An optimist is a guy that has never had much experience.
- Don Marquis
So, I did not know how optimistic I should have been as I stood in the HR conference room of Johnson & Johnson Ltd., waiting for the panel to arrive and evaluate me on my summer internship: It was my only internship, so much for experience!
To make an intriguing read, I would like to say that waiting there was an extra-sensory moment, where my entire internship flashed before my eyes in a matter of seconds. But that was not the case really. It is only now that I reflect and look back at the experience that was called ‘My Summer Internship.’
The first thoughts go back to my interview, where I believe I flattered the panel saying that Band-Aid is the favourite Johnson & Johnson brand of injury-prone me. For a long time I always believed the answer stood out because everyone at Johnson & Johnson is used to hearing ‘Johnson’s Baby’. I really never have understood how babies remember the powder that was dusted on them before they even learnt to say ‘Mama’. Nevertheless, the selection for the internship was ‘only the beginning’.
As the temperature rose in sweaty Mumbai, it was time to go to the cool little head office of Johnson & Johnson tucked away in a corner of an old street. There was the usual delight of meeting the other interns, listening to snapshots of life at and the history of J&J, but most importantly finding out what project I would be working on. Back home when I mentioned that I will be working with the beauty franchise of Johnson & Johnson (Consumer), it was met with nippy response, “They obviously did not see what you look like when they gave you that project.” The second day sent us on a little trip to a school for the challenged to lend a hand to J&J’s community service programs. That certainly made my internship stand out from others.
Unfortunately, for JBIMS students, there was a short break after this, and we returned only after exams that seemed dull in comparison to what lay ahead. Don’t things change very fast in MNCs? When my summer buddy (let’s just call her Ketak for short) and I stepped in again, we were quickly assigned new projects, with new deadlines. I was a little disappointed considering all the time I had already invested in background research for the old project. (Though, the beauty counter advisers at various malls over the city would have been relieved not to hear from me again.) Now I was involved in a Marketing Research project for the Women’s health franchise.
That got me back to the good old JBIMS library (revisiting Gilbert Churchill and Naresh Malhotra) and made me go through scores of previous documentation, almost making my eyelids succumb to gravity. Days and weeks passed with field work and reporting. Especially long days were made lighter with chats with really old employees and trips to the solitary vending machine with Ketak. (We always hoped against hope that it never ran out of chocolate chip cookies.)
Finally I found myself waiting in the HR conference room. Just like anyone who had worked hard for the two months, I was optimistic, hoping for a good review. And just like anyone else I received both positive and negative feedback. Now, if I think of highlights of the internship; there would be so many: the excitement of working on a live project, speaking to the who’s who of a great company, the warmth of the secretaries’ smiles that ease you into the company, the translation of classroom learning into real world learning, the struggle with external agencies to get them to live upto our high standards, the new friends and celebrations, the burning sensation when a consumer says the competitor’s brand is better than yours, my first trip to the baking hot capital city, amongst so many others. Even the cute baby calendar I got home, that earned another stray comment, “Wow, it’s just like the Kingfisher Calendar, for ages 0 to 3!”
But one statement in the review made me realise what was the true highlight of my internship.
“It is rare that we see such passion in summer interns towards her consumers.” It reminded me that every business, big or small, runs because of its consumers. That each one has a need is what generates the topline. Each of the consumers I spoke to; whether it was adolescent Sneha who was egged on by her mother to speak, or Amina whose three kids took up all her time, or Nilima who had just started playing athletics at the national level, even wheelchair bound Preethi; all had shared with me what they really expected from me*. They shared their struggles with health and hygiene, and sometimes the relief that products from my company give them. It was truly the most beautiful part to be a confidante of the fairer sex. Who fight to be born in this country, and still are fighting everyday issues. It is such a profound experience knowing that they believed I was doing something for them; though in reality I got my first stipend because of them.
The last few days that followed the review were well worth remembering. On the last day Ketak and I went and thanked everyone who gave us the opportunity of the summer internship. The alumnus who interviewed us on campus told us that we had stood out from the start, the interview only reaffirmed it. That was the best note to say goodbye on. (A lovely disenchantment with the belief that a wound dressing got me there.) However, whenever I reflect back on those thoughts of the internship, I very much wish to once again pack my bag, take a train ride with a dear friend and head towards that cool little head office tucked away in the corner of an old street.
Even after an experience, one can still be optimistic.
