Hello Mediaboy,
Like other members mentioned, pl give the following details ASAP--in case you are serious about getting ACCURATE & REALISTIC suggestions/advice from this Forum.
1] What's your MBA Major?
2] If not the name of the Organization you are doing your Project in, what field/domain or area of expertize are they into? AND what's the size of this company--BOTH in terms of numbers & turnover?
3] What was the basis for your selecting this company for the Internship?
4] Does your HOD/Guide @ college know or give you the clearance about you doing the Winter Internship in this company?
5] Are there any other MBA Interns in your group?
6] Have you discussed the current situation/scenario with your college guide? If yes, what was their opinion?
A lot of what can be suggested would depend on your answers to the above queries.
However, going by the limited info you mentioned, "Should i leave the internship and find something else?" MAY NOT be an option you can exercise--given that the balance time is too short for you to do anything worthwhile elsewhere.
All the Best.
Rgds,
TS
From India, Hyderabad
1637Like other members mentioned, pl give the following details ASAP--in case you are serious about getting ACCURATE & REALISTIC suggestions/advice from this Forum.
1] What's your MBA Major?
2] If not the name of the Organization you are doing your Project in, what field/domain or area of expertize are they into? AND what's the size of this company--BOTH in terms of numbers & turnover?
3] What was the basis for your selecting this company for the Internship?
4] Does your HOD/Guide @ college know or give you the clearance about you doing the Winter Internship in this company?
5] Are there any other MBA Interns in your group?
6] Have you discussed the current situation/scenario with your college guide? If yes, what was their opinion?
A lot of what can be suggested would depend on your answers to the above queries.
However, going by the limited info you mentioned, "Should i leave the internship and find something else?" MAY NOT be an option you can exercise--given that the balance time is too short for you to do anything worthwhile elsewhere.
All the Best.
Rgds,
TS
From India, Hyderabad
You were or are interested in Market Research or Analysis?
Well the question asked by Mr Hansdah and TajSateesh are very valid and you need to answer them first. In addition, can you please define us in your language what “Market Research or Analysis” means to you?
And, your statement “having a summer internship and had winter internship” could you please let us know something about your winter session and what did you learn and about your project work there?”
Second thing is that you must not expect, where the internship or the chances you have provided to work with; the organization, there you can find anyone to teach you himself. I mean, you have to learn and grab the conditions/opportunities at your own. You are a Student and have to show your learning skills and your interest in work. No one likes to offer his service himself or come to you and say, “Let me teach you this and that”.
Can you let us know the work you have assigned in this month (current internship period), which is almost completed?
Lastly, as you have accepted your mistakes after realization that you do not want to continue with the present situation/condition that are not meeting your requirements for your project report and work, you must not continue this because you are just wasting your time there. You have to report your University back or the institute that have provided you this chance or to the mentor with complete details. Subsequently, you need to work with right direction and need to concentrate towards your project report and for the condition that meets your requirement.
Now you have to get over the situation and as you said that the area of work and conditions you have with present internship are not according to your project demands and career line, you must take corrective action and quit immediately.
From India, Gurgaon
Well the question asked by Mr Hansdah and TajSateesh are very valid and you need to answer them first. In addition, can you please define us in your language what “Market Research or Analysis” means to you?
And, your statement “having a summer internship and had winter internship” could you please let us know something about your winter session and what did you learn and about your project work there?”
Second thing is that you must not expect, where the internship or the chances you have provided to work with; the organization, there you can find anyone to teach you himself. I mean, you have to learn and grab the conditions/opportunities at your own. You are a Student and have to show your learning skills and your interest in work. No one likes to offer his service himself or come to you and say, “Let me teach you this and that”.
Can you let us know the work you have assigned in this month (current internship period), which is almost completed?
Lastly, as you have accepted your mistakes after realization that you do not want to continue with the present situation/condition that are not meeting your requirements for your project report and work, you must not continue this because you are just wasting your time there. You have to report your University back or the institute that have provided you this chance or to the mentor with complete details. Subsequently, you need to work with right direction and need to concentrate towards your project report and for the condition that meets your requirement.
Now you have to get over the situation and as you said that the area of work and conditions you have with present internship are not according to your project demands and career line, you must take corrective action and quit immediately.
From India, Gurgaon
Dear Seniors,
Thank you for your kind help. At that time I was just in a panic mode, hence things weren't made clear in my post.
Yes, I am doing MBA in Marketing. I was seeking a research based role in the organisation . I was told we had enough work in that area, but on my 1st day i was told that there was a new service to be launched for which i needed to pitch to people (via cold calls) & seek marketing alliances. Though I was briefed about this service by the head of the company, further i was made to learn of it by the earlier data that was saved by someone.
