Rupsha Bhattacharyya
Mechanical Engineering
PPOs
Hindustan Unilever Limited
Interviewed by:
Sanskriti Agrawal
Internships
PPOs
20th September 2020
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Applying for a PPO is a massive decision for all. How did you convince yourself to choose a PPO over trying for better opportunities during the placement season?
Do you have any tips or suggestions for others to follow in order to secure a PPO?
What are the criteria that companies use to make decisions on giving out PPOs?
In your opinion, what gave you an edge over your colleagues working in the same company for you to avail a PPO?
Does a good relationship with your seniors at the company play a role in the decision,or is it solely based on your sincerity and work quality?
This question is very subjective, and I think it depends on the person. During two months of the internship, you get the idea if you want to work in that company further or not. You get the idea about the culture of the company. Obviously, you can try for better opportunities during the placement season, but because of covid-19 I was not sure about that and went with the PPO.
This is something I believe from the bottom of my heart, whatever you do, stay true to yourself, give your 100% in everything be it academics, ecas, anything. I feel no hard work goes to waste and this has constantly happened with me even in this internship. There were multiple interviews where I was asked question from my courses that I never expected to answer had I not done the courses seriously. And not just interview, I feel even though your supervisor might not show that he/she isn't judging you, but you are always monitored, your project goals are always expected to be met. That being said, taking too much stress is also not good as it hinders your performance. Always thinking about and doing everything from the point of view of getting a ppo is very stressful and should definitely not be done. In such a scenario, communication forms an essential key to convey your hard work and difficulties faced and also show how much dedicated you are to the work. Having ownership over the work, meeting basic project goals and coveying the same is enough to convince your supervisor that you will be an asset to the company for any company doesn't wasn't geniuses or the most intelligent minds. What all they need is responsible individuals, capable and smart enough to lead the company forward and be responsible for the work allotted to them.
I knew no one at the company before, there were some people from IITD working there but I had never interacted with them. Initially, I used to worry about this a lot when I saw some of my co interns knowing people beforehand. But eventually nothing like this featured in, it is all about your hard work. But apart from sincerity and hard work, it is really important to understand the informal side of your company, what they expect from you which usually is possible through the informal guide allotted to you at your interns, in my case it was my buddy who was also an IITD pass out. He really guided me well in the initial phase of internship, like mailing, how to interact and other basic stuff which also played a role for me getting a ppo.
I dont think its uniform for all but I feel there are certain basic criterias that every company follow while giving out PPOs to their potential employees which HUL also tried to look for in me. I feel companies hire IITians to get smart people in their company, someone capable enough to take ownership of the task allotted and be responsible for it. Coming specifically to supply chain, fmcg sector, the role demands a lot of managing and decision making ability along with calm and responsible nature. The project I had worked on didnt require any such pre course knowledge. It was all about me understanding the companies requirement and customize my project in a way that it could really be used by HUL at some point of time. I had a lot of ownership for my project, even though it had very clear goals and expectations but there still was a lot of scope for creativity for me. I feel my project supervisor and panel really liked my workaholic and efficient nature and the way I communicated and appreciated my academic performance when I was able to answer some basic questions asked to me during my ppo interview rounds which I was fortunate to remember. So yeah, I feel being efficient and responsible at the task given throughout the internship are some basic criterias that any company looks for while rolling out ppos.
I feel it was my workaholic and dedicated nature that really impressed my team and my supervisor. I had a lot of ownership towards my project and really wanted it to be utilised by HUL later which did happen. My supervisor used to stay very busy and we connected really less, but I made it a point to weekly convey through mails about the project timeline and future work and understand if I am going on the right direction. Slowly I started interacting a lot with my team which definitely helped me to understand the needs of the company better and added a lot of customized side to my project. It was no longer me doing a pre decided project, but a very dynamic one which I kept modifying throughout my internship always looking out for the ease of the company. My supervisor knew I was really passionate about the project and had seen my responsible side, thus she furthermore had given me multiple chances to prove to other members higher up in the company in the form of various interviews and evaluations, which definitely helped me in my final rounds of ppo. And finally in the final rounds of ppo, by God's grace everything went fine, I was able to answer most of the technical questions, but along with that I feel the panel was really impressed by my communication skills, another thing that I feel gave me an edge over others in the internship.
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Do the companies have particular policies regarding handing out PPOs, such as offering PPOs to only a fixed number or a fixed percentage of students?
I think there is an upper limit to how much a company wants to spend on hirings which is predecided and can be found using past year trends. But if the company ready likes a person, they will definitely take him/her regardless of the upper limit. Also, the companies won't think twice to not take anyone in case they don't find any person suitable enough for the company.
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Could you explain the process covering the details of any possible interviews or evaluations you had to go through?
So, my internship was 2 months long with two formal evaluations, mid and end term which had a pre decided panel comprising of supervisor, team members and some other individuals higher up in the company. After these two evaluations, pre placement interviews were awarded to specific interns post which there were two further interview rounds which had a more expanded panel comprising of management people and the director himself. It was only after this that the final offers were decided. A lot of power stayed with your supervisor in the pre placemnet interview decision thereafter you are completely on your own. Apart from these interviews, my supervisor had also invited other senior members for a ppt throughout the internship which proved to be very helpful for the final ppo rounds.
