Introduction
My name is Pragun Kaushal. I am from Una, Himachal Pradesh. I did my 10th from Mount Carmel Senior Secondary School and +1 and +2 in commerce from DAV Centenary Public School. Currently, I am pursuing B. Com (Hons) from Chitkara University, Rajpura. The things I find interesting to do in my free time are reading books, watching web series, and writing blogs on books read and web series watched. I also do poetry and write poems during my free time.
How did you get this internship?
Making into BMW was through reference by another trainee in the HR Department. As she knew my capabilities and zeal to do the work so she referred me. The selection process involved a form to be filled with professional and personal details, and afterwards, I had a small interview with the HR head.
Tell us about your roles and responsibilities
As an intern in the Accounts Department, my major roles and responsibilities were focused on the reconciliation of payments in which one has to form an excel sheet where you need to find out the entries from the accounting books. All entries must be found until the difference between the opening balance and closing balance turns out to be zero. I was also given the role of checking the vouchers and attaching them to bills accordingly.
How was your overall experience at BMW? Can you tell us the most exciting thing about the internship?
I would say my overall experience at BMW was excellent as from day one to the end of my training, every day was an opportunity to learn something new and interact with experienced accountants, managers, and VC of the company. The most exciting thing about the internship was the work culture, where everyone helped me whenever I faced any problem. During the lunch breaks, despite being a trainee, everyone treated me as an employee, made me sit with them, and shared their experiences, which enhanced my knowledge. This may sound funny, but every Thursday was celebrated as sweets day, and we were given sweets.
What are your thoughts on why one should do internships?
When it comes to me, I look up to internship opportunities very seriously. The internships mould you for the future by giving you a particular lifestyle, making you punctual, and teaching you to conquer difficulties. In my opinion, theoretical learning is only useful to you when you apply it in the practical world; otherwise, they are mere words that you have learned and are stored in your mind without any practical knowledge, and it will change your lifestyle, make you punctual, will tell you how to handle responsibilities, will make you learn how to tackle difficulties, will give you work environment and will teach you how to finish work before the deadline by completing the work your topmost priority.
You have done multiple internships in various domains like content writing, and account management, so do you think they helped you in getting this internship?
Yes, content writing and account management helped me get this internship. Content writing helped me in such a way that I did my internship in Chai Sutta Bar, which itself is a big brand, and getting experience from there opened my doors for other big brands, BMW being one of them, as they need an intern on whom they can rely upon and is sincere to work. Account management helped me in such a way that having an experience in accounts gave me an upper hand in getting this internship in the accounts department as they knew that I was well aware of the concepts.
What is the importance of a stipend in internships?
My thoughts on how I think one should look at stipends in the case of internships as there are paid and unpaid opportunities. It entirely depends on your experience and at what stage you are on. To be more precise, I would say that if someone is currently doing graduation and has little or no experience, they should not hesitate to grab unpaid internships. When you gain more experience, money and paid internships will gradually come to you. I would also like to add that happiness and peace are crucial in choosing internships because if a specific internship gives you a good amount of money, but at the end of the day, you are not happy, then that money would be of no use.
What is the importance of certifications?
I would say that as much as one thinks that they can achieve heights just by what they have studied in college, then that is not going to happen because with you 200 more students are studying but seeing employment opportunities today, if we go by 200 students, then jobs are only for 50, so those 50 are chosen based on what they have done other than studying the subjects in college. Therefore, I recommend you always have something extra than your competition because it will make you outshine in the eyes of interviewers, and you will be able to grab the opportunity.
Please share your advice for those who wish to do an internship at companies like BMW.
My suggestion to the one who wants to be an intern at companies like BMW is that you need to show total effort, zeal, perfection towards the work, and passion from getting the internship till completing the internship, and that would be all you need rest it will become easy for you as you will learn slowly and gradually. My motivation which keeps me going, is that one should never lose hope, try harder and harder till you achieve what you want, and except you, there is rarely someone else who wants good for you.