As a sport, i took up the challenge (not worrying about my main project) and tried for 20-22 days to give it some thought. Furthermore, there were other 2 BU's of the company and soon the work flowing from that area as well was handed over to me, for e.g. an event was coming up for which i was told to get sponsorship, again by cold calling. I tried my best, but got rejects from 3-4 places. Adding to it, i was asked to gain advertisements for our publication and gain subscription too. Suddenly, in a week all this came pouring in.
Here I'd like to mention that I have had 4 internships and 5 industry based projects earlier in the field of media & entertainment where I seek to build my career. This is a print media group. On further investigation from other colleagues here in this place, I came to know that I was filled into a place (or, internship) where earlier 2 marketing persons had come and gone and tried for this service for almost a year and could not sell.
Even though I'd mentioned strongly my eagerness to search for a suitable project and asked to assign me a mentor, the head of the company does not show interest. He tells me to find something, collate and do what you're required to submit at your college (read: he does not want any research or survey to be done by me which could help his organisation). I even asked one day of his opinion on Market Research, he jokingly said he does not believe in it and said its all flawed (citing some examples from the industry).
I was given 2 months to do a project from my university. At this juncture, I feel I should I resign but I not very much confident in seeking a project just in a week. Add to that I am in Mumbai, and I am not a resident of it (staying at some friends place). I have been giving it a thought for a week now, and what I am gonna request here is an early leave say by mid feb. I still have no mentor, no data sets, no guidance, and in the very 1st week itself I mentioned to my head I am NOT interested in sales or BD.
I am still thinking as to how to so a small survey or a project and file a report at my dept. But sadly I guess, I lost an opportunity to do some great job while I had the time.
Thank you for all your support and suggestions. I would still seek your opinion of my case dear seniors.
From India, Mumbai
Thank you for your kind help. At that time I was just in a panic mode, hence things weren't made clear in my post.
Yes, I am doing MBA in Marketing. I was seeking a research based role in the organisation . I was told we had enough work in that area, but on my 1st day i was told that there was a new service to be launched for which i needed to pitch to people (via cold calls) & seek marketing alliances. Though I was briefed about this service by the head of the company, further i was made to learn of it by the earlier data that was saved by someone.
As a sport, i took up the challenge (not worrying about my main project) and tried for 20-22 days to give it some thought. Furthermore, there were other 2 BU's of the company and soon the work flowing from that area as well was handed over to me, for e.g. an event was coming up for which i was told to get sponsorship, again by cold calling. I tried my best, but got rejects from 3-4 places. Adding to it, i was asked to gain advertisements for our publication and gain subscription too. Suddenly, in a week all this came pouring in.
Here I'd like to mention that I have had 4 internships and 5 industry based projects earlier in the field of media & entertainment where I seek to build my career. This is a print media group. On further investigation from other colleagues here in this place, I came to know that I was filled into a place (or, internship) where earlier 2 marketing persons had come and gone and tried for this service for almost a year and could not sell.
Even though I'd mentioned strongly my eagerness to search for a suitable project and asked to assign me a mentor, the head of the company does not show interest. He tells me to find something, collate and do what you're required to submit at your college (read: he does not want any research or survey to be done by me which could help his organisation). I even asked one day of his opinion on Market Research, he jokingly said he does not believe in it and said its all flawed (citing some examples from the industry).
I was given 2 months to do a project from my university. At this juncture, I feel I should I resign but I not very much confident in seeking a project just in a week. Add to that I am in Mumbai, and I am not a resident of it (staying at some friends place). I have been giving it a thought for a week now, and what I am gonna request here is an early leave say by mid feb. I still have no mentor, no data sets, no guidance, and in the very 1st week itself I mentioned to my head I am NOT interested in sales or BD.
I am still thinking as to how to so a small survey or a project and file a report at my dept. But sadly I guess, I lost an opportunity to do some great job while I had the time.
Thank you for all your support and suggestions. I would still seek your opinion of my case dear seniors.
From India, Mumbai
And yes, my university was not able to find an internship for me. Hence, I took the initiative and secured an internship on my own. Things would just go haywire if I report back as i strongly believe that the dept from where i come (i.e.calcutta), it'd be easy for them to put the blame on me as I found this internship on my own - and that they'd be worried about the image of the dept as I am the torch bearer here, etc..... but in reality no one gives a damn here of the place i come from or what university i belong to.
From India, Mumbai
From India, Mumbai
answering to Tajsateesh:
1] What's your MBA Major? - Marketing
2] If not the name of the Organization you are doing your Project in, what field/domain or area of expertize are they into? - Print Media, Finance Magazine
AND what's the size of this company--BOTH in terms of numbers & turnover? - 20 employees (including me), Turnover - Not Sure
3] What was the basis for your selecting this company for the Internship? - I wanted to get exposure in a print media group, hence..
