Basic Information
- Name: Monica S
- Branch: EE B.Tech
- Company: Hindustan Unilever Limited.
Domain Targeted
Wasn’t really focused on a singular path and was open to multiple profiles, I tried for this profile because Supply chain is a very complex and vast domain and the challenges/opportunities are something I wanted to take a crack at.
Preparation Resources
For FMCG’s its not really about “internship season” time prep but the cumulative work done over your years in the Insti. Prep during intern season for this profile is mostly honing your communication/presentation skills and getting to know which skills are best showcased in interviews. Best strategy here is to reach out to seniors who did interns in the profiles you’re interested in and ask for their advice
The multi-disciplinary spread of projects and skills
Interview Experience
There was one online selection round then and interview round. The online round consisted of MAT type questions, behavioural questions and video answers for supply chain related questions. The interview round is kind-of unpredictable, the questions can be from any part of the resume, they also probe about other projects/instances where say you solved a specific problem that are not in the resume too.
The interview round was the toughest because apart from the technical questions (which can be answered with prior prep), the HR/Introspective questions throw you out the loop. Motivation/vision for choosing that specific company/profile is a big question that all FMCGs ask and generic answers are waved off by the interviewers. Must prepare for questions like this, with a personal take (don’t use chatGPT its gonna spew generic bs), and present it during the interview in a smooth manner. Interviewers are often annoyed if your answers sound rehearsed, but will also be annoyed if you hadn’t done prior research into the profile and the company, so the key is to communicate your answers in a fresh way, and not as if your regurgitating a memorised answer Also be prepared for unpredictable questions (im not saying that you must be psychic, but more so like: do not freeze up when an unexpected question comes up, be calm, take a moment to think and answer what you can) these questions are often to test how you handle “fish-out-of-water” situations so the best way to deal with this is to know they’re playing you and keep your calm
Project Work
Most supply chain ULIPs (interns) were sent to factory-based stints. I was sent to Rajpura, Punjab to the home of Kissan ketchup/jam and HM mayo. I was given a two projects in my charter, one was to optimization and automation in the process areas (where the product is made) and the other was efficiency improvement/wastage reduction in the packaging lines. The initial work largely consisted of collecting on ground data/ observation session and daily interaction with the in-line blue-collar workers – interacting with them, learning from them about the in-depth processes etc…. The next phase was developing insights and solutions based on the data, then implementing it. Most of my work-related interactions was restricted to my Manager/Tutor and 2 other executives in my guide team.
I worked on automating process flow, manpower optimization and packaging wastage reduction. The tools i used most were EXCEL (to store daily observations, time-motion studies, and analyse material count data), Python (to run analytics) and a lot of Outlook (to communicate with other departments, get data, reach out to vendors, etc..)
Overall Experience
The work itself was a surprise, often the general idea about supply chain is mostly logistics and work efficiency improvement, but the internship is an in-depth focus into one very specific problem in one vertical of the supply chain system. Factory work culture is also very demanding, its a 6 day work week with on-paper 9 hour day that is often in reality 12-hour days
Start learning Punjabi ig
Recommendation & Advice
Whatever you think you know about this, its probably not, exploit all resources at your disposal. Be open to learning from everyone, and adaptability is your strongest tool in this field
Work-related: In a corporate environment its very difficult to get people to do what you want, not as in making them do work, but like getting a piece of data. Often you need to follow up on things multiple times to even get it moving and your also balancing this with pressure from your upper management to get it done. There is no work around here but to consistently put effort from your side, also know when to escalate things to your upper management, i.e, asking them to push from their end to get your data. Non-work-related: The place and food was very different to what I was used to, there weren’t many accessible forms of transport, the location was in the remotest parts of the state and since weekend was only a day-long , it was barely enough time to make the presentation for your next week. Also a huge language barrier for me, so even talking with people took a lot of effort
People skills, especially communication skills. Though i mentioned there was a language barrier, that is not what i mean by communication skills. I’m referring to the attitude and manner in which you converse with people.
0-0