I did my 3rd-year TnP internship at the Mandideep plant of P&G near Bhopal in the Supply Chain Department.
Motivation:
Before joining P&G, the review that I had got from my seniors was that P&G offers students a lot of good projects and they get to work on real-life projects which are challenging and helps one grow. Apart from this, P&G is also one of the top recruiters on campus. Apart from the reviews I got from my peers, my personal motivation behind joining the company was the exposure one gets after working in the Supply Chain Industry. In the Supply Chain sector, people work towards launching products in the market and look after its marketing, planning, sales, and demand. These are some of the sectors which are essential in building up skills necessary to run businesses. Lastly, P&G is a multinational consumer goods company, and the brand value associated with it helps in future endeavours as well.
One thing that I realized was the importance of Extra-Curricular Activities (ECAs) that we have here at IIT. At the end of the day, it is not only the individual work you do that matters but also the work done by the team and I think that ECAs really teach us a lot about teamwork. The technicalities of working in a team and leadership skills gained while pursuing different ECAs on campus were quite helpful for me in solving the technical problems in my internship.
Selection Procedure:
Speaking of P&G specifically, there is a Psychometric Test based on which shortlisting is carried out. HR Interview and Technical Interviews follow, on Day 1 of the internship season. There may also be additional shortlisting based on group discussions or a written test or based on resume, but these are variable and may or may not be conducted. The focus is on how an individual is able to handle team goals individually, thereby showing his leadership skills as well. CGPA is not a hard and fast criterion in the selection procedure, but it won’t be right to say that CG does not matter during the selection as we are talking about a technical internship.
The psychometric test is found challenging by many and the best way to answer it is by being honest. Rather than hacking it or finding a way around the psychometric tests, it is better to give answers as if you are in that situation and answer in a moral and ethical manner, according to your own beliefs.
The HR interview contains basic mix-match questions like, “What are your long term goals?”, “What are your short term goals?” and “Where do you see yourself in 5 or 10 years from now?”
P&G basically looks for people who will be the right fit for their company. They want to see whether the person has the potential, in the sense that he, first of all, has got the technical know-how, the leadership skills and how approachable you are in terms of people being able to talk to you and you being able to work with a lot of multifunctional teams. They want to see whether you’ll be able to lead teams, whether you’ll be able to act as a manager and how smoothly you will react to those with 10+ years experience working under you during the internship.
The Internship:
I knew that I might have to work in a plant or a factory and the general notion that we all have of a factory is NOT positive. I thought that I was not going to have a good working environment, but I was pleasantly surprised on my first day. The whole plant was air-conditioned, it had a lot of safety measures in case of emergencies and it was fully automated in terms of technology over there. The conference rooms were on par with the Lecture Halls we have here at LHC.
About the internship, I was given control of the production line of a particular product of P&G and the mandate was to create a saving in its packaging cost. I developed a packaging framework and changed the packing material to a cheaper alternative that was being used elsewhere. I was also given the power to make purchases for the factory, so I was also able to set up the modified packaging assembly and see it live in action in the plant. The project involved a lot of documentation, communication with an Egypt-based P&G factory and tears and in the end, it was satisfying to have tangibly contributed to a company. In the end, I was also offered a PPO, which I accepted.
It is the work culture at P&G that I liked the most, and everybody who works there would also say the same. The company offers a very conducing and encouraging environment along with a lot of generous colleagues who are there to offer any amount of help needed during the work and are ready to spend time with you whenever you need whether be it on the project you are working or be it on a personal level, just to connect. In P&G they call it ‘PVPs’(Principal, Values, and Purpose), these represent their main goals towards their people, their consumers and their customers. The PVPs is something they take very seriously and these things are ingrained with the ethos of the company itself.
Something that I will remember:
One unique thing that I experienced was that Bhopal offered a completely new atmosphere for connecting with colleagues. I remember that there were a lot of incidences when I had bid goodbye to my mentor in the evening and ended up meeting him at the same place, coincidently, during the night to have dinner!
Article By: Parth Singhal
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