4] Does your HOD/Guide @ college know or give you the clearance about you doing the Winter Internship in this company? - The Placement Officers are assigned to get projects. They were unable to find me in a media group, hence I'd to seek on my own.
5] Are there any other MBA Interns in your group? - No. I am the only one here.
6] Have you discussed the current situation/scenario with your college guide? If yes, what was their opinion?
I haven't discussed it my college guide yet, mainly because I feel all hell will break loose once I start telling them. Again, my college is in the east and i am interning in the west of the country - so on call it would be really difficult to explain my situation.
From India, Mumbai
1] What's your MBA Major? - Marketing
2] If not the name of the Organization you are doing your Project in, what field/domain or area of expertize are they into? - Print Media, Finance Magazine
AND what's the size of this company--BOTH in terms of numbers & turnover? - 20 employees (including me), Turnover - Not Sure
3] What was the basis for your selecting this company for the Internship? - I wanted to get exposure in a print media group, hence..
4] Does your HOD/Guide @ college know or give you the clearance about you doing the Winter Internship in this company? - The Placement Officers are assigned to get projects. They were unable to find me in a media group, hence I'd to seek on my own.
5] Are there any other MBA Interns in your group? - No. I am the only one here.
6] Have you discussed the current situation/scenario with your college guide? If yes, what was their opinion?
I haven't discussed it my college guide yet, mainly because I feel all hell will break loose once I start telling them. Again, my college is in the east and i am interning in the west of the country - so on call it would be really difficult to explain my situation.
From India, Mumbai
Hey do not worry, It is all fine. It all happens. I hope you're in a little clearer state now than before.
You mentioned that you were looking to do some market research. Can you quickly give what you wanted to research about? Like say you wish to do an internal survey (survey the employees) or an external survey (survey the outsiders)
If an internal survey, what should be your topic or area of survey.
If an external survey, what is it that you'd want to know? Company's Image or its product and/or services or what?
Put all the above mentioned details in ink on a paper and then put that forward to your manager there.
You can convince him by saying that you'd continue the task given to you, but would appreciate if they would allow you to also carry out another project which would help you per-se in you career moulding.
Give all your facts and figures.
Honestly, they may be testing you. You're a marketing person. They've assigned you a task to bring in subscribers and sponsers. That's only to enhance your convincing skills.
Sell your idea to them. Convince them and get the approval and start your research ASAP.
If possible try to make a rough draft of your questionnaire also before you go to convince him That would show your seriousness. Do not expect someone to take you seriously unless you convince them you're dead serious about it.
Be confident. Don't argue, just convince. There's lot of difference between the two...
Do not honestly leave early. Its only a learning opportunity. Moreover leaving early meeans running away from the problem. Whereas all that managers ought to do is tackle problems. Take this as a learning path. More so I also showed you how to proceed further. And do that asap in order to finish your survey and all your analysis well in time.
There is still time. If you look at it you have 28 days still to your credit to finish your task. But you'll have to work a little over time. I'm sure you'd be able to handle that. Good luck and god bless you :)
From India, Mumbai
You mentioned that you were looking to do some market research. Can you quickly give what you wanted to research about? Like say you wish to do an internal survey (survey the employees) or an external survey (survey the outsiders)
If an internal survey, what should be your topic or area of survey.
If an external survey, what is it that you'd want to know? Company's Image or its product and/or services or what?
Put all the above mentioned details in ink on a paper and then put that forward to your manager there.
You can convince him by saying that you'd continue the task given to you, but would appreciate if they would allow you to also carry out another project which would help you per-se in you career moulding.
Give all your facts and figures.
Honestly, they may be testing you. You're a marketing person. They've assigned you a task to bring in subscribers and sponsers. That's only to enhance your convincing skills.
Sell your idea to them. Convince them and get the approval and start your research ASAP.
If possible try to make a rough draft of your questionnaire also before you go to convince him That would show your seriousness. Do not expect someone to take you seriously unless you convince them you're dead serious about it.
Be confident. Don't argue, just convince. There's lot of difference between the two...
Do not honestly leave early. Its only a learning opportunity. Moreover leaving early meeans running away from the problem. Whereas all that managers ought to do is tackle problems. Take this as a learning path. More so I also showed you how to proceed further. And do that asap in order to finish your survey and all your analysis well in time.
There is still time. If you look at it you have 28 days still to your credit to finish your task. But you'll have to work a little over time. I'm sure you'd be able to handle that. Good luck and god bless you :)
From India, Mumbai
Hello Mediaboy,
Things are a bit more clearer now.
