What transpired during my internship at Perfetti Van Melle -By Aritri Chatterjee from IMT Ghaziabad

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My journey at IMT Ghaziabad started with a passion for Marketing and a love for creativity and new ideas. As an MBA aspirant, the one thing that attracted me most towards its tenure of two years was the plethora of brands and their stories I would get to absorb. Naturally, you can imagine my joy when I got an opportunity to do an internship at Perfetti Van Melle. 

The house of Perfetti Van Melle has brought many exceptional brand stories into their consumers’ lives. Whether it was Alpenliebe, Center Fresh, Mentos, Big Babol, or Chupa Chups, all of us grew up with these brands and their captivating TVCs. As a marketing enthusiast, PVM literally and figuratively was like a candyland to me.

How did I embark on this amazing journey?

It was during the selection procedure of internship at Perfetti, when I realised that its workplace culture was extremely embracing in nature. There was always a welcoming smile and an optimistic attitude in the recruiters which definitely rubbed on all the applicants on the campus. We started with a very interesting case discussion round right after the pre-placement talk. The discussion tested our analytical skills and whether we were able to think on our feet. 

Next, we had the personal interview round and I remember going in very nervous into the room. While I was there inside, the interview felt more like a daily conversation with some of the nicest people I have known and I can recall speaking about my life, my passions, everything that drives me to be a better person and why I absolutely loved the idea of working with Perfetti Van Melle. I think the fact that I had an honest conversation and spoke from my heart made me pass through the rounds.

Welcoming us into the candyland

Before the onboarding session, we received surprise packages from Perfetti with boxes full of candies, mints, chewy toffees, and chocolates. Not only was that a happy tickle to my sweet tooth but it was a beautiful way to share the product assortment of the company. The campus connect team was extremely helpful. They were in touch with us constantly and resolved our queries with patience. 

Although it was to be a virtual internship, yet we were encouraged to know and interact with our fellow interns. We had a very engaging and exciting induction session. We played quizzes on the iconic brands of PVM, designed graphic posters for our fellow interns, and interacted with the learned leaders of the organisation from every function. We were given a brief introduction into how the company works and the effort that goes into creating incredible brands such as Alpenliebe or Chupa Chups.

The “Virtual” internship at Perfetti

The word virtual and internship together seemed like a paradox and every MBA student was worried that it would hamper the learning experience and the summer internship wouldn’t be as promised. My organisation proved the contrary. I was given a very unique and interesting project on Branding which was tailor-made to be suitable from the Work From Home environment. There were many people within the organisation who were ready to help with anything that I needed during these two months. With their warmth and support, any challenge I faced seemed easy to overcome. To ensure all the interns get a flavor of what the PVM workplace is like, we were invited into amusing sessions every week such as Family Tambola, Kahoot Quizzes, and Zumba. We got the chance to interact with everyone in the company on an informal level and felt like we had become a part of the big, warm Perfetti family.

Lessons that will guide me forever

My mentor, Mr Rajesh Ramakrishnan, Managing Director of Perfetti Van Melle India, was the most supportive person throughout the tenure. He ensured that I got the chance to explore my project using my individual approach and taught me to cover the breadth before diving into the depth. While most of my friends in different organisations were assigned tasks to complete, I learned to create my own goals, the strategies I wanted to implement to achieve those, and the weekly milestones I had planned. 

The biggest takeaways from my Internship experience was ownership and self-motivation. While one is working from home and there is no taskmaster to ensure you are on track with your work, there is a major tendency to give in to the lethargy. In planning my daily routine and keeping a tab on the progress I was making sure I could utilize the two brief months I had in hand, I could learn and keep up the tempo. Working closely with some of the leaders in the organisation, I realized how blessed I was to have received this opportunity and discovered how the concepts we learn in the classroom get moulded and transformed with the experience we gain in the real world into productive strategies for any company. 

Most importantly, my internship at Perfetti Van Melle taught me to embrace my creativity and to never stop innovating, even if the idea seems unattainable at the moment, one needs to keep pushing till all the struggles in the path have been tackled.