FORESIGHT(2018): Summer Internship ITC Limited| Harsh Saraf

Student Welfare Group, IIT Kharagpur Follow

Listen Share I am Harsh Saraf, a Final Year B.Tech Undergraduate in the Department of Mechanical Engineering. I did my summer internship in the Chocolates Category of ITC Limited — Foods Business Division in Bangalore. The summer internship program that ITC offers is called the KITES program (Knowledge, Initiative & Talent Excellence Series). The entire process consists of 4 stages: KITES Application Form and CV Submission, Psychometric Test, Group Discussion and 2 rounds of Interviews spanning over roughly 7–10 days. Practice general topics asked in the GD round with a group of friends/wingmates at least twice or thrice to get comfortable with the concept. For interview rounds, revise core subjects taught in the curriculum such as Fluid Mechanics, Thermodynamics, Mechanics and Dynamics along with its application in today’s industry. Do not go into a lot of depth but have a good understanding of each of them and about the major and important derivations. You might or might not be asked in-depth questions on them but it entirely depends on the interviewer. Be thorough with the most common HR and personality questions. My project was in the Chocolates Category in the Foods Business Division. ITC manufactures a luxury brand under the name of Fabelle. My project was operations-related to the luxury chocolate bars that they manufacture. The plant and its operations were very labour intensive and my major part revolved around increasing the overall productivity of the line. The other part of my project was experimental where I had to work on increasing the liquid centre filling in the chocolate bar. The projects are very carefully chosen and are designed in such a way that it provides a lot of learnings to both the candidate and the company. The intern is given complete freedom to utilise the resources as per his/her requirement without any restrictions. The projects given are often very critical and can create a significant impact and hence if successful are often implemented at the very moment. As an intern, you are given utmost importance and provided with all resources as necessary. Everybody is very cooperative and helpful. It is up to the intern to try to maximise the information you can extract from their guides, managers and other experienced employees. If you’re interested in the applications of the curriculum taught on an industrial scale and want to get a first-hand experience of industrial/factory training and working with an extreme time crunch, then ITC offers a great opportunity. However, the internship will push you to your limits and outside your comfort zone and if this is something which you don’t wish to experience then it might become a burden. Be thorough with each point mentioned in your resume. Don’t try manipulating points as they interviewers are more often than not alumnus of KGP or people who has been through the same process. So there is no hiding anywhere. Get in touch with as many graduates who have been working in the company to get an idea about the job description and make sure it aligns with your likings and interests. The tests, interviews and even the internship will be a great experience altogether irrespective of where you do it, try having fun. Cheers.