BMW Internship Experience That Gave Me Life Long Lessons - Shreya Samui, XISS Ranchi
It was August 10, 2022, and she was just a step away from turning her dream into reality! With four bags of luggage and a trolley full of her favorite novels, she was heading to her dream college when life took a turn. A car crash left everything upside down. 3 surgeries down, she battled it out and was declared 'out of danger' by the hospital. On 19th of August 2022, which was coincidentally her birthday, she finally landed in the college she had prayed for since the start of the year!
The story is about me - Shreya Samui. I am a passionate Human Resource enthusiast and known as ‘Arya Stark’ of my friend circle. I am currently pursuing my PGDM from XISS, Ranchi. In this article, I will share my experience about how I landed an internship at BMW despite being late to join my academics. Let’s begin.
The shortlisting
Since I joined late, I needed to pace up to match my cohorts. I was blessed to have my faculties and alumni help me whenever and wherever needed, which helped me pedal to the medal in a few days’ time, only to realize that the internship interviews were lined up in no time!
From brushing up on the labor laws to revisiting my CV pointers, I left no stone unturned for me to prepare for the interview. However, the competition was tough. 3 companies down, and each time, I would be rejected in the final round. I felt dejected, and I just couldn’t understand what was going wrong.
Then came the notice that the luxury vehicle brand BMW would be visiting our campus. Though extremely nervous and full of self-doubt, I filled out their form to just experience the process. I had zero expectations this time. And as fate would have it, I got shortlisted for the selection rounds. After a streak of failures, it took me a while to come to terms with this small achievement. However, this was just the beginning.
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The selection process
It was a crucial day for me. Dressed up in formals, I was all ready to face the panel. I walked up the room firmly, holding on to my confidence. The process was simple. There were 3 rounds:
- The GD Round: The duration of the round was 15 minutes. There were 7 or 8 of us in the group. The process was smooth and everyone clearly gave their views on the given topic within the stipulated time limit.
- The Presentation Round: 7 of us were given a topic to present on. We had 45 minutes to prepare the presentation and 7 minutes to pitch it.
- The PI Round: The top three candidates were shortlisted for the personal interview round. I was lucky enough to have made it amongst them. After two rigorous rounds, the interview round was a breather for me. It was more like a casual conversation between the interviewer and the interviewee.
Strategies that helped me succeed
- For the GD round, I made sure to follow the SUM rule- pitch my points SMARTLY, mention UNIQUE points, and state justified and MEASURABLE pointers.
- For the Presentation, I banked on the WHI rule - What is to be done, second - How are my points implementable, and third - what could be the Impact of my points?
- For the Personal Interview, I tried to be candid and confident while highlighting my knowledge too.
And finally, the moment had come. The results were out. I was ready to handle a failure, too, as that was one thing I had learned during the entire process. However, when my name was announced, I was left stunned. I couldn’t believe it. I cried like a baby this time, not out of disappointment, but out of joy and gratitude for the LORD!
My internship experience
During my 2-month long internship, I worked as a core HR Intern for the BMW Group India, Gurgaon HO, from April 2023 to June 2023. I not only learned the nitty-gritty of the HR department but also about 'perspective building.' I worked closely with other interns from top MBA colleges in India and learned about their project areas as well.
Multiple talk sessions with the Executive Board members helped us to delve deeper into the organization and understand the market better. We also had a couple of sessions in the BMW Training Centre, where we got to explore the products well.
We had many fun moments, too, during the internship! We celebrated World Diversity Day and also got to witness the BMW Premiere League auctions in the office. We never realized how the 2 months flew by and all this while we never felt like interns and became a part of the BMW family.
Mentors who brought out the best in me!
I was blessed to have been mentored by two wonderful managers in the organization. I was not only taught how to do the tasks but also the art of doing them perfectly to the T with utmost efficiency.
What I loved the most was that I was given the freedom to explore, to learn, and to ask as many questions as I had, be it the silliest of the silly ones. I learned to do work under pressure, within a stipulated timeframe, and explored a whole new world of unknowns.
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Internship that helped me woman up!
Good managers always leave a deep and positive impact on you. I was lucky to have such managers by my side during my internship at BMW. The most unique thing that one of my managers taught me was the importance of confidence. This was beyond the KRAs of my project line but was something that will always stay with me. Apart from this, she also taught me the philosophy of ‘you work hard, you enjoy harder’ and the significance of ‘me time’ during the weekends.
These were probably the most important learnings from my internship diaries, which helped me grow from a timid, low-on-confidence girl to an assertive woman with self-belief. (Ma’am, if you ever happen to read this article, a major thanks goes to you for helping me woman up!)
My BMW internship was an enriching experience, and I hope the learnings I shared with you will help you in one way or the other. To end it the Arya Stark way, let me keep it this way - “I am Shreya Samui of Kolkata, and I am coming home - a home of dreams, hopes, persistence, and belief.” All the best with your internship!
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