Intern season is always a time to watch out for: apart from being a valuable experience, the kind of internship you get might also play a role in determining your career trajectory. In this article, we gear you up for the upcoming intern season, i.e. for the ‘24-’25 academic year.
The internship season is broadly divided into three stages: the pre-interview process, the interviews, and offers.
The pre-interview process begins with interested students registering on the internship portal for a nominal fee. After this, the window to submit resumes starts. While creating a resume, students are expected to submit a master resume, an all-encompassing resume that contains hyperlinks to proofs of everything they intend to include in their resume. From the master resume, students can derive an F-resume, which is the resume the company actually sees. The F-resume must be a subset of your master resume. It does not need to contain any links; the company validates its legitimacy through the placement team’s verification of the master resume.
By now, you should’ve successfully submitted your resume, so you are hopefully familiar with everything mentioned so far.
Companies list themselves on the internship portal and provide the dates for the pre-internship talks (PITs), tests, and interviews. In the PITs, companies “sell” themselves – they talk about their culture, why you should join their company, and what your role as an intern would entail. PITs for some companies are mandatory, so look out for that.
You don’t have to register for every company. If a company doesn’t seem like a good fit for you, it is recommended not to register for it. If you do register, sit through the interview process, and finally get an offer, you are allowed to reject it. If you accept the offer from a day 1.1 or day 1.2 company (described below) but end up choosing other opportunities like research or off-campus internships, you will be barred from sitting for phase 1 of placements. However, you are allowed to reject non-day 1 companies with no penalty only if you have prior consent from the Internship Office and Advisor.
For learning about companies and guidance on tests and interviews, refer to the placement and internship team’s internship bluebook. The bluebook is a compilation of the advice and feedback given by students who’ve been through the internship process in the previous year. It provides details about the company, questions they have previously asked during the tests and interviews, and preparation strategies. It also includes the stipend (salary) details – as they say, in the end, money is king.
Some companies shortlist based on resumes, in which case they may give high priority to the skills and PoRs you have mentioned. There might also be hard CGPA cutoffs. Several companies (especially tech companies) have multiple rounds of online tests. After the tests, some companies might conduct group discussions (GDs) or online interviews.
There are broadly two kinds of companies: core and non-core. Core companies are those where interns require sufficient knowledge and skills relevant to their branch, while non-core companies might require skills apart from those taught in your core courses. The major non-core domains include consulting, finance, fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), software, analytics, and quant. Some companies offer multiple roles.
SDE
As an SDE intern, you will have the opportunity to work on the company’s technical projects involving front-end, back-end, or full-stack development. Companies generally conduct one or more coding tests on Hackerrank or similar platforms. Being familiar with basic DSA concepts is a prerequisite for these tests. You can refer to the mock internship tests conducted by the Programming Club to improve your preparation. During the interview(s), you will be tested on your familiarity with DSA, OOPS (object-oriented programming), computer organization and architecture, full-stack development, and frameworks. Be thorough with your understanding of any coding projects you may have included in your resume.
Analytics and ML
Your job as a data analyst or an ML engineer would be to use Machine Learning to solve the company’s problem statements. The tests might involve some of the simpler DSA questions, a bit of probability and linear algebra, as well as some theoretical ML. For ML theory, you can refer to the popular Andrew Ng course on Coursera. For analytics roles, your projects carry a lot of weight (pun intended). During your interviews, you should be able to justify your motivation behind choosing a particular ML model to solve the problem and the challenges you faced along the way.
Quant
As a quant (short for quantitative trader) intern, your primary job would be to help the company out with trading and investment strategies. These roles expect you to have a good mathematical and problem-solving background. Some tests involve fun puzzles or games, while others involve mathematical problems, usually on probability, and finding the optimal strategy (called game theory). Books such as Heard on the Street and 50 Challenging Problems in Probability, and websites like Brainstellar and PuzzledQuant are your best friends for this. You can also refer to the mock internship tests conducted by the Mathematics Club for this – your interview will be on similar lines.
Consulting
Consulting firms provide expert advice to solve the business problems of companies for a premium fee. To land an internship at a consulting firm, you need a solid resume that highlights your achievements in diverse areas, be it in academics, co-curriculars, or extra-curricular activities (called “peaks”). Taking up leadership roles in certain PoRs can be helpful too. Solving consulting cases (a case is essentially a business scenario that you must analyze and solve) is highly recommended to perform well in the interview. You can refer to casebooks such as Case Interviews Cracked, SRCC Case Compendium, IITM Case Book by Case Club, and IIM case books.
FMCG
FMCG roles give interns hands-on experience in leveraging the latest technology to optimize the production of consumer goods. This profile demands a good resume, with thorough domain knowledge and projects. These roles generally conduct an aptitude test based on technical knowledge and logical reasoning. This is usually followed by a GD (group discussion) round. It is important to have mock GDs with your friends on different topics to improve your communication skills and confidence. You can also make use of the sessions conducted by the Oratory Club and CDC. The interviews have a mix of domain-specific, scenario-based, and HR-related questions. Companies test your leadership skills and your ability to make decisions on the spot, with scenario-based questions. FMCG roles are generally open only to ME, EE, and CH branches so make sure to check your eligibility.
Core
The exact nature and preparation required for core roles differ heavily from branch to branch. The branch-wise internship bluebook is a good place to gain a better understanding of the companies that come for internships and the concepts being tested. In general, apart from having sufficient conceptual clarity in your core courses, core research projects and a good CGPA are beneficial to land these roles.
The interviews are split up into various “days”, such as day 1.1, day 1.2, and so on. Day 1.1 companies are usually the highest-paying and most sought-after companies. The interviews occur in the order of day 1.1, day 1.2, day 2, and so on. If you’re unable to secure an offer on day 1.1, you can always sit for interviews on day 1.2 and so on. Day 1.1 of interviews is scheduled to be on July 25th this year.
If you have more interviews than you can attend, the placement and internship team does its best to juggle around slots to fit you in. For the interviews, it is important to be well-dressed: all students attending interviews are expected to adhere to the prescribed dress code consisting of formals. Interacting with the interviewers in a polite and professional manner is essential to make a good impression. Always give them time to speak and digest what you’re saying. Express your thoughts in a calm and composed manner, and do not hesitate to gather your thoughts before you speak. A tip here is to think aloud: the interviewers care about your thought process, sometimes even more than your final answer. Interviews can be exhausting: you might face multiple rounds from multiple companies on the same day. The placement team has provided a list of Do’s and Don’ts that are worth going through.
You might have a few technical rounds of interviews, where your domain knowledge is tested. Being thorough with your resume is extremely important. You might also have a few HR rounds, where interviewers check if you are a good cultural fit for their firm. Read up about the company: its history, culture, values, and so on.
Once the interviews are done, if you do have an offer from a company, you can choose to accept or reject it. If you have multiple offers, you have 24 hours to pick one (or reject them all, of course!). Once you have an offer from a company, whether you accept it or not, you will be out of the internship process.
If you don’t get an offer from any company on a particular day, fret not! There are always more amazing companies waiting for you. You can also apply for off-campus opportunities or take a U-turn and apply for research internships. It’s important in times like these not to lose hope. You might be interviewing for multiple companies on the same day, and if you lose confidence after one shaky interview, it might create a domino effect and put you in a difficult situation. Keep your head clear and calm: composure is key.
In any case, good luck for the upcoming weeks, and don’t stress out too much, there are plenty of fish in the sea(son)!
Edited by Smriti Athiyarath
