ChatGPT rival is out already?

Hello, FinOak readers,We hope that this newsletter finds you in the right spirit! In our weekly wrap up column, we have covered about the rival of ChatGPT and how one mistake costed Alphabet $100 Billion dollars. Next, read about inbound remittances received by India which hold the highest record ever.In Personal Finance column, we have talked about how you can improve your credit score.For our Featuring Future Leaders column, we have Parth Chawla, final year economics student at SRCC. Read his exciting and inspiring story of how he converted the big 3 MBB!

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Weekly Wrap Up

In today's Edition

• One Mistake that costed Alphabet $100 Billion Dollars

• Remittances ki raftaar!

One Mistake that Costed Alphabet $100 Billion Dollars

So after a long day of sleeping and missing college classes because “Agar attendance ki dikkat leni hoti tho private university mai admission lele te”, our team recently came across a very interesting write-up on ChatGPT, and the–as we like to call it–the 3B issue, A.K.A. the Big Blunder Bard!

Recently, Microsoft announced a multi-billion dollar partnership with ChatGPT maker Open AI - said they will incorporate AI into its Office suite and Teams messaging app. While, on other hand, Google announced on Wednesday several AI-induced improvements across products including maps, translation and its image recognition tool Lens.

Now, you may ask, “But why is Google in so much of a hurry?”

Well, you see, AI chatbots like ChatGPT hold the promise of supplying users with ready-made answers from multiple sources, replacing the familiar list of links and ads that have been Google's bread and butter for two decades. That's why they announced the alternative - Bard.

Like ChatGPT, Bard is built on a large language model, which is trained on vast troves of data online in order to generate compelling responses to user prompts.

Even though, this Wednesday, Google held an event in its Paris office where the tech giant detailed plans to use AI technology to radically change how people search for information online, ChatGPT’s meteoric rise in popularity reportedly has prompted Google’s management to declare a “code red” situation for its search product.

Talking about every AI company’s nightmare, Google shares lose $100 billion after the company’s AI chatbot made an error during a demo, which was posted by Google on Twitter.

Well, apparently a user asks Bard: “What new discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope can I tell my 9 year old about?” Bard responds with a series of bullet points, including one that reads: “JWST took the very first pictures of a planet outside of our own solar system.” 

Unfortunately, according to NASA, the first image showing an exoplanet — or for that matter, any planet beyond our solar system — was actually taken by the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope nearly two decades ago, in 2004. This led to the shares of Google’s parent company, Alphabet to fall by 7.7%. On Wednesday, Google, along with a long sleepless night, ended up wiping $100 billion off its market value, after the inaccurate response from Bard was first reported by Reuters (Damage control? Denied).

In hindsight, Bard’s blunder highlights the major challenge for Google as it races to integrate the same AI technology that underpins Microsoft-backed ChatGPT into its core search engine. With an attempt to keep pace with what some think could be a radical change spurred by conversational AI in how people search online, Google now risks upending its search engine’s reputation for surfacing reliable information.

Remittances ki Raftaar!

Well you see it’s one of the member’s at FinOak’s birthday soon, and they recently received some Big Time money from their brother studying abroad (we broke college students could surely use that money for four plates of Momhandz momo’s or some delicious breakfast delights at Ama Cafe’s for you North Campus Students!)

Talking about money received from abroad (or as the Econ student’s like to call it–remittances), the biggest ever inbound remittances received in a single year were sent to India during 2021–2022 and totaled USD 89,127 million (Approximately 89.2 billion dollars). Pankaj Chaudhary, the Union Minister of State for Finance, made this claim in a written response to a Rajya Sabha question.

In addition, the minister said that the value of the Indian rupee is determined by the market. The RBI closely monitors the foreign exchange markets and only intervenes when necessary to prevent excessive volatility in the exchange rate, without taking into account any pre-established target level or band.

Before delving into what are the quantitative figures received from a certain set of countries, the 7 crore rupees question remains (Is it just us or can you hear KBC’s theme in the background too?)...

What is a Remittance?

-Well, the World Bank defines remittance as the sum of worker’s remittances, compensation of employees, and migrants’ transfers as recorded in the IMF Balance of Payments.

-Workers remittances are current transfers by migrants who are considered residents in the source.

-In terms of importance, Remittances are a vital source of household income for low and middle income countries.

- They are majorly used for maintenance of one’s family, investments etc.