Firstly, Dinesh was bang on target when he said: '.....this organization is simply exploiting your position as a needy MBA student to get the work required to be done by an employee whom they would have been required to pay salary'.
But now that you are neck-deep...so to say....into it & don't have a lot of time to make a switch-over OR to go back to your college to report the factual situation, I guess you only need to MAKE THE BEST USE OF IT.
You mentioned that the tasks/activities given to you were already tried out earlier & didn't succeed. Can you get into the details & link them up to your Core Topic....the idea being to bring-about or generate the Report you need to submit to your college [from factual data]? My 'feeling' is that it can be done--maybe you can take the help of the marketing members in this Forum.
Whether to give a copy of the Report to this company can be thought of later--given your comments ['........he jokingly said he does not believe in it and said its all flawed.......'].
However, there are couple of aspects of any working environment that you need to bear in mind:
1] Nothing is put on a platter for your convenience to learn--in a typical jargon, NO Spoonfeeding can or ought to be expected. It's upto the individual concerned to figure-out how to co-relate the situation with the ultimate goal.
2] Looking @ such situations from a different perspective, there's NOTHING called coincidence in life--every happening HAS a reason, WITHOUT EXCEPTION. And just because it doesn't seem apparent while one is going/passing thru that confusing phase doesn't mean the reason(s) doesn't/don't exist. It's upto the individual to figure it/them out.
In your case, maybe you are missing some learning opportunities--just look around & I am sure you will discover it/them. Just WIDEN your glance & look @ the larger picture.
All the Best.
Rgds,
TS
From India, Hyderabad
Things are a bit more clearer now.
Firstly, Dinesh was bang on target when he said: '.....this organization is simply exploiting your position as a needy MBA student to get the work required to be done by an employee whom they would have been required to pay salary'.
But now that you are neck-deep...so to say....into it & don't have a lot of time to make a switch-over OR to go back to your college to report the factual situation, I guess you only need to MAKE THE BEST USE OF IT.
You mentioned that the tasks/activities given to you were already tried out earlier & didn't succeed. Can you get into the details & link them up to your Core Topic....the idea being to bring-about or generate the Report you need to submit to your college [from factual data]? My 'feeling' is that it can be done--maybe you can take the help of the marketing members in this Forum.
Whether to give a copy of the Report to this company can be thought of later--given your comments ['........he jokingly said he does not believe in it and said its all flawed.......'].
However, there are couple of aspects of any working environment that you need to bear in mind:
1] Nothing is put on a platter for your convenience to learn--in a typical jargon, NO Spoonfeeding can or ought to be expected. It's upto the individual concerned to figure-out how to co-relate the situation with the ultimate goal.
2] Looking @ such situations from a different perspective, there's NOTHING called coincidence in life--every happening HAS a reason, WITHOUT EXCEPTION. And just because it doesn't seem apparent while one is going/passing thru that confusing phase doesn't mean the reason(s) doesn't/don't exist. It's upto the individual to figure it/them out.
In your case, maybe you are missing some learning opportunities--just look around & I am sure you will discover it/them. Just WIDEN your glance & look @ the larger picture.
All the Best.
Rgds,
TS
From India, Hyderabad
thanks for the replies seniors. I am still going to ponder upon this issue this weekend. See how many +s or -s (pluses or negatives) are there. As of now the beam balance is quite heavier on the -ve side.
All your kind supports is highly appreciated.
From India, Mumbai
All your kind supports is highly appreciated.
From India, Mumbai
Whatever might be your decision, let us know and don't hesitate to ask us whatever you might require and tell us precisely as all of us are willing to help you in whatever way possible.
All the best.
kumar.s.
From India, Bangalore
All the best.
kumar.s.
From India, Bangalore
ALL THE BEST Mediaboy.
I must admit--NOT MANY @ your age & experience-level look @ things as objectively as you 'seem' to be doing--weighing the Pros & Cons BEFORE taking a decision. Most wake-up AFTER they get hit.
Do keep this Forum informed on your decision--NOT for the sake of 'Reporting' but for the benefit of others who MAY pass thru a similar phase later in their career(s).
All the Best again.
Rgds,
TS
From India, Hyderabad
I must admit--NOT MANY @ your age & experience-level look @ things as objectively as you 'seem' to be doing--weighing the Pros & Cons BEFORE taking a decision. Most wake-up AFTER they get hit.
Do keep this Forum informed on your decision--NOT for the sake of 'Reporting' but for the benefit of others who MAY pass thru a similar phase later in their career(s).
All the Best again.
Rgds,
TS
From India, Hyderabad
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