Does anybody care for the Summer Interns?

Yes. A strong affirmative yes is the answer. People do care for summer interns and they show their care and concern in a hell lot of ways. Well, common perception across all the business school campus is that most of the companies do not even care that what the summer interns are doing in their premises, projects have to be decided by the students only and most of the time the idea comes staraight from some book or from some historical projects dug out from google. But I guess that things are changing and they are changing for good.

Today was my first day on first job (summer job) and can honestly accept that I was nervous (wasn't even able to open the doors confidently) was barely able to talk for the first 15 minutes but then slowly I settled my breath as the atmosphere inside Henkel's corporate office was calm and quiet. People were not wandering aimlessly and the most impressive character was security officer cum receptionist who just cannot stop talking. Well, he was an example of person organization fit and not job fit (for he liked Henkel but not his job). He was talking about quitting from this job and we even joked that if he quits before we get some project probably I will be opening the doors and my friend will be taking the receptionist job.

So for 1 hour we chatted with the receptionist and finally Mr. Murali Anandan (DM) came to see us. In appearance he looked quiet, intelligent and focussed. Without any sweet talks he straight forward talked about our project and then told us that the boss wanted to see us and discuss few things so we have to wait as he was in the meeting. Well, this was something completely unexpected from a FMCG company. Posch office, very nicely done interiors, open cubicles beating even IT companies in ambience and me and my friend were asked to wait in an open elevated cabin which looked like better fit for a romantic date out in some cafeteria. But well, for the first half an hour when we were actually reading the report and fiddling with the electronic access cards given to us with our names written in graphite (pencil), we felt like being put in some isolated chamber.

Leaving the humour, slowly everything started looking familiar and it seems that people will accept us easily. Dont know for sure but little things goes a long way in breaking the ice between the employee and organization. We were asked to take our lunch in the employee cafeteria and light music marks the beginning of the lunch hour which also is a symbol of easy going enterprise. So all in all first day have left me with hopes for better tomorrows. Well, all looks bright and rosy but then you never know.