Authors of textbooks & teachers in class try hard to provide a practical aspect of learning. They provide real-life examples, cases and also use other simulation techniques so that students get the feel of the real-life situation. But they can't transform the classroom completely.

Classroom focuses on development of knowledge; internship focuses on developing attitudes & skills.

Internship is a time when a student gets an opportunity to see the champions in action. It is fun to be in the NBA team of Lebron James, give a right pass to him & watch him score a basket while standing just a few feet from him. Many cricketers learnt to play with the cricketing God, Sachin Tendulkar. To be on non-striking end and partnering a century with him was the dream for any cricketer. Interns get such opportunity. It is enough even if they just pass a ball to Lebron James or just push the ball in cover, take a single run and give the strike to Sachin. Staying on the ground with a champion is important. You are not expected to score a century or a Wimbledon record. An internship is not a job, you can afford to make mistakes but you should not repeat them.

An internship is a practice session & not a match. It is learning by doing.

My daughter, Supriya, (Seen in the photo, at Credit Suisse, ICC, Hong Kong) did her internship with Swiss Bank in Hong Kong (Credit Suisse), in their investment banking department. She learnt a lot by observation. Working on the 99th floor of the 108 storied International Commerce Centre (ICC), the tallest building in Hong Kong was really fun. But getting there was as difficult as climbing those 99 floors without any halt. She had to clear 4 rounds of interviews, each lasted for about 30 to 45 minutes, by very senior executives from Hong Kong, on the internet. The process of selection itself offered many learning lessons to Supriya. During the internship, she worked with the top investment banking professionals in the world who were educated in the best B-schools of the world. Supriya carefully watched these corporate champions, their way of working, their rigor, their soft-skills, discipline, work ethics & mannerism, human skills, work plan & execution, commitment, promptness etc. She could find out the reasons behind their successful corporate career. She once told us that investment bankers can't sleep at night because they don't have a night. When trading closes in one country, it opens in another. I could see a visible difference in the way she works after this internship. No amount of money can buy such a unique experience. I feel my daughter is blessed and hence she got this opportunity. The God is kind to my child.

An internship is 'Maid of the mist' boat ride at Niagara falls. It provides the ultimate experience of the Niagara falls.

There is a great difference in watching a video on Niagara falls and taking a ride in the 'Maid of the mist' boat. Although the 3D modeling takes us near to the experience, the 4D experience is irreplaceable. The fourth dimension makes you the part of the story and gives you an opportunity to live that unique experience yourself. An internship is a sojourn which can create unique memories by providing you opportunities to work alongside the champions in the field of your chosen profession.

Attitude & perspective defines your experiences & inferences during internship.

How you enjoy this boat ride reflects your attitude towards life. Do you get excited by the thunder of the waterfall or annoyed by the roar? Do you enjoy the sprinkles showered by Niagara at you or worry about your shoes getting wet? Ability to accept things as it is, remaining open to coaching, looking at things from a coach's perspective & dissolving yourself into the team while providing the team with an added flavor by your talent & contribution, makes you succeed in the internship

Developing resilience and tenacity is the key to optimizing the value of internship.

Not everything about an internship is rosy. There are patches of frustrations & boredom. The quality to hold on to difficult things, tenacity, is important. The interns must demonstrate an ability to come back quickly from difficulties. How fast they spring back defines their elasticity. Such adaptability is appreciated by the companies. Two interns may undergo the same internship programme but what they learn depends on their perspectives. The experience remaining constant, the inferences are the function of the attitudes of the person undergoing the experience.

Every internship has some dirty part. How you manage it defines your take away from the internship

Some interns just watch champions playing hard but successful interns push themselves towards these champions and put their shoulders to the wheel. They provide the help. In Hindu mythology, Ramayana, there is a beautiful story about how a small squirrel helped the God Rama while he & his soldiers were constructing a bridge on the sea. The squirrel was bringing sand and putting it in the gaps between two stones. Nobody noticed her but she continued to do this thankless job. Rama got impressed by the dedication and by the attitude to help. He blessed the squirrel. The moral of that story is that even an intern can provide support to the professionals who are working on a tough task. The help may appear minor but many times it is critical to the success of the team. Have you not seen a musician who adds value to the orchestra by playing a seemingly minor instrument? The great Indian musician, R D Burman was a maestro who identified such talented people who can create sounds by day to day things like a comb. But the value they added was great though it was not apparent.

An attitude to contribute & add value to the team, is important in internship.

Identify a 'Guru' (guide) An intern has to look for a guide who can take him through the internship. Usually, companies provide an executive for the guidance but there is a tendency to work as a facilitator rather than a guide or a coach. Very few executives have the commitment to impart training.

Some executives are good professionals but poor coach, some are too busy to be a coach. Companies generally provide senior people as a guide. The access to such senior people becomes a problem for the intern. The structural gap between the senior & the intern becomes too wide a gap to jump. The senior finds it difficult to come down to the level of the intern. Such factors develops & widens the communication gap. The trainee gets nervous and the senior person loses his track. Finally the guidance remains restricted to guidance on writing a final report because of the systems requirement laid down by the HR dept.