With the USA contributing a big chunk of the pie at 23.4%, the other countries from where the remittances reach India are UAE(18%), UK(6.8%), SIngapore(5.7%), Saudi Arabia(5.1%). 

With over 32 million Indians residing out of India, i.e, 2.2% of the entire India’s population sending money here, not each state of India receives the remittances in a similar proportion! 

The Mumbai Bank accounts are flooded with a staggering 35.2% of the entire amount, followed by Kerala at 10.2% and Tamil Nadu at 9.7%. 

So in a nutshell, if your didi, tau ji or aunt reside in the foreign land and sends hefty pounds or dollars on your birthday to your HDFC/ICICI/SBI bank accounts (apologies for bank bias 😉 ), Congratulations, you too are contributing to the staggering 6.5% CAGR growth in these inward remittances!

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Personal Finance

In today's Edition

• How to Improve Your Credit Score and Protect Your Financial Future?

How to Improve Your Credit Score and Protect Your Financial Future?

You know, one of our team members just scored a 175 on an IQ test with just 3 questions?

1. Enter your credit card number2. Enter your social security number3. Upload a scanned copy of your birth certificate

Well!

Jokes aside, you see your credit score is an essential part of your financial life since it impacts your eligibility for loans, credit cards, and other financial goods. A good credit score essentially implies that you are a responsible borrower, whilst a low credit score indicates the opposite. If you are in your late teens or early twenties or simply a University student that only goes to college because of an attendance issue, now is the time to start improving your credit and planning for a prosperous financial future. 

Want to know how? Well thank us later because here are some tips to help you improve your credit score!

• Sneak-Peek at your Bill Payments

You can increase your credit score simply by making on-time payments on all accounts. Set up a file system and due-date reminders, or charge all bills to a credit card and pay the balance in full each month. A consistent payment history will boost your credit score and assist you in reaching your financial objectives.

• Aim for a credit utilization of 30% or less

Credit utilization is an easy way to boost your credit score. Here is an easy-peasy trick up your sleeve–maintaining an outstanding amount of 30% or less, of your overall credit limit, can give you some great results. Most companies provide quick and easy approval by simply using your credit card's high balance alert feature, or by requesting an increase in your credit limit, can result in a quick fix, for a better credit score!

• Maintain Old Accounts and Handle Default Payments

The age-of-credit component of your credit score assesses how long you've had credit accounts. As counterintuitive as this may sound, keeping old credit accounts and settling outstanding accounts, might actually boost your credit score. Why you ask? Well, catching up on past due payments and making future payments on schedule can lead to reduced late payments. Thus, paying off collections or charge-offs might provide a little boost to your credit score.

Finally, boosting your credit score needs patience, discipline, and effort; (just like the time you tried learning how to do a kart-wheel in fifth grade 😀). 

By following these guidelines, you may build a great credit history, which can open up additional financial prospects for you in the future. So let’s begin working on your credit score today to get the financial rewards of a strong credit score later!

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Featuring Future Leaders: Parth Chawla

How I converted roles at MBB

Hi Everyone, I'm Parth Chawla, a third-year economics student at SRCC, University of Delhi. I've interned with various companies in the fields of Finance, Data Analytics, Strategy, and Consulting, and I also serve as the Director of The 80/20 Consultants, which is a student-led consulting organization. Today I'm going to walk you through my journey that eventually led to my role at the Boston Consulting Group.

College Societies

I can speak for SRCC - Although I believe the culture is the same in other DU colleges as well. There are about 5-6 societies that are quite elite and respectable. Recruiters have been coming to recruit people on campus for the past 20-25 years or so and they are aware of the value each society has. 

I was in my college's Sports and Dance Society and I had a great experience. I met people from different backgrounds who were very enthusiastic and extremely hardworking. These societies are great for developing certain skills, especially in terms of discipline and patience, however, they've not produced a great track record in terms of getting placed or during the recruitment process. So essentially, for me, not being part of the 'elite' societies did two things: 

1. It did not give me the brand value in terms of societies or the experience of work that happens there. Let's take Enactus for example - It's a society that stands for social entrepreneurship and its work is recognized by recruiters, even globally. Students belonging to this society are known to put in the hours and work rigorously - so it's highly valued work. Since I was not able to experience that, I had to look for other experiences myself.

