From what I have observed, most of the students in an engineering college wish to pursue some form of an internship. Some want it to earn an extra point on the CV, some want it to for the work experience and some want it for the lucrative paychecks. Everyone gives their best to get this opportunity. I got this internship at Appointy when I was least expecting it. Yes, you read the title correctly. It was an accidental internship. But the journey from not knowing Appointy at all to be a part of it today has been one of the best experiences of my life. You will realize it as you reach the end of this story of mine below.
Hearing about Appointy for the first time
To be honest, the first time I heard about Appointy was when I overheard a conversation.
I was waiting for my viva turn in our lab session when I heard some of my friends talking about a Poll sent out by The Placement Cell of our college. Being a student from the 2nd year, I thought that the mail would be of no use to me at present. So, I overlooked the mail in haste. But after this discussion, I went back to it. I realized that it was a really good opportunity to do something fruitful in my summer vacation, which I would have conveniently wasted doing nothing otherwise. And so, keeping in mind my interests, I filled the poll for the Non-Tech profile.
After a good response from the students, we were notified that Appointy is coming to our campus for recruitments. I did not have any prior experience regarding the recruitment process. From what I had seen in my college, it appeared to be hectic and tiring. In addition to this, our Mid-Semesters were approaching. All in all, I had no idea how to manage my schedule.
The Recruitment Process
The first time I met the people at Appointy was at a party, which they had organized to interact with us and tell us more about the company. The party was fun. The recruitment process was broken down into 2 stages – Task performance and Interviews. The tasks were designed to check on our writing and analytical skills. Based on the performance in these tasks, students were shortlisted for the interviews.
After the process, I was pretty confident that I did a good job. The results didn’t come out for a couple of days. But when they finally did, I was one of the three Sales and Marketing Interns selected from our college. I had no track of how time passed in this entire recruitment process. I felt that it was only yesterday when I overheard that conversation in my lab.
From the recruitment till the internship beginning
Immediately after I got selected, I got busy in my mid-semesters. There was no time for celebrating this moment. Appointy was still there at the back of my mind though. Because of this opportunity, I was relieved from the burden under which most of us lived – finding something productive to do in the summers. I personally believed that getting an internship through college is difficult in the 2nd year. Now that I had earned it, there was one thing that bothered me. I wasn’t sure if I would actually like the work I get at Appointy. In case I didn’t, all I would do is drag myself through the internship. But, I didn’t draw any early conclusions and waited for the internship to start.
The First few days
The initial phase of the internship was hectic. We had daily training sessions in the first week, to acquaint us with our roles and tasks we were working on. It was quite difficult to manage time and keep track of all the things going around. But eventually, I felt that it was not that difficult. All I had to do was understand the correct amount of time for a particular task. Within a week or so, I felt that managing time is one of the most important things here because of the importance of the work assigned to us.
I always wanted to work in a start-up. I couldn’t exactly identify the reason as to why I wanted this. Maybe it was because some part of me always wanted to become an entrepreneur, or it was because of all the fancy stuff I had heard or read about start-ups in general. It was this place that gave me the answer. Here at Appointy, it’s not about how much work I do or what work I do. It’s about the efforts I put in any work that is assigned to me, and ultimately, how do I align those efforts with my results. This is the kind of attitude which a person needs to develop and there’s no doubt that Appointy has helped me in it.
I was involved in multiple projects in the first few days – Working in the marketing team as an Analyst, in the product design of some super cool stuff called ‘Donna’ (make a guess about what it can be), Enterprise Sales team and the Content Writing Team. As I said, it was difficult to manage time in all of this, but the work was fun.
Today
I have finished the first month of my internship. As I look back upon the entire journey from not knowing about Appointy at all to being a part of the Appointy family, I realize that there has been a paradigm shift in my thought process. The values that I have learned here, be it professional or personal, is more than what I expected. Everyone around the office is continuously striving to fulfill the goals set in front of them. Here at Appointy, it’s not just about the growth of the company, but it’s about the growth of every individual who is a part of the company. I feel that I am lucky to be a part of a work culture like this, in such an early phase of my life.
Frankly speaking, I never thought that I would actually gain so much from this internship – a vast amount of knowledge, new friends, best mentors, and some wonderful memories. The mentors here are very friendly and helpful. They have guided me through the work and gave me the right direction whenever needed. But it wasn’t just working which created this bond between us. There were regular activities like the Football tournament, the badminton tournament and even the PUBG tournament which established this connection with the team.
A general idea which I had in my mind about an internship was quite different from what I have experienced in my first month here at Appointy. Most of the people in the college choose to take an internship to put up an extra point in their CV’s, which they think will pay off in the future. Very few people join it for the actual experience. I had also heard that some of the internships are such that the interns hardly have any work and spend their time doing minor things in the office, which the employees were too lazy to do. But today, I know that everything I have heard in the past didn’t apply to this office. The office in itself was different and much more lively and comfortable than I can imagine.
All in all, this one month was an amazing experience.
And yes, one final message from this journey of mine
It’s good if you overhear a conversation once or twice
