On a warm Saturday evening, with hot coffee on the table, the discussion kicked off. The discussion was on the big unanswered question of MBA internships: How to crack a PPO?
a question that lingers in minds of fresh MBA interns every year. And Reculta brought together the most suited candidates on the floor of 91springboard to cater to this particular query. Mr. Pranav Jain, Mr. Pranav Aggarwal, Ms. Urvashi Sinha and Mr. Sanchit Bhatnagar, had received PPO from Mckinsey, Tata Administrative Service, Mondelez and Asian Paints respectively, and had worked in diverse fields like Consulting, Sales and Marketing and General Management. Hence, the panel could not have been better to discover the method in the madness of getting a PPO.
General Management Internship
Utsav introduced the panel to the crowd, and then the baton was handed over to Mr. Pranav Aggarwal (TAS PPO Holder, alumnus FMS Delhi). Pranav shared his experience on what he did right when he was interning at TAS. The emphasis of his talk was on deliverables of the project for an Intern. He said that figuring out the right set of deliverables may pave the path for a smooth PPO. Second comes the culture of the company, for getting a PPO it’s a must that managers see you as a perfect fit for the company’s culture. Therefore it’s necessary for interns to mould themselves into the culture of the company.
Video link: Mr. Pranav Aggarwal’s talk on ‘DOs and DON’Ts for a General Management Internship’
Consulting Internship
The second panelist Mr. Pranav Jain (McKinsey PPO Holder, alumnus IIM Ahmadabad) talked about the aspects of an internship in a consulting firm. According to him, checking off all the hygiene factors for the company, like delivering quality work on time and being an easy person to work with, should be the first step for an intern. Also, for a consulting project, interns might have to work on the client’s side, so it’s important to build a good rapport with the client, which might prove beneficial in future, for the company as well as for the intern.
Video Link: Mr. Pranav Jain talk on ‘DOs and DON’Ts for a consulting internship’
Marketing Internship
Now it was the turn of sales and marketing profile. Ms. Urvashi Sinha (Mondelez PPO Holder, alumnus SPJIMR), discussed the do’s and don’ts for a sales and marketing intern. With her project being in e-commerce sector, her suggestions were up to date with the current trends in the sales and marketing world. Her first suggestion was to document all the work done during the internship in written form, this tip helped her in shortlisting the information crucial for the final review. Also, usually top marketing brands face huge competition, hence it’s useful to benchmark and be informed about what the competitors are doing.
Video Link: Ms. Urvashi Sinha’s talk on ‘DOs and DON’Ts for a marketing internship’
Sales Internship
The final speaker for the evening was Mr. Sanchit Bhatnagar (Asian Paints PPO Holder, alumnus FMS Delhi). He spoke about the importance of understanding the structure of the firm, be it learning how the firm functions or learning the jargons frequently used in the firm, because it’s always helpful in communicating with the supervisors and managers. He suggestion is to push beyond the scope of deliverables and deliver something extra, add some more value to the project, because everybody is going to work on deliverables and produce more or less same result. Hence, going extra mile for the project may be the difference between a PPO holder and an intern. Towards the end, Sanchit emphasised the importance of networking during internship, be with the team or supervisors, because in corporate terms, “your network is your net worth!”
Video Link: Mr. Sanchit Bhatnagar’s talk on ‘DOs and DON’Ts for a sales internship’
Though many questions on the mystery named PPO may have remain unanswered, but that Saturday evening surely provided diverse perspectives from people of illustrious and diverse background.
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Ishan Pandya
Intern, Reculta