Lack of emotional & intellectual bond between intern & coach results into mediocre internship experience for company & intern

Seniors ask trainees to bench mark earlier reports because of the paucity of their executive time. The intern makes the necessary changes with the guidance from 'google' & the internship becomes another mandatory academic report with a professional aesthetics but unprofessional professional content. The report remains structurally accurate but academically & professionally hollow.

How to develop bonds during internship The onus of developing bonds is with the intern. It comes only through a hard & smart work during internship. The most important part is reaching the office promptly, even before seniors reach the office.

Problem with being punctual is that nobody is there to appreciate

Be Visible: Intern should wish seniors everyday morning so that his presence is registered in the minds of people. They should not leave the office without the knowledge of seniors. They must record their outdoor work. Remaining in office everyday at least for a few hours is important unless you are traveling.

Observe Self Imposed Discipline: Don't occupy other's desk & chairs. Speak softly. Avoid mobile calls. Don't use social media for personal work. Be brief, care for time & privacy of others. Follow office order. Avoid leaves during internship. Be honest and transparent.

Work Extended hours People love to see interns working hard. There is a natural feeling among employees that interns are in a great hurry to go home even before office hours. Prove them wrong by your actions. Reach the office first & leave it the last.

In India, Sincerity is measured in terms of hours spend in office, after office hours.

Indian can't say no to 'Prasad' (part of food offered to the God). It has to be distributed among people after pilgrimage. Interns can break ice & get into conversation with people using such opportunity. Indians also love food. Rapport can be made by sharing food, fruits with people in office. Another powerful tool is helping people in their work. If intern takes initiative & asks people in office 'how can I help you?' then it creates a positive impact. A few of my students use to stay late in office & used to go to office on weekends just to help others in their work. It reflected well about their attitude. People in office also obliged them & provided extra-ordinary support and project related data which was very difficult to get otherwise.

How to identify good internships? These days there are many avenues besides strong family connections. Some companies have standard internship programmes.They either visit a college campus or take applications through their websites. Faculty members with good industry connect can help you in getting the internship. There are websites which can provide internships with a stipend. But one should be careful that they are not cheap-labor assignments. Developing professional contacts through social media & leveraging it for getting an internship is also works. Getting memberships of different business, industry associations & getting an internship through PR is another way.

Should I do internship only in my intended specialization field & Sector? Preferably yes. I have seen students realizing their mistake of choosing wrong specialization only after they start working, post MBA. Some times they are victims of wrong advice or peer pressure or parental aspirations.

Internship provides exposure to the field of aspirations. Students can use it to make -up their mind about their specialization.

But don't be very fussy about it. If you are getting a live project in a good organization which can offer you good learning value then just jump on it. Your potential employer would want to know how sincerely you worked on any given project, what methodology did you adopt, how you added value to the organizational cause, how the organization got benefited by your work & what was your learning value from the project. Your project can be in Finance, Marketing, HR, Operations or Systems it hardly matters. Secondly, you may decide not to take-up a career in that field after your internship so in that case you will have to advocate your logic well. Employers are also open for different sectors. A student who has done very good internship in Advertising agency can be considered for a banking job & vice versa.

Is a stipend important? Why not? but not a must. However, the company must take care of the field & other project related expenses. A stipend indicates a seriousness on the part of a company. The managers in the company also become answerable, internally, when the company offers a stipend. A student gets the satisfaction of earning money. It helps to understand the value of money and dignity of labor.

Summer Internship Programme at my B school:- Our great visionary leader Late Shri N J Yasasvi developed a very effective model of internship at ICFAI Business School, (IBS). It has evolved over a period of time & become a Unique feature of our MBA programme because of the strong industry support and appreciation. To protect the commercial interest of my institution I am avoiding to discuss it on the public forum. It has many unique features. Potential students planning to seek admission would definitely get to know more about it, on one to one meeting when they visit our IBS-Mumbai campus at Powai, Hiranandani Park, in Mumbai or meet our admission counselors.

When Supriya was preparing for her Credit Suisse interviews, I made her see a few videos on YouTube. One of the videos was of the CEO & Chairman of Goldmann Sachs, Lloyd Blankfein talking to inters at Goldman Sachs in New York. Click on the link below to watch but do it after you complete the article reading. It will take quite some time.

What best can happen to you? A company might offer you a final job after completion of your education on the basis of your internship. It can be the ideal thing for both. The company gets to select an employee after watching him for at least 2 months in a working situation. You also get to know the organization culture & will know what to expect as an employee. It also saves you from a trauma of looking for a job in the market where getting an employment is becoming more & more difficult, day by day. An internship can also help you to identify your field of interest & you can decide about your specialization. You can also identify successful corporate leaders as your mentors & senior young professionals as your buddies.

Word of Caution Don't do an internship in the office where your family member or family friend works in the senior position. You will always face a positive & negative prejudice which will take out your fun & rigor. Go to an office where people would know you only by your talent & work. The rest will follow. Good luck dear students, get up & go..... In case you need further guidance get in touch with me. My contact details are given below.

About the Author: Prof Dr Ajit Patil was awarded 'Top Voice on LinkedIn - 2017'. He is a Management Writer; Marketing, Business Development & Retailing Consultant. He conducts Management Development Programmes; trains & coaches Sales & Marketing teams. He has been teaching MBA students in India & overseas for over 18 years. He can be reached at [email protected]

Prof Dr. Ajit Patil with his only daughter Supriya at their home in Atlanta, USA.