About Siddharth Chakravorty:

I've done my Bachelor’s in Electronics and Instrumentation engineering from B.M.S College of Engineering, Bangalore and am currently in my final year of MBA in Marketing and International Business (Batch 2018 - 2020) from Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies, Pune. I have done most of my schooling from Army Public School, Ambala Cantt and Army Public School, Bangalore. I'm a senior editor in the Editorial and Media Relations Cell and a senior coordinator for the music club ‘Sur’ at SIMS. In addition to these activities, you can usually find me backpacking, reading novels or hooked onto my PS4.

About the Internship

  • Duration - 2 Months
  • Location - Bengaluru and Kolkata
  • Industry - Retail
  • Role - Sales and Marketing Intern

How was your overall experience?

Well, in simple terms: Hectic and fun. My internship started off with some product and store training sessions to understand the retail operations that Wildcraft deals with on a day to day basis. Post that, I started working on my project in Calcutta. Initially, working in sales and business development seemed quite intimidating and challenging, especially considering this being my first ever stint in the domain. However, as time went by, I understood the tricks of the trade and got comfortable with the process and delivered what was required of me. To venture into new areas of an unknown city and explore them inside out as part of your wok was an adventure in itself.

How was the selection process conducted? 

So we had an aptitude test as our first round of filtering. The candidates who cleared the test were divided into groups for group discussions on various topics. Those who cleared the GD rounds were then called for interviews, post which the results were announced.

What was your project and how did you execute it?

My project was “Feasibility Study of EDO” and I was working on it with my regional sales manager, branch manager & trade manager. It mainly dealt with expansion of Wildcraft into a new store format which required planning, processing, coordinating and executing all of the operations for the expansion. I had to go through all 7 stages of the sales process, right from prospecting to follow up sales call. There was a lot of market study involved & most of my work required liaising with dealers, distributors, investors and store owners.

How was the work culture at Wildcraft? 

Work culture was good. I had to report by 10 am and there was no fixed time of return. People were quite friendly and supportive. You can wear whatever you want to office as long as you look smart in that outfit, which was a saving grace. (I was always dressed in jeans, round neck tees and sneakers).

What were the key challenges that you faced during your internship?

Lack of brand awareness in the eastern region was the biggest challenge I faced in my project. Every step in the project had to be thought of keeping this in mind. Also, owing to the fact that my command over Bengali is weak, it took me a while to learn how to pitch to certain dealers and store owners in Bengali and convince them to accept our offer.

What were the key learnings of your internship?

I had a full-fledged experience with hardcore sales and business development. So now I know what to expect if I were to get a sales job in the future and also how to go about handling it. Got a hands-on exposure to all the marketing and finance concepts we had studied in theory. I also developed a lot of patience since the job frequently involved facing rejections from my prospects.

Any memorable moments from the internship?

Many! But I guess my best day happened to be my last day in the project at Calcutta. I had carved a niche for myself in the team based on my attitude and efforts and everyone in the team was sad to see me go. That is when I realized I had done a good job as an intern.

Any tips you would like to share with our juniors?

Do some research first and understand the profile being offered by any company you’re sitting for. See if the work is what you would genuinely want to see yourself doing as an intern. Be calm, confident and honest during your placement process. I wouldn’t really recommend any sort of preparation since I’m not one to prepare myself for interviews. I feel it is all about how well you can convince your assessors to select you, no matter who you are. So work on that aspect.

 For any other queries, you can reach out to Siddharth @Linkedin and @Instagram