Sunday, August 05, 2007

Internship

When I first walked into the Levi Strauss & Co. office off Commissariat Road, I had quite a few questions I wanted answers to. Would I be greeted by the clichéd good-looking receptionist? Would I have a good experience working here for two months? Would I have a boss who wasn’t the devil incarnate? Would I learn everything I wanted to learn in terms of marketing and retail strategy? Would I be able to add value in my time there? The list is endless. As I was greeted by the receptionist, who would at a later time inform me that she was a former model, my first question was answered.

I was soon introduced to my boss, and my next few questions were answered, in a favorable light. My boss turned out to be awesome. He soon acquainted me with the setup of the company, and what my project was going to be. I was very grateful that I was given a project which was of high value to the company, and would require a lot of effort from my side. I’d have run the opposite direction if I was given the mundane data entry and coffee fetching job. Instead, here, my boss got me coffee! And the only dress code was wearing Levi’s jeans to work! So yeah, I really looked forward to my time at Levi’s.

The project required me to work with departmental stores, understand consumer behavior, conduct surveys, analyze the data, and make recommendations and a report of my findings. The brilliant part of the project was that I got to go to Mumbai as part of my project. As I’d never been there before, this was definitely an added bonus. So for the next one month I worked hard, learnt a lot in terms of marketing theory, practical knowledge, interpersonal skills, and well, how to sell jeans as well!

Now, coming to Mumbai. That was a fun experience. Apart from the fact that it rained every twenty minutes, the trip was great. I got to meet very interesting people, meet up with college friends, eat fabulous food, take a tour of one of the greatest cities in the world, and generate valuable inputs for my project. Mumbai is a very fast city. People talk fast, and scam even faster. Like Javed Jaffrey said in the song Mumbhai, “Mumbai is the mean place, where you survive if you’ve got the pace”. I got to travel across the city for my project, so it’s safe to say I finally did get the hang of how to get on and off the local trains. For the uninitiated, traveling on local trains in Mumbai is a harrowing experience to say the least.

After I was done with my project, I had to present my findings in front of the board of directors. This was a scary, but rewarding experience. It’s safe to say that the CEO ripped apart my findings, as he duly promised me he would. But he taught me a great deal in that one hour. And once it was over, the fact that all of them applauded my effort and asked me to come back next year to work for them again, made it all worth it.

As I typed out my project report last week, and went to collect my certificate, I felt pretty bummed out, as I had been having such a good time at work. But as they say, it’s the experience that stays with you. So whether it was watching Deepika Padukone during a photo shoot for Levi’s, or staying up till 4 a.m. to complete my presentation slides, or eating vada pav on marine drive, or checking excel sheet figures before my presentation twenty times over to ensure all figures were correct, or using marketing theories in practice, or the awesome lemon tea in office, the experience of working at Levi Strauss & Co was simply excellent.

And before I forget, remember to buy Levi’s jeans. It’s the best!