About Ankush Kumar:

I completed my Bachelors in Technology in Mechanical Engineering from SRMS College of Engineering, Bareilly in year 2017 and am currently pursuing MBA from Symbiosis Institute of Management Studies, Pune with specialization in Marketing majors and Finance minors (Batch 2018 - 2020). I was associated with Cancer Aid Society under the guidance of WHO and also been a part of Pranay club at SIMS. During college I participated in many Olympiads and was the finalist of KVPY. Badminton is like my comfort zone and as I played Zonals and States in academic years. Content writing is something I have been doing for quite long time now mostly for organization but in personal time I like scribbling short stories, articles, poems and anything with words, you can find me poems/stories/articles here . Books fascinate me.


About the Internship

  • Duration - 8 Weeks
  • Location - Pune
  • Industry - Banking
  • Role - Sales Intern

How was your overall experience?

Overall the experience was quite good with pretty flexible work hours. My scheduled timing for internship was from 9:30 am till 5 pm. Since it was a small branch so there weren’t many people to interact with but all the personal bankers and the branch manager was very helpful at every juncture.

How was the selection process conducted? 

We had to go through an aptitude test, the shortlisted students were then called for the Group Discussion process.

What was your project and how did you execute it?

Since the branch was small, there were not many leads that I could have generated for sales so I chose to do Market Survey for the branch in particular region. My project title was “Segmentation of managed and potential customers for the branch”. I came up with a questionnaire with relatable parameters that I thought would be more inclined towards customer relation. Using these parameters I collected around 540 responses. Further I ran the data through SPSS to get the communal points on which the branch can focus and prosper.

How was the work culture at HDFC Bank? 

I am sorry if I am being diplomatic here but in banking sectors, the work culture is not very glorious as compared to corporate offices. The pressure of targets and leads generation make things a bit hectic but also quite competitive at the same time that pushes sales rep to achieve goals.
What were the key challenges that you faced during your internship?

The major drawback during my internship was my language barrier. Being a typical north guy from Delhi it was very hard for me to interact with customers in Marathi. There were also other issues of transportation, accommodation but communication barrier was a very crucial factor.
What were the key learnings of your internship?

The major learning was if you come to branch late you might have to do cold calls for an extra hour for the whole week, so a simple suggestion “never be late for your internship”. But jokes apart being a fresher it was very important for me to experience the office and work culture and hence the self-satisfaction of achieving things came in handy at the end date.

Any memorable moments from the internship?

Being a marketing student you never forget that first sales you make. So apparently I was late one day and was rewarded with over time of cold calling. Luckily after hundreds of tries I got that one customer to buy a personal loan of so and so amount and that literally made my day.

Any tips you would like to share with our juniors?

“Be prepared for the worse” If you live by this rule, let only internship you would be able to overcome and conquer heights at corporates and in your lives too. Also choose wisely any decision you make as it will be your life for at least next 3 to 5 years. All the best !!
For any other queries, you can reach out to Ankush @Instagram