This story is from May 27, 2020

Virtual internships for newbies end the corporate conundrum

Virtual internships for newbies end the corporate conundrum
Indore: Aaruni Khare, a management student, was all prepared and had her bags packed to enter the corporate world, face a brand new team in 2020 by interning with a leading multinational cosmetic brand. But little did she know that entry will be through a virtual platform.
The spread of Covid-19 pandemic has changed the dynamics as companies are now offering virtual internships to students amid lockdown.

Khare, a PGP (postgraduate programme) student at Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Indore interning with a multinational cosmetic company said, “Initially it was tough to be able to take ownership of the project in virtual mode. The learning curve was steep but slowly I started getting a grip on ways of the organization.”
IIM, Indore has around 500 students interning virtually for different companies such as Amazon, L’Oréal and Walmart among others.
Professor Himanshu Rai, director, IIM Indore said, “This year amid Covid-19 circumstances, students are undergoing virtual internships. The institute is taking all necessary steps to ensure academic learning does not suffer while taking care of health and wellbeing of students.” A few companies have asked interns to work in person from July-August while most of them have assigned remote jobs handling data, analytics, survey, revamp strategy, forecasting demand, talking to customers among others.

A spokesperson from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Indore told TOI, “We are able to convince companies to conduct internship hiring drive through remote process or any other online platform. Many companies have assigned WHF task while a few willing to give field work exposure to students have asked for in-person presence from August.” Prachi Gharpure, director, Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, Indore said, “The pandemic has changed dynamics for most companies and even the way of operations. Though one cannot replace the usual internship programmes but the virtual mode has taught students to work professionally, learn about their domain, participate in team work and collaborating from remote locations with utmost sincerity.” To give a heads up to students before entering virtual internships, many institutes also provided online trainings in coordination with companies and placement cell.
Dr Yogita Mandhanya, faculty, School of Retail Management, Symbiosis University of Applied Sciences, Indore said, “We offered elaborate training to our students to how to define problem statements, help companies in digitalization and frame revamp strategies from remote locations during their internships.”
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