What an internship at Deloitte Consulting is like -By Shakthidhar B from IIM Kozhikode

Deloitte Consulting was one of the first companies to visit IIM Kozhikode for summer placements. The applications had opened a month prior to the start of the summer placements at our campus. The application involved the submission of CVs and a short video interview. Based on the applications, some candidates were selected for a workshop which was conducted a few weeks before the on-campus placement drive. The primary objective of the workshop was to help the candidates prepare for the interviews and make them understand how a business problem is logically broken down and assessed. 

The interviews were conducted on campus and comprised three rounds. During my first interview, I was given a mini-case on new market entry. For the second, I was given a detailed case on customer journey mapping where I was assessed on the rationale behind every step of my approach. The final interview was with the Managing Director and was more about my personality and aspirations. Within ten minutes of the completion of my final interview, I was informed that I was selected. 

Sailing smoothly through the internship during COVID-19

Covid-19 is the worst thing that could have happened to this batch of MBA graduates. As a placement committee member, I am well aware of the repercussions that the pandemic has had on the internships and final offers of countless students, not just from IIM Kozhikode but across all B-schools. These are difficult times and not all of us have had the good fortune of experiencing an uncompromised internship. 

Keeping that in mind, I feel quite grateful to Deloitte Consulting and their internship team for planning everything virtually and making sure that we, as interns, did not feel lost at any point. The virtual format was slightly cumbersome and the numerous zoom calls got a little tiring, but all of us were cognizant of the fact that these were the only options to get past the hurdles posed by Covid-19. The internship team was quick to modify the structure of the program so as to make sure our learning experience was not hampered. 

The virtual on-boarding

The first week of my internship at Deloitte Consulting was dedicated to help us understand the structure of the organization and the various offerings under its Consulting wing. Training sessions on core consulting skills were provided to help us get started, and at the end of the week, each of us was informed about his/her primary engagement with the respective offering along with the details of the project team. I was tagged to the Customer Strategy & Applied Design offering.

Apart from the project POC and manager, each intern was allotted a buddy, a coach, and a mentor to provide guidance throughout the internship. My buddy, coach and mentor were quite accessible and spent time with me whenever I reached out to them and they addressed my doubts. In fact, I could reach out to any practitioner in the organization and everyone was more than happy to schedule a call with me and help me understand more about the organization and the kind of projects they do. The open culture is something I really liked during my 8 weeks internship at Deloitte Consulting. 

Some memorable moments from my internship 

Covid-19 had the final laugh again when it came to the celebrations associated with an internship at Deloitte Consulting. Nevertheless, we had our share of fun with the happy hours hosted by both the central internship team and the respective offering team. Be it Pictionary, Tambola, Quizzes or other fun activities, the sessions were abuzz with friendly banter and provided a welcome break from the weekly routine. 

Learnings I have garnered from this internship 

Feedback on my performance was communicated clearly to me at frequent intervals which helped me constantly improve upon my work and deliverables. At Deloitte Consulting, interns usually work on more than one engagement. I had also worked on a few secondary engagements which enhanced my timeboxing skills and also gave me an opportunity to network with different practitioners. Interacting with tenured practitioners helped me improve my critical thinking and taught me how to effectively convey any idea/thought process logically in the form of a story. On the whole, my internship at Deloitte Consulting has helped hone my analytical capabilities and I now consider myself better poised to systematically tackle challenging business problems and propose effective solutions.