How I got my internship???

Hi
Let me begin with a caveat. This is not one of those "How to get rich in 30 days" theories. In fact, I don't even believe this is a reflection on how to approach the internship search (for that refer to my earlier post Career Connexions, Internship profiles, Career switchers). If anything, this post exposes how lucky I got. And how that source of luck became my source of limitation.

When I learnt that the TATAs were coming to campus, I was caught in a dilemma. I wasn't sure whether I wanted to apply or not. When I had come to NUS, I was firm on a couple of things. I didn't want to go back to software (two years of work-pressure had killed me) and to a lesser extent I didn't want to go back to India. But my circumstances had changed after coming to NUS. I was going to MBS during the second term. I knew that getting an internship during the second term would be tough game. So, I needed to secure one as soon as I could. I was confused at that point in time. The sub-prime crisis added to my doubts and uncertainty. Initially, I didn't apply to TATA. But I changed my mind and applied. I sent my application a day after the deadline but luckily the registration was still open.

Ever heard of the term, "One man's meat is another man's poison." That was exactly what happened to me. The TATAs came up with a very funny filtering criteria. They wanted people with less than 3 years work experience. Which in our batch was very limited. Among those who applied for TATA, only 8 were left.

All the big boys from TATA had come for the recruitment. TATA IIP (International Internship Program) they called it. Heads, Presidents, CEOs were all there. The 8 of us were put in a room with a couple of the big boys. The GD (Group Discussion) lasted an hour. It was a marathon by any standards. Each of us had to chair the GD for 10 mins. The topics ranged from management issues to HR issues to supply chain issues to ethical issues. I was mentally exhausted by the end of the GD. Four of us got selected for the interview. Three girls and I was the only guy.

The interview was a schocker. I was ripped apart. I had not practised for an interview in months. My rustiness showed and was completely exposed. There were two in the panel and nothing I said could convince them.

"Why do you want this internship?"
"We don't think you are right for the job."
"We think you are lying"
"What will your father say about you?"
"What do you think about the Indo-US Nuclear deal?"
"What do you expect from your life partner?"
"What can your life partner expect from you?"

The questions rattled on and on. At some point during the interview I lost interest. I didn't care about the job any longer. I just wanted the interview to end.

I was extremely disappointed after the interview. I thought that I had thrown away my oppurtunity. I wanted to get away from civilization for some time. I was on the bus back to Boon Lay when the call came. I had been selected. It was a pleasant surprise. Apparently, the interview had been equally draining for everyone else. Two of us stood amidst the ruins. We had won the battle of attrition.

The TATA internship offer created a couple of problems. These are problems/issues which all of us face. I was the first to secure an internship in the batch. That was not necessarily a good thing. The better companies would be coming later on. I didn't have access to them. It was the classic dilemma. Wait for the better companies and risk not getting anything or get placed earlier and forfeit the better companies. I chose the latter for the reasons I outlined earlier.

This situation also created an ethical dilemma. I had accepted the TATA internship but I wanted more. I wanted to get into a better company - something related to core Finance. This meant that I had to apply to other companies even though I had accepted TATA. There isn't an easy answer for this ethical dilemma. I can give you a hundred reasons for and against the argument. I did apply to other companies. But I couldn't go through the CSO. Essentially, one of my major routes were cut-off. Applying from Melbourne didn't help my cause either (I shall explain the impact of exchange on the internship search in a later post). So, nothing materialized.

TATAs finalized the project in the first week of May. It was as related to Finance as I could expect from a TATA group company. They had lived up to their word. I decided to live up to mine. I stopped applying to other companies. It was TATA for me.

Cheers,
Suraj