What is it like to do an internship at Shell -By Arunava Saha from SIBM Pune
Working for a Fortune company is a dream for any B-school student and it was no different for me. So, here is a narrative of my wholesome internship experience at Shell.
A well-chalked out induction
When most of the companies were either delaying their internship program or rescinding their offers, Shell stuck to its commitments and started the coveted Shell Assessed Internship program as planned. It involved a massive last-minute change in planning and kudos to the Shell team for pulling this off successfully. We received our project and mentor details 2 days before the induction.
Shell has a two-day online induction process. The company puts a huge emphasis on SAFETY and hence the induction process started with a half an hour presentation on safety at the workplace. It was followed by another half an hour discussion with Shell's in-house medical team for COVID-19. All of this was beautifully ended with an ice-breaking session.
On the second day, we had sessions by different business heads of Shell India. We also had an interactive session with current Shell Graduate Program members who previously did their internship at Shell and converted a PPO.
GM project that fostered the best qualities in me
Rarely an intern gets a project, kind of which was assigned to me. My project was a general management project which was to identify and implement the best route to market for e-commerce for Shell-branded car care, with the best possible returns for the business. It involved end to end planning for the launch of the products and then executing the plan. I had one mentor, one supervisor, and two buddies assigned to me who guided me throughout my project.
The project was something new to me and executing it in a work from the home environment was a challenge. It involved lots of analysis and coordination between multiple internal and external stakeholders. Working on this project helped me develop my commercial acumen and selling and negotiation skills. Every challenge that I faced, tested my resilience and forced me to work upon my creativity to craft non-conventional solutions.
Also, the reviews helped me identify the areas where I was lacking and improve upon them. I had two review sessions with my mentor and multiple sessions with my supervisor and buddies. At times when it seemed the project was not moving anywhere, they kept on motivating me to look for alternate solutions.
All the hard work was balanced by the fun activities. There were multiple engagement sessions planned by the HR team. In one of them, we had to create memes on how our work from home was going on. It was a fun take on the hardships faced by us. Another one was creating some art and expressing our internship experience at Shell. There was regular engagement by HR on WhatsApp as well.
A company with great values, ethics, and morals
I was asked by my supervisor to present my project to the business leadership. I was elated by this and prepared the presentation tirelessly. I was working from Kolkata and as I was giving the presentation of my life, a super-cyclone was ravaging through the city. With doors shaking and windows on the verge of breaking, I knew the presentation was doomed. I got disconnected multiple times and the presentation became a mess. But to my surprise, the leadership loved the presentation and greatly appreciated my resilience.
After the cyclone, there was no power or internet connectivity for me. My mentor, supervisor, and a buddy called me up to know if everything was fine and needed any help. I was touched by the care and affection shown by the Shell team during my times of hardship.