2. Seniors are great mentors whose guidance can be really helpful throughout your college life - well, not just them but also your immediate team members and super seniors. I did not have access to any seniors belonging to these societies until about two years of college had passed, but I reached out to people on LinkedIn when I started to begin building my profile. Not having interactions with any of the society alums was a hindrance that caused me to not even have a signal shortlist during my internship cycle (more on that later). But then, I got in touch with a lot of people who weren't part of such societies but were great seniors and mentors, and I was able to navigate through the process externally and got off-campus internships instead.

I don't think there's any harm in not being part of any college societies - you don't have to feel bad or be too hard on yourself about it. It's recommended to apply to each one of them to see which one interests you but on the flip side, not being a part of college societies is not a deal breaker in terms of recruitment or getting placed. You should start networking with people from your college or in your interested domains, try to get off-campus internships and work on projects and your skills.

Skill Building

(Online Courses, Competitions, Internships, etc.)

As far as online courses go, I used Udemy and Coursera for just two courses - one being Excel. Excel is a basic skill that anyone can learn, it helps you whether it's a college society or an internship or even when you work after college or during your master's. You can do courses that you feel are suitable to fit your personal goals - for example, someone who is looking for a professional career in data analytics can build skills from online courses by learning PowerBI, Tableau, SQL, and other programming languages. But in my opinion, the best place to build skills is through college societies and internships. I did internships with very small brands in the beginning, with relatively simpler roles as compared to what I did afterward. But these internships act as a very great platform to learn skills because they will extract the maximum possible amount of work from you in the minimum possible amount of time. Hence, societies, external organizations, as well as internships are the best place to learn skills, be they hard skills or soft skills.

I also took an online course on financial markets, and it did help me a lot in understanding them better, but I did it because I was interested in studying that topic, and as an economics student, it helped me a lot in my second year as well. But, these courses should align with your interests. Don't do a course for the sake of it or the certificate it will provide you. When you're asked about these courses in an interview or front of recruiters, remember that they have a lot of experience with people like you - so they'll be able to see through you in seconds if you end up fumbling or are not sure about the content of the course. The interviewers may try to grill you further or rush through the interview. It causes them to lose trust in the candidate and grow doubtful of everything they've mentioned in their CV, even if everything else was perfect and legitimate.

Competitions are also a great way to acquire skills. You research various topics on finance, and case studies, go through research papers, make presentations, watch other people present, gain inspiration from that, and also work on communication skills. Competitions are something that I recommend everyone to at least try once in their college life. If you don't like it, then definitely leave it but if you do like it, then continue with it. They are a good opportunity to learn skills. I participated in many competitions myself, whether it be sports, or case study competitions - that especially cover a wide range of domains like finance, marketing, HR, business operations, strategy, etc. I also found  Article writing, Research paper writing to be very interesting as well. I used Unstop (formerly D2C) as the sole platform to find such opportunities. Try participating in various competitions to see what works for you!

Balancing Academics with Co-Curricular Activities 

So one thing that helped me was being part of the online batch where attendance wasn't an issue. We did not have to attend many classes, and we saved a lot of time which is now spent traveling. Once offline college began, I began to prioritize various things. My commute to college is about an hour and a half one way, so I would use that time to either read certain things or use LinkedIn extensively while traveling in the Metro. Time management is a very essential skill that I also learned in this process. 

Generally, the major things that anyone will be doing in their second year are having one or two PORs, being a part of an organization or society, doing one or two internships, or participating in competitions. Managing these activities with academics is important, and you'll need to maintain a decent grade point. As long as you're above the average of getting good shortlists or you're maintaining a decent grade point average as compared to your classmates, you're good to go. 

As far as academics go, I believe that it depends on what you prioritize.

If placements are your priority, then getting the best grades should not be your concern. Participating in other things takes up a lot of your time and energy, but you'll have to leave something out. 

For placements, you have to put in your time in doing internships or participating in any type of competition or extracurricular activities, because these experiences are more important for that motive. Considering this, you can spend your time in academics or personal time before or after your Internship hours in the day. Just remember, If you wish to get great shortlists, you have to prioritize certain things from the very beginning. 

But let's say your priority after graduation is going for a Master's, then you have to be good at academics and study extensively, because that is the thing you will be building on in your master's, and you've to make sure that your basics are clear. Even if you're going for an MBA, having an all-rounded profile is essential, i.e you must have a balance between academics and work experience. 

