The dream, The wish and The reality #MyInternTheory!

The Dream

Like any other young MBA graduate my aim was to do a internship from a reputed company. Draw a good amount as my reward for 2 months of hard work and spend with friends after the internship is over. But, since ours was a Government university there was no company recruiting or selecting interns from our campus. I remember only one global FMCG giant visited our campus that to since one of our alumni is in the company in a good position and he had instructed their HR to select intern from his alma mater. But looking at the profile and remuneration almost all the guys and gals from our batch came on the date of selection and eventually they have to conduct a GD and PI to select two guys. Unfortunately I could not cut the mark and two of my friends got selected. After that some insurance companies came for internship and there were hardly any excitement to join them. The HR guys from the insurance company had a disgusted look in his face after seeing the dismal turnout of students. And almost all appeared for the internship got selected, there was hardly any competition.

So Tadanggggggggg I along with my friend got selected for the internship in a private insurance company. The HR guys promised that the compensation and work profile all be discussed in their office and they gave us a joining letter which asked us to report at 10 am on Next Monday.

The Reality

We went to the insurance company sharp at the stipulated time, we were excited to see and live the corporate life. After entering the office we were asked to sit at a conference hall where some other interns from other colleges were also waiting. We introduced each other and discussed about our colleges, life, expectations etc. like us other interns were clueless about profile compensation etc and we all played the guess game. During our imaginary calculation a suave sales manager came and greeted us and started describing about the company their products, how their product is superior how they have an edge in the market etc. it was a good session. After that he asked for snacks and coffee for all of us and we were excited like hell. We thanked our fortunate stars that we have joined this company. After the delicious snacks and free coffee he asked us to draw a chit where there is a serial number and one of the products (insurance plan). The task was to give a presentation about it and the best presentation will win a Rs. 3000 prize, the second one Rs 2000 and the third Rs. 1000. I prepared my best and got a lot of encouragements from the friends and the sales manager and stood second. I had already planned a small party with friends in back of my mind. But the sales manager said we will get the amount after internship is over and in addition to that only if we will be able to sell 10 policy in the period of our internship. At that time we all felt a shock and felt cheated. This programme was nothing but to achieve the target of the sales manager set up by his boss. The first day had a very negative impact on me, I sold only one policy during my internship. As usual there was no compensation as I did not achieved my target. None of the intern sold the required number of policy. We only had numerous free coffee in the office for our effort.

The Wish

I wish, there was somebody who could sense our dream and could have given a chance to do the internship in a company and work profile which we were looking for. I wish Intern Theory was there to support intern in my college days.

“I’m sharing my first internship experience for the #MyInternTheory activity at BlogAdda in association with Intern Theory.”