Gaurav worked as a marketing intern where he gained experience developing marketing strategies, presenting ideas to managers, and managing projects on time. However, when interviewing for finance roles, he was unable to effectively communicate his experiences or the skills gained. Reflecting on his internship allowed Gaurav to identify transferable skills like problem solving, communication, and time management that could benefit finance roles, helping him discuss his qualifications stronger in interviews.

1. Effective
Communication
Lecture 11
Reflect on Your Internship
Experience

2. Gaurav is in the final semester of his MBA and his
choice of specialization is BFSI. He worked as a
marketing intern last year.
While giving interviews, Gaurav is often asked
about his work during the internship. He mostly
replies saying that he doesn’t remember much
because it was a year back but his overall
experience was good.
Case Study

3. Discussion
1. Do you think Gaurav will get the job?
1. What mistake is Gaurav making while giving interviews?
1. What could he have done to ensure that he is able to talk
about his internship experience effectively in the interview?

4. Lesson Objectives
By the end of this class, you will be able to:
▪ Evaluate your internship experience
▪ Describe your preferences regarding
work-related responsibilities, work
culture and managerial supervision
▪ Summarize the key learnings from your
internship
▪ Identify the transferable skills you
learned

5. Internship: Purpose and Importance
Establish
networking
connections
Gain
competitive
advantage
Learn about
work-life
balance
Figure out
interests
Importance
▪ An internship is a period of work experience
offered to students to train them.
▪ It is an opportunity to decide what you want
from your professional life by getting real-
world exposure in your field of interest.
▪ Some students also go for live projects
instead of internships. In live projects, one
gets to work on projects actually running in
the company.
▪ Both live projects and internships provide you
with an opportunity to apply the knowledge
learned and gain some learning experience,

6. ▪ Think about the work you did during your
internship or live project.
▪ Make a list of 10 tasks that you did.
For example: Track and analyze data, execute
community projects
▪ Time allotted: 5 mins
Activity: List It Out

7. Reflect on Your Internship
Reflection on your internship experience helps
you:
▪ Expand your network
▪ Understand your working style and ideal
company culture
▪ Summarize the knowledge and skills that you
have learned
▪ Plan your career path
How to reflect on it:
1. Evaluate your experience with a framework
2. Summarize your key learnings

8. 1. Evaluate Your Experience
In order to evaluate the experience, it is
important to reflect on the following:
1. Responsibility: Did your key
responsibilities and work seem productive
to you?
1. Culture: Were you able to adapt to the
culture?
2. Structure and Supervision: Did the
structure and processes for supervision
help you perform well?

9. Responsibility Culture Structure and Supervision
1. How was the work related to a
subject of your interest or
what you want to learn?
2. How did your work challenge
you to step out of your comfort
zone?
3. How has your work made an
impact?
4. How did it change the way you
think about something?
1. Did you feel comfortable at your
workplace?
2. What was common between your
values and the values of the
organization and your co-
workers?
1. Were you able to proactively
communicate with your
supervisor and get feedback?
2. Was your working style aligned
with the organization’s culture?
1. How constructive was the
feedback that you got?
2. How important were the
responsibilities given to you?
3. Were the expectations set
clearly?
4. How did your manager ensure
that you got to learn
continuously?
Questions to Evaluate Your Experience

10. ▪ Use the questions given on the previous slide and
reflect on your internship experience.
▪ Summarize the following aspects:
1. What type of work and responsibilities keep
you motivated?
1. What kind of work culture do you like?
2. What qualities do you want to see in your manager?
▪ Time allotted: First 15 mins to reflect and last five
minutes to discuss
Let’s Reflect

11. 2. Summarize Your Learnings
After evaluating your experience, the next step is
to summarize your key learnings.
1. Subject-matter Expertise: What domain
knowledge were you able to use in your daily
tasks?
2. Skills: Think about both the technical skills
related to your domain and the transferable
skills applicable across domains.

12. Transferable Skills
These are the skills that are used in every job, irrespective of the sector and
designation. They are not industry-specific and can be used to highlight your past
experience while applying for jobs in a different industry.
Example of Transferable Skills
Problem Solving Relationship Building Ownership
Critical Thinking Leadership Creativity
Time Management Communication Organization
Collaboration Adaptability Dependability
Attention to Detail Teamwork Work Ethic

13. Let’s go back to Gaurav’s story from the beginning.
Gaurav is a final year MBA student, currently applying
for jobs in the finance sector. But last year, he did his
internship in the marketing field. The next slide
contains some snippets from Gaurav’s internship
experience as a marketing intern.
Analyze and identify the transferable skills from
Gaurav’s internship experience that he can highlight
while applying for finance-related jobs.
Identify the Skills

14. ● Gaurav worked as a marketing intern during his summer internship last year.
● In the first two weeks, Gaurav worked with other interns to execute two marketing
campaigns. He learned to coordinate different tasks and work with others to meet
timelines.
● One day, Gaurav’s manager, Sara, asked him to create a new marketing strategy for a
client. Gaurav interpreted and evaluated the previous strategy and came up with some
innovative ideas. He presented his ideas to Sara in a clear and concise manner.
● Towards the end of his internship, Gaurav also took responsibility of working on the final
draft of the marketing strategy. Sara observed that Gaurav managed his work and time well
and realised that she could rely on Gaurav for getting the work done on time.

15. Discussion
What transferable skills can you identify from
Gaurav’s internship experience?

16. 1. Before applying for more jobs in the finance
sector, Gaurav reflected on his internship
experience. He evaluated and summarized the
key learnings for himself.
2. A few weeks later, Gaurav was being
interviewed and he was asked the following
question:
Gaurav’s Journey Ahead
You worked as marketing intern last year. Can
you describe how your experience was? Also,
now you’re applying for a finance-related job
which is very different from marketing. How do
you think you will be able to apply the learnings
from your internship experience in this role?
“
”

17. Gaurav’s Answer
I completed my summer internship with a marketing
firm last year. I was impressed by how everyone
worked there collectively to ensure smooth
execution of projects. During my internship, I got an
opportunity to create a marketing strategy from
scratch. I took full ownership of it, from evaluating
information to generating ideas to creating the final
draft on time. I acknowledge that the role I’m
applying for is extremely different from my role
during my internship. But I believe that I learned
some critical transferable skills, such as an ability to
manage my work in an organized manner, come up
with innovative ideas, collaborate with others and
critically analyze information. These are applicable to
this role as well, making me a strong candidate for it.