Generally, I will suggest that you try to attend as many classes as you can. It's great to stay in touch with your professors or approach them for doubts. You might not click with every professor's teaching method, but you must extract as much information, as many resources, and assistance from your professors.

Placements

Honestly, the process was hectic and tiresome - but I enjoyed it. After talking to a lot of seniors, I learned that it's that point when you begin to enjoy the process when you become good at solving cases. I would do my case study preparation along with friends, so we all became case study partners which made it a very interactive experience. 

We also went for office visits across companies where we would have about 6-7 sessions that would assist us in understanding how to crack case interviews, and how the case interview is held, and they also helped us solve some cases. They discussed and cleared our doubts before D-day when we had to give our interviews. This was quite helpful in my preparation, as these visits happened a week or so before the interviews - around the time shortlisted people had reached their peak in solving cases. It was quite a rejuvenating experience going to the office and meeting all the existing employees which led me to build a personal connection with them. These visits would take the entire day which led to a few days being unutilized in my preparation stage, but it was worth it because I felt I was able to express myself better during interviews. In my interview, I was able to mention certain things within the office as well as the employees with whom I had interacted during my office visit, which acted as a plus point.

So yes, placement season was quite hectic, it tests your time management skills and it's a heavy process where you end up cutting family time, personal time, and even sleep time which is quite unhealthy. You have to put in about 8-10 hours of work every day along with preparation, you have to manage your co-curricular activities and other obligations. During the summer, it's mostly focusing on yourself and talking to your case partners, and preparing them for the interviews.

Placement Preparation

In chronological order, I started with watching YouTube videos of Aaditya Agarwal and Case Interviews Cracked. Then simultaneously I started solving cases from IIM-A Casebook. After we completed that, we shifted to the SRCC case compendium, and side by side I used FMS Casebook for solving guesstimates. Across all three books, we solved about 70 cases both as the interviewer and the interviewee. I started from scratch and prepared for about two months, but it's important to note that I was free from other positions of responsibility at the time. Also, as we worked in a group of three, we would each solve a case per day which led us to discuss 3 cases per day. Soon the number of cases we would solve gradually increased, so that's how I prepared for the same.

Mentorship by Seniors during Placements

Mentorship by seniors was very helpful. Not being part of dominant societies was a barrier, but afterward, I connected with seniors on LinkedIn who helped me get myself back on track to build a good profile. Irrespective of what your future goals are, whether you're willing to do a master's or go for placements - you will find like-minded seniors. My recommendation for anyone junior to me would be definitely to stay in touch with seniors throughout, as they have gone through similar situations, perhaps even more difficult ones than you already are in. 

Staying in touch with seniors helped me in choosing between MBB. I stayed in touch with seniors who worked in the companies I had in mind, and that helped me get an idea of the kind of people that worked there, as well as the culture and work ethic of the firm. It helped me to somewhat judge the very basic nature of the people in the firm, and one of my major reasons for choosing BCG was that seniors that I was in touch with also worked there. They helped me connect with other people who were working in the same organization which gave me more clarity on the work culture and people. Even during placements, seniors can help you by telling you certain things that you can do better that you're not doing correctly, and also help you stay patient. It can get very frustrating and demotivating at times and seniors - both at a professional as well as a personal level act as your mentors as well as your friends.

CV Building 

I believe I'm aware of the culture at SRCC and other North Campus colleges, where the major roadblock for consulting placements is getting a CV shortlisted. A CV is divided into four sections - Academics, Internships, PORs, and ECA. Now we must understand what a spike is. Essentially, a spike is something that makes you stand out in your profile - something you've excelled at. Let's say you're great at music, you've gone for music competitions at a national and international level, so music accounts as your spike. 

The concept of spikes is very much important for getting shortlisted whether for consulting, or finance. However, your academics can't act as a spike for you since at DU, everyone is on par with you. We all got admitted into the university because we had exceptional scores. However, if you have scholastic achievements wherein you did well in an International Olympiad, or you were able to bag a scholarship or went to an academic convention - those can act as a spike. Other than that, you need to make sure that you have two spikes in the other three areas i.e - Internships, PORs, and ECA. In my opinion, internships have to be a spike for everyone. It's highly unlikely for a set of people to have done the same internships, so it can act as a spike for you in two ways - whether it be a good brand that you've worked with or worked in a good role. Apart from internships, you should try to prioritize one out of ECA and PORs as your spike. As I was involved with the Sports and Dance society and also serve as the director of a consulting organization, it made my profile diverse and stand out. The competition amongst candidates was at a good level, so make sure you show something in your CV that portrays your uniqueness and potential and make sure you have a balanced profile across all four categories. But, it's important to make sure that you have two spikes in your CV apart from academics. 

