Hey everyone!
I am Priyanka Bagade, a fourth year student from electrical dual (from CSP) and I interned at Procter & Gamble in my 3rd year summer (2021). Before sharing my internship experience at the company, I think I should also give you all an idea about why I decided to choose P&G above all other companies.
Why P&G?
One line reason - I AM A DUAL STUDENT
In depth - I had interned at Qualcomm in my summer the year before and I had enjoyed my experience there, but after the 2 month long stint, I realized that I was not passionate enough to work in the field for the rest of my life (no offence to people selected for Qualcomm, the company is pretty great!). Therefore exploring other options was my decision with the primary helping medium being the Institute Placement Cell. Being a dual student, a lot of opportunities did not open up for me to explore via the institute, but FMCG was a sector I was willing to try out and P&G (and ITC at that point) seemed like a great starting point.
My preparation journey …
Preparing for P&G majorly involves preparing for HR based questions. The timeline was simple enough, 1 Aptitude Test -> 1 Psychometric Test -> 2 HR Based rounds -> final offer. Aptitude tests lie on the easier side of the process (Placement Cell mock tests can help to brush up a few skills). Psychometric involves majorly aligning yourself with the company and its values. HR rounds involve more or less selling yourself as much as possible. I won’t delve into this a lot because the process for the company would be done by the time this blog comes out. In case you wish to know more, feel free to get in touch with me.
Starting with the internship -
I would not lie here, but I had very little idea about what an FMCG does. I had decided to more or less apply because there was a choice available => I had almost started my internship with a blank slate (I think I was glad because of it) . One thing that I have learnt in my internship is that we are hired primarily not because we are very good or have a lot of knowledge about the field but because companies also want a fresh perspective on their problems. The Product Supply profile which I got selected for is not just about supply chain, it is talking about the process from start to end (manufacturing, distribution etc etc). My project topic was to reduce the energy consumption of the Vicks plant in Ahmedabad by 50% and develop an app which can display the energy consumed in different areas of the plant. It sounds ambitious, I know, and I think it is still for any intern but dealing with a difficult topic was an experience of its own.
The general administrative part of the internship is handled well by the company - allotting a guide, a buddy, scheduling weekly meetings for updates -clarity about that was given at the very beginning. There was an induction program to help us understand the company better (had our internships been offline, all interns would have met in Mumbai once and then proceeded to our respective sites :( hopefully you all have an on-site experience in your companies).
Working in full gear -
My daily schedule was just as busy as any normal academic year. Start at 9 AM in the morning and end whenever I like (that’s the ruse I think companies pull - no work timings/ flexible hours simply imply 24/7 work). Talking to people working in the company was an important part of my internship because in order to work on my project, I had to understand the energy consumption in the factory while sitting at home. P&G internship in the PS profile is a techno-management intern with an equal proportion of both. It’s like management for understanding the problem and technical for implementing a solution.
Things peak near mid-term review which happen generally during the middle of the internship duration. Review presentations in P&G can be a bit intimidating given that its your boss’s boss in the presentation too along with hordes of other people and it goes on for about an hour, but I think the key here in any presentation is to be confident and even learn to say that you don’t know what the other person is talking about (sounds weird but it’s true).
Coming to an end -
Things slowed down near the end (may not be true for all) for me as almost everything I had planned had come to a stage of completion. I was very well satisfied with the work I had done. I had managed to suggest ideas to reduce the energy consumption of the plant by around 20% and the app development process was completed too. I knew I had given my best to the internship and that there was nothing more that I could have done to improve my performance.
What I feel now -
It would be wrong to say that P&G was not a huge learning experience for me. It did a very good job of introducing me to a fast paced corporate world. Navigating a difficult topic, working on something you had never worked on before are things that everyone should be familiar with and should learn at some point. But what I now feel matters more, is trying to find out what you like and if not that then at least exploring new things to eliminate things you don't like.
No matter which company you are selected for, keep evaluating yourself. Do I like this company? Do I like the kind of work I am given? Is this something I would want to do later? Perhaps the majority of the answers will be clear to you at the end of your internship, but this should help you decide your track further. You should be the one deciding your future, not the company and certainly no stereotypes that currently exist.
If you are yet not sure about the company you chose or will choose, don’t know what the profile entails beyond the company’s name, worry not! Majority of us have been through this phase and we all learn something at the end of it. Just keep going and do justice to whatever you have taken up.