An exemplary journey from HeadstaRt to an internship with Aditya Birla Group -By Rajshree Sen from SCMHRD Pune

My journey with Aditya Birla Group kickstarted with the ABG HeadstaRt where I emerged as the national winner thereby getting a direct PPO for the summer internship opportunity with Aditya Birla Group under the flagship of ABGLP. The hard work, perseverance and dedication definitely paid off in the form of one of the most coveted summer internship programs that one could dream of.

A good start of the seamless internship experience with Aditya Birla Group

The induction was very interactive and thought through. All the interns were introduced individually via various social media platforms even before the official inception of the program. Despite the fact that it was virtual, the ABG team made sure to assist us at every point throughout the journey. They conducted sessions to clear out our doubts and to make things crystal clear right from the beginning.

We were also provided with an induction kit comprising of a plethora of goodies and merchandise - all of them symbolizing the coveted ABGLP program thereby making it all the more memorable for the interns. Provided the current circumstances and obstacles, the Young Talent Management team at ABG went out of its way to make the journey seamless and special for all of us.

Outlining details of my HR project and its learnings

I was offered a project in the HR domain and the objective of my project was analyzing the organization’s structure and the productivity of the employees via time-motion study. The project was provided well in advance and I was given a chance to interact with my mentor even before the official start.

During my internship with Aditya Birla Group I enhanced the following skills:

Communication and interacting with people to get varied and broad perspective about the business problem
Being proactive in reaching out to the stakeholders
Right kind of probing to get the desired responses from stakeholders
Maximize the use of given infrastructure and technology to overcome the physical barriers
Being able to articulate my thoughts and opinions in the right direction to bring value to any conversation
Being enthusiastic and making the best use of any opportunity that comes my way
Multitasking and managing multiple deliverables seamlessly
Organization and prioritizing tasks as per the given circumstances
Clear planning of the project by maintaining a Status Tracker

The whole caboodle of takeaways

My key takeaways from the feedback and review sessions from my mentor are:

Understanding of the retail sector and how various departments contribute towards the value chain
Being concise in expressing views
How to take the ownership of the project right from ideation of the steps to execution of the recommendations
Being an HR, how imperative it is to address the pain points of the employees in addition to any deliverable or project objective
Being able to deliver much more than what is assigned to you
Importance of recommendations and their practicality for better implementation
Acquiring learnings beyond the ambit of the project

Chance of a lifetime

The most memorable moment of my internship with Aditya Birla Group would be when I got featured as one of the top 3 entries for Suraj Bahirwani Sir's (President & Global Sales Head, Pulp & Fibre Business, Aditya Birla Group) assignment where we had to articulate our thoughts for a scenario in 2038 reiterating our learnings of the internship of 2020 amid the challenges. The out-of-the-box assignment truly helped me become futuristic and visionary with my thoughts. Since I was in the top 3, the YTM team at ABG provided me with an opportunity to interact with Mr. Satish Pai (Managing Director, Hindalco) through an insightful session.

An unexampled team

The YTM team at ABG came up with various engagement activities like Happy hours, Social media challenges, Webinars, and Simulation games. The happy hours consisted of a lot of games and quirky introductions of the fellow interns that not only used to instill a sense of positivity but also provided a platform to showcase our hidden talents. A series of theme-based weekly social media challenges helped us imbibe a lot of values and creativity.

The webinars by the coveted leaders of ABG were conducted to enhance our understanding and learning about the business in an interactive manner. The Simulation game was to engage us in teams and to help us build negotiation skills. Overall, each and every edition taught me a lot of skills and values helping me become an all-rounded person.

Rajshree Sen - SCMHRD Pune

2019-2021

She hails from the Steel City, Bhilai, Chhattisgarh. A Computer Science engineer, she is an avid dancer and singer and fascinated by all forms of art. Since childhood, she has been a hardworking, sincere, and an all-rounded person. She values integrity more than success and competition and believes in hard work and determination. She is best at understanding people and is able to handle multiple tasks seamlessly. She is creative and is good at ideation of thoughts that often help her solve tasks at hand.