Internships

I believe the most important step in getting an off-campus internship, apart from having a great profile, is the strategy with which you reach out to people, and often this is a very different process altogether. A lot of people have this notion that HRs are the best people to reach out to for an internship, but that's not the case at all. I solely relied on LinkedIn for all my internships, I did not do any cold emailing or go on any other platform for the same.

Consistency is key. I started reaching out to people and looking for opportunities somewhere around September 2021 and got my first offer in February 2022. I started to send out connection requests on LinkedIn. There's a limit on the number of connection requests you can send in a week, and you should judiciously exhaust them across Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. I would reach out to people and text them on Friday and Saturday as people who work in the corporate sector are relatively free on such days that increase your chances of getting a revert back. You should prioritize the type of people you reach out to. I've categorized the same in the following order:

1. Managers, Vice Presidents, Presidents, Partners, Project Leaders, etc.

2. Current interns or College/School alums.

3. HR and the like.

People working in the senior management team have been in the company for a long time, so if they like your profile, your chances of working with them increase as they have a say in the company. You should not shy away from reaching out to CEOs, Directors, and VPs of companies, because even if they forward your CV to their HR, you will most likely get an interview as your profile was forwarded by a senior in the company. The conversion rate might be less, but they have a lot of say in the company. I recommend this as this leads to you getting directly hired - and let's say you don't get the job or don't like the role, at least you get to talk to people working in high-end roles and understand their experience, and you get to stay in contact with them throughout your professional journey.

Another way is to reach out to existing interns at a company of your liking. For example, I reached out to an existing intern at Frost and Sullivan and built a connection with him by asking him about skill building, his role at the company, etc. When his internship was about to get over, he asked me if I was interested in working at the company to which I said yes, and he forwarded my profile to the company so that I could be hired as his replacement. You can also reach out to your college alums, and in my experience, they've been extremely helpful in guiding me - whether it's the same school, college, or organization you have worked at. I converted my role at EY-Parthenon by reaching out to an alumna from SRCC 2017.

Lastly, on the priority list, we have HRs. The thing is, HRs receive hundreds of emails every day, which lessens your conversion rate even more. This is why I recommend reaching out to people who are working at a senior level. Whatever message you send them, make sure you don't send your CV in the first go. Frame a message, and personalize it as people can tell if you're cold messaging everyone on LinkedIn which reduces your prospects. Try to build a connection with them, especially alums, but those working at a senior level are relatively busy, so you should take a more straightforward approach with them.

You learn a lot through the process - networking, communication skills, and talking to people. You have to be consistent and patient. You should not get demotivated that you've not found an opportunity despite you looking for one for over a month. While you're networking, you will be able to learn what works for you and what doesn't. 

Strategy as a Career

My involvement with Strategy had to do with both interest and coincidence. I ended up getting most of my roles in the field of strategy that I grew to like, so I stuck to it. Fortunately, the very first big brand that I got to work with was also in a strategic role. 

Consulting is a very generic role that requires you to use your knowledge across various domains while solving live projects. The main takeaway is that whatever experience you have, it should be a fruitful experience that adds value to your campaign as a prospective candidate.

Let's think of this in the context of an interview - the recruiters are judging your problem-solving skills, creativity, and quantitative skills and it's not only strategy that provides these kinds of skills. Strategy is a great way to begin your journey into consulting, but it's not the only way. Say you were doing a role in Finance and you solved a very big problem via accounting. So it shows two things - you're good at creative thinking and you're good at problem-solving. It shows that you're effective in problem-solving and quick to think on your feet. Anything is valuable to your profile, as long as it's a good experience and a good learning experience for you.

Personal Interviews

I believe people who get shortlisted tend to become overconfident, even if they did work hard to build a great profile or are great at case-solving. The interviewer loses interest in them if they're not being humble or polite, and they are not perceived as a respectable candidate for their organization.

For consulting interviews, there's a combination of a personal interview as well as a case study round. The first and the last 5-7 minutes of the interview would cover the HR aspect of the interview. The case study is solved in the middle of the interview and people often tend to give more importance to this part. I believe you should work on the personal aspect and be able to express yourself well, that helps you stand out. My seniors also stressed this point to portray yourself well on a personal front. 

