A prodigious journey

Great opportunities are yours, if only you know how to recognise and seize them!

In June 2018, the journey of my MBA at UPES started with an orientation session – MCUBE. The MBA batch was divided into four different houses which had to compete against each other on sports, crafts, debates and declarations, accompanied by some informative lectures by industry experts and professors. This platform helped me realise my potential and inherent qualities. I was chosen house captain, class representative and I also won several accolades.

The experience at the campus over the last few months has been such that it has given me a well-rounded perspective of my life goals. I now realise that in order to achieve high, one must make best use of the opportunities that come one’s way and UPES has provided me with a plethora of opportunities!  

Starting with my first internship, I was honoured to be a part of the Organising Committee of EY which was knowledge partner for the first Uttarakhand Investors Summit in 2018. My major tasks for the summit was inviting industry giants for investments in various divisions (FMCG, Automobile, Start-Up, Tourism) in Uttarakhand, organising sectorial sessions for the finance specialists and investors and organising B2G gatherings for the same. Working for EY gave me an international exposure and a chance to interact with industry stalwarts. It was a dream come true!

My second Internship was purely related to my domain, i.e., Logistics and Supply Chain Management which was at Parle Products Pvt Ltd for a duration of 15 days wherein I learnt about working of distribution centres and warehouses. This was followed by a Summer Internship Program (SIP), a compulsory drive of three months for all the MBA students. The SIP by UPES is structured to provide hands-on training in various corporates and industries that help students get acquainted with the working conditions on ground. During my SIP at Bizongo (Bengaluru-based start-up) I witnessed agile changes in the organisation on a daily basis which kept me wide-eyed with wonder. The opportunity to provide my inputs on modern forecasting techniques, which were later on adopted in the working of Bizongo operations, gave my confidence a real boost and made me realise my capabilities. Here too, my training at UPES came in handy and I have the the ‘Demand Forecasting Lectures’ of second semester to thank for this!

My SIP got over on August 1, 2019, and I boarded my flight from Bengaluru airport for Dehradun, opened my WhatsApp message on LSCM Official 20182020, and saw a message from SPR after landing. It said: ‘Dear students, Amazon is coming to campus on August 2, 2019, for an internship program of three months for their Great Indian Diwali Sale. The profile is of Team Lead and the candidate should be ready to work in last mile station and its operations. Interested students please share your resumes on an urgent basis’.

I pondered over this information for a while and ascertained that an opportunity was knocking my door again! Without giving it a second thought, I nominated myself for the process. Out of the 22 candidates who were interviewed, I was chosen for the internship. This was like dreaming with eyes open, a vision turning into reality.

This good fortune of working with Amazon was one of the memories I shall cherish forever. I started my internship with Amazon from August 15, 2019, which lasted till November 8, 2019. I learned the ropes in my last mile station, from getting my shipments delivered from fulfilment centre to the last customer. Amazon works on 14 Principles and believes in a tagline which says: ‘It is still Day 1’!

By now, the placement process was going parallelly for our batch and companies were coming in and I too had to opt for the placements. One day, while I was working on my laptop at Amazon, I got a mail from the UPES Career Services team: ‘Dear All, I am happy to share that Nestle India has selected Arzoo Sharma for the position of Logistics Trainee.’ I had cracked the interview at Nestle! The news took some time to sink in. This was another feather in my cap and a euphoric moment for me.

I am currently in my last semester of MBA and I shall be joining Nestle from June 2020. The last two years at UPES have been a wonderful experience. I feel extremely proud to be a part of such a prestigious institution. 

Though the journey has just started and there is a lot to achieve, the spirit of learning, discipline, passion to achieve, aiming high, leading a team, organising events and conferences, cracking interviews, getting placed with a decent package, and of course, writing my first blog, are my key takeaways from my alma mater. As I get ready to ace the corporate brief, I can’t help but express my heartfelt gratitude to UPES and promise that I shall always put in my best efforts to make my institution proud.

(The writer is a student of MBA – LSCM (2nd year) 2018-2020, Department of Transportation, UPES School of Business)

Also read: CONNOISSEUR – Fraternity of Young Litterateurs at UPES