- Swati Shetty
*names of respondents have been changed
- Don Marquis
So, I did not know how optimistic I should have been as I stood in the HR conference room of Johnson & Johnson Ltd., waiting for the panel to arrive and evaluate me on my summer internship: It was my only internship, so much for experience!
To make an intriguing read, I would like to say that waiting there was an extra-sensory moment, where my entire internship flashed before my eyes in a matter of seconds. But that was not the case really. It is only now that I reflect and look back at the experience that was called ‘My Summer Internship.’
The first thoughts go back to my interview, where I believe I flattered the panel saying that Band-Aid is the favourite Johnson & Johnson brand of injury-prone me. For a long time I always believed the answer stood out because everyone at Johnson & Johnson is used to hearing ‘Johnson’s Baby’. I really never have understood how babies remember the powder that was dusted on them before they even learnt to say ‘Mama’. Nevertheless, the selection for the internship was ‘only the beginning’.
As the temperature rose in sweaty Mumbai, it was time to go to the cool little head office of Johnson & Johnson tucked away in a corner of an old street. There was the usual delight of meeting the other interns, listening to snapshots of life at and the history of J&J, but most importantly finding out what project I would be working on. Back home when I mentioned that I will be working with the beauty franchise of Johnson & Johnson (Consumer), it was met with nippy response, “They obviously did not see what you look like when they gave you that project.” The second day sent us on a little trip to a school for the challenged to lend a hand to J&J’s community service programs. That certainly made my internship stand out from others.
Unfortunately, for JBIMS students, there was a short break after this, and we returned only after exams that seemed dull in comparison to what lay ahead. Don’t things change very fast in MNCs? When my summer buddy (let’s just call her Ketak for short) and I stepped in again, we were quickly assigned new projects, with new deadlines. I was a little disappointed considering all the time I had already invested in background research for the old project. (Though, the beauty counter advisers at various malls over the city would have been relieved not to hear from me again.) Now I was involved in a Marketing Research project for the Women’s health franchise.
That got me back to the good old JBIMS library (revisiting Gilbert Churchill and Naresh Malhotra) and made me go through scores of previous documentation, almost making my eyelids succumb to gravity. Days and weeks passed with field work and reporting. Especially long days were made lighter with chats with really old employees and trips to the solitary vending machine with Ketak. (We always hoped against hope that it never ran out of chocolate chip cookies.)
Finally I found myself waiting in the HR conference room. Just like anyone who had worked hard for the two months, I was optimistic, hoping for a good review. And just like anyone else I received both positive and negative feedback. Now, if I think of highlights of the internship; there would be so many: the excitement of working on a live project, speaking to the who’s who of a great company, the warmth of the secretaries’ smiles that ease you into the company, the translation of classroom learning into real world learning, the struggle with external agencies to get them to live upto our high standards, the new friends and celebrations, the burning sensation when a consumer says the competitor’s brand is better than yours, my first trip to the baking hot capital city, amongst so many others. Even the cute baby calendar I got home, that earned another stray comment, “Wow, it’s just like the Kingfisher Calendar, for ages 0 to 3!”
But one statement in the review made me realise what was the true highlight of my internship.
“It is rare that we see such passion in summer interns towards her consumers.” It reminded me that every business, big or small, runs because of its consumers. That each one has a need is what generates the topline. Each of the consumers I spoke to; whether it was adolescent Sneha who was egged on by her mother to speak, or Amina whose three kids took up all her time, or Nilima who had just started playing athletics at the national level, even wheelchair bound Preethi; all had shared with me what they really expected from me*. They shared their struggles with health and hygiene, and sometimes the relief that products from my company give them. It was truly the most beautiful part to be a confidante of the fairer sex. Who fight to be born in this country, and still are fighting everyday issues. It is such a profound experience knowing that they believed I was doing something for them; though in reality I got my first stipend because of them.
The last few days that followed the review were well worth remembering. On the last day Ketak and I went and thanked everyone who gave us the opportunity of the summer internship. The alumnus who interviewed us on campus told us that we had stood out from the start, the interview only reaffirmed it. That was the best note to say goodbye on. (A lovely disenchantment with the belief that a wound dressing got me there.) However, whenever I reflect back on those thoughts of the internship, I very much wish to once again pack my bag, take a train ride with a dear friend and head towards that cool little head office tucked away in the corner of an old street.
Even after an experience, one can still be optimistic.
- Swati Shetty
*names of respondents have been changed