Although I suggest keeping a balance between the two, once you make it to the partner round - it's already been established that you have sound problem-solving skills. Being charming, polite, humble, and smiling throughout the interview are key points on how to achieve the same. Your interviewers have been in the company for years, recruiting people for years, so they can tell a lot about a person by their body language and their manner of expressing themselves. Especially during online interviews, it's hard to create a good first impression, even if you're a good candidate. It's essential to stay confident but grounded.

Internship Experiences

1. NIIT

It was my very first internship experience in a finance role, and I was working in a small team with five people. My team was very lenient and I was able to apply certain concepts of economics and accountancy that I had learned during school and college. I learned a lot through the knowledge documents that were shared by my colleagues. Some parts of the work were interesting, and I was able to expand my knowledge about finance as well. However, this role made me realize that finance is not my calling. Although I had this notion that I was not a finance person, I still wanted to try it out. I had the same notion for consulting too but once I started participating in this domain, I realized that I enjoyed this work a lot.

How I got the role: I knew someone who lived in my neighborhood who worked at NIIT, and I asked them to forward my CV, and landed an interview. This is another way to get great opportunities. Don't shy away from exploiting your contacts - they may get you to places people dream of going.

1. Nestlé

My internship at Nestlé lasted for about 5 weeks. I was not able to extract a lot of experience from it. I learned that the bigger the brand is, the later they start giving you work. They're a huge organization so it takes them a certain amount of time to gain their trust and credibility to delegate work to you. It was a Data Analytics role and I was simultaneously doing a course on Power BI, and working on Excel. I used both the skills in the final presentation and the report that had to be submitted. The report that I provided them with was used in their presentation while pitching to a bigger client, and it gave me a boost of confidence. The people working there were great and I worked in a small team again, alongside two people and my manager. 

How I got the role: Nestle has an annual internship program called 'Nesternship', which takes place in February or March, and their process is an application form followed by a gamified process. You have to play a situational game for about 90 minutes. There are a few categories like communication, problem-solving, situation handling, etc, and depending on the answers that you give, the course of the game changes. It's an AI-driven game that judges your credibility based on your answers, i.e what the company would've chosen and what you chose. You are given grades out of 10, and your selection depends upon the grade you receive. Once you're through the second round, you directly receive the offer from Nestle. They carry this program out in batches, one may start in June, the other in July.

1. Boston Analytics

It was my first experience in a strategy consulting role. I did both back-end and front-end work. Back-end work included researching, number crunching, creating presentations, excel files, researching certain clients and concepts, etc., and the front-end work was creating presentations and pitching them to the prospective clients or the managers in my department. This experience highly motivated me to further try out consulting and I started reaching out to consulting brands aggressively after my experience at Boston Analytics. 

How I got the role: I reached out to someone working at the organization, after which landed an interview that was 20% technical and the rest 80% HR which I cleared. In the next round, I was required to make a report on any one of the three topics I had been given. All of them were very extensive topics in which you can create a 20-30 page report, but I was required to make it in just 2-3 pages. It was a unique and difficult process because I had to put a lot of information in just 3 slides. Right after I presented my report, I cleared that round after which I had another interview, clearing which I got an offer.

1. EY-Parthenon

This was my best experience and this is the role that finally helped me be 100% sure that I am going into consulting. EY - Parthenon is a great brand for consulting itself, and I got to work in the strategy consulting role, which is a very difficult role for someone at an undergrad level as companies don't offer front-end internships to undergrads, especially through the off-campus route. I was able to be part of a market entry project. I was working directly with the Vice President and the President, the managers, and the team leaders on a consulting project which was extremely insightful. It was a healthcare project and I was part of it from the very beginning and was able to witness the end of it. From the part when we started researching our international client as well as studying the Indian market in healthcare till the point where we provided a final recommendation, I was part of a real-life consulting project. I was fortunate enough to sit for one of the client meetings and was able to interact with the leaders at EY-Parthenon. I even formed a connection with the co-interns and was exposed to very different perspectives. During the recommendation stage, I pitched two suggestions myself that were implemented. I was able to mention this in my CV and this experience was talked about in the majority of my discussions during interviews. 

