Today we have with us Bharti Udasi who is a BMM Journalism student, poetess and aspiring make-up artist. She talks mainly about her internship with Times Group and a small mention to other places she has interned at.
InternFeel (IF): Please tell us something about yourself. Where are you studying currently? What are your hobbies and interests?
Bharti Udasi (BU): Hi! My name is Bharti Udasi. I’m studying BMM and majoring in Journalism. I was a science student before and I always liked to explore different fields so I left science and took up BMM instead.
I love reading and writing. Mostly I share my work on my Instagram page. My handle is she_is_the_poem
I have many things that I like doing and aspiring for. As of now, the top in my wish list is to learn horse riding and write a book. I’m an aspiring make-up artist too.
IF: Tell us something about your internship including stipend, duration and place?
BU: (1) Times Group – I interned at Times of India (TOI). One of my friends had previously worked with some department at TOI through which she had contact of a guy in marketing department. She forwarded him my resume and he called me up.
I went for the interview. I was very scared. Obviously, TOI is such a huge platform and at that time I was just a first year student who had absolutely no experience. But I was confident even though in my mind I had double thoughts about me cracking the interview.
Somehow, I did it and got selected in the marketing department of Times Group Magazines (Femina, Filmfare, Grazia, etc.). It was 3 month internship in Mumbai. The stipend was pretty less as compared to other internships. They paid me according to the amount of subscriptions I did.
I got paid INR 80 per subscription. I did a pretty good job by the end and I managed to get more than INR 5,000 as my payment.
(2) Oakley – I also interned with Oakley. In that I had to shoot people who had passion for sports. Again, I was paid according to the number of videos they selected. For each video, I was given around INR 200.
(3) TiE Mumbai – I had also volunteered for this event called TiE Mumbai. I was one of the content writers there. Big names like Ratan Tata, Madhuri Dixit, etc. were the speakers of the event. My job was to jot down the points from the speech given by these speakers. It was obviously unpaid. But it was one hell of an amazing experience. And yes, all the volunteers got to click a group picture with Ratan Tata! So yay!!
(4) Pepatho – I have also interned with Pepatho. I was a content writer there. Again, Mumbai based and unpaid.
IF: How competitive was the selection process for each of the internships? According to you, which qualities have helped you have an edge in the selection process? Also, what were the key things that selectors were looking for?
BU: (1) Times Group – As far as TOI, is concerned. Obviously you wouldn’t want to work with them?
I showed my confidence – in my attitude, in my behavior, my interviewer definitely could say ‘she can do’. So basically my boss wanted me to get as many subscriptions as I could. And from time to time I gave him ideas as to how can the subscriptions be increased. I don’t want to brag but my boss was pretty impressed by my work.
(2) Oakley – for Oakley, it was purely on the selection, the better videos you make, the more it got selected. And hence, the more you can earn. Like if your videos are shitty, chances were none of your videos would get selected.
IF: In all these internships, what were the best moments that brighten up your eyes even today, the ones you cherish till date?
BU: Okay, it was one of the initial days in TOI. It had a workshop with parents of school going children. My sir expected to get 3 subscriptions (he was speaking to one of his colleague) even though he didn’t tell me. He told me the more you can, the better. And by the end of it, I did 9!!!
And he was very happy that he kinda actually ran to his boss’ office. And his boss appreciated him BECAUSE of me.
IF: Can you give us details about your experience – good and bad?
BU: Frankly, there was no such moment which I wish didn’t happen. Obviously, the work was hard and at times the pressure increased.
I’d like to mention something else. So there was this event by Times and I was sitting at the stall. One of the senior was supposed to join me. But he was missing in action for the entire day. I had to manage the stall all by myself.
Wanting to take advantage of the situation, there were some guys who came and started talking under the pretext of magazine information. But they made me uncomfortable. And it was so annoying to answer them sweetly because I was representing a company that time. If it were any other situation, I would have responded differently but here, I was alone and I couldn’t be rude. To add to my woes, one of them actually asked me out. These were the times that annoyed me.
I reported the happenings of the day to my boss and he got another senior to be with me at the stall the next day.
IF: How do you think this internship has helped you grow? In other words, what are your key takeaways from the internship?
BU: There wasn’t a major impact on me. But yes, it definitely gave me a confidence boost.
Obviously, it was my first internship. Also, when you work under a big company like Times, in a way, your self-esteem gets boosted up.
The work which I did didn’t require me to go office every day. So I don’t have much to say about the things I learnt there.
But yes, it definitely helped me to come up with creative ideas to convince someone. Also, I got a chance to talk to a lot of new people during this period. I convinced strangers to subscribe. So in a way, it helped me to understand that nothing is really that difficult if you try really hard.
IF: Lastly, do you have any words of advice or caution for students aspiring for this internship and reading this piece?
BU: People say smart work beats hard work. Sure, it does. But what is important is you WORK. If you are smart but don’t work then it’s useless. So, at times, hard work does beat smart work.
And as for girls, competition is ALWAYS going to be tougher as compared to guys. It is sad but half the people in India still bring the girls down. So girls, you’ll always have to stay strong, smart and don’t let anyone ever mess up with you.
We’d like to thank Bharti for taking time out and giving us this interview and would like to wish her all the best for her future.
Some exciting interviews coming this weekend. Stay updated = www.facebook.com/internfeel