How I got the role: I reached out to an alumna from SRCC in December 2021. I was in constant connection with her. I was given an initial assurance that as soon as a new project starts, I would be the first one they will be calling for an interview. One week before the project started, I received a text that the project is about to start so we can schedule an interview. She took my interview for 30-35 minutes where we covered aspects of HR, my profile, my past experiences as well as what I see for myself at EY-Parthenon, and when she was satisfied with my candidature, I was called to give another interview with the President. It was a case-solving interview, similar to the ones of my final placement interviews. We also discussed a bit about future plans and ambitions. After clearing that round, I started my internship in February 2022.

1. Invest India

This was also a very small experience that lasted for five weeks. I recommend everyone to work at Invest India in their college life, as doing a live project there is quite beneficial. Invest India is one of the world's largest investment-promoting agencies, and the type of work is pretty good because essentially you are working for the government. The type of work that you'll be doing would majorly be for, say, some kind of roundtable conference that is happening in different parts of the world, or you're working for any summit that has happened where you have to create reports, research companies and at times even come up with solutions. I was part of the textiles team, and we were working for a Germany roundtable conference. We had to pitch India its textiles spots, its upcoming policies that the government has launched in promoting textiles in India, and how India is one of the biggest textile players in the world either in terms of export markets or the value of goods produced. I worked for about 3-4 hours on average per day so the work was relatively less, but the environment and people were very nice and understanding. 

How I got the role: Similar to my previous roles, I reached out to someone in Invest India on LinkedIn, and when they were about to start with a project, I had a conference call with three people working there followed by an interview. Then I got the role.

1. Frost & Sullivan

I had a two-month experience at Frost and Sullivan in a front-end strategy consulting role. The people there are great, and for the very first week, I worked under 3 different managers in my first month, so, it was a vast experience wherein I worked on very short projects that lasted for about 1-2 weeks, and then by my second month I got to work on a single project under one manager that too in a front end role. The project was based on a company in the electrical industry of India, and it was interesting to work on but unfortunately, I couldn't witness the end of the project as I had to sit and prepare for placements. 

How I got the role: I reached out to an existing intern at Frost and Sullivan, around the time that his internship was about to get over, he asked me if I was interested in working at the company to which I said yes, and he forwarded my profile to the company so that I could be hired as his replacement. I had an HR interview over call for about 20 minutes, then I had a case-solving interview, after clearing which I received the offer. 

1. AB InBev

AB InBev is the world's biggest brewing company - so the people there were very professional, but outside of work, they're very friendly and welcoming as well. They had a great orientation, and I had a one-week training there. It's a very culture-based company, they have their principles that you have to abide by that were also discussed in the orientation. I was a part of their project in which they were trying to implement a tool to help their finance team ease out their process, so it was a mix of finance and strategy. I worked with the team on assessing their current tools and methods of recording their transactions and planning out the financial operations of one of their teams. We analyzed the shortcomings in the existing process. We tried to understand the expectations of the tool, so it was a vast and in-depth role of finance, strategy, and finding prospective solutions. 

How I got the role: I reached out to the Global Director at AB InBev on LinkedIn. Fortunately, he read my resume and forwarded it. Since it was someone from the senior managerial position who forwarded my resume, it was considered to be of great importance hence why I got an interview. There were three rounds. The first was the interview, second was kind of like a personality interview over the call by HR. The third round was technical and a bit difficult since I was about to be a part of their finance team so I was asked questions on accountancy and certain concepts of finance.

Parting Note

1. Set clear goals. It's good to have fun and go out and have experiences, but you must set your priorities, otherwise, you would have to sacrifice personal time and health,

2. Don't do anything just for the sake of it. Stick to something only if you're genuinely interested in it as that is the only way you can realize your potential in that particular field.

3. Don't shy away from applying for internships or getting work experience, and don't hesitate in using your contacts for the same. Don’t hesitate in working for small brands, because they teach you a lot of skills that you learn over your undergrad years, and try to work in different roles at smaller brands as well because they extract a lot of work from you and you'll learn a lot of things.

4. Stay in touch with your seniors, they would be the ones who would help you out in placements and internships, and you can learn from their experience as well. Ask questions, stay in touch, and listen to them as if they know everything because they do.

5. Never stop helping people. Be grateful for all the opportunities you've received. Give back as much as possible, especially to the people who have not achieved what they deserve, or anyone who's coming to you for help.

6. Be grateful, and be grounded.   If you wish to learn more about my journey, feel free to reach out to me on Linkedin, Happy to help! 

This will be it for this week, see you next week. Best RegardsTeam FinOak