An IIT-B student who interned with Snapdeal shares what she learned and why it was an experience of a lifetime

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B-school students who have been a part of Snapdeal internships are often seen giving rave reviews about the company, and it's testimony to the fact that this e-commerce company manifests a great work culture for interns and employees alike.
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We came across one such review by student Sakshi Singh who studies in Shailesh Jain Mehta School of Management, IIT Bombay. She has always been "fascinated by the fast-paced, ever-changing world of e-Commerce."

Sakshi got her first chance to experience the inside e-commerce world when she bagged an internship opportunity with Snapdeal during her summer placements.

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"I remember, after the selection process was over, HR tweeted a picture of us and since then I was even closely following Snapdeal all over from news feed to social media. I was waiting for my journey to kick-start," she wrote in her blog on Insideiim.com

Sakshi went on to explain why she fell in love with this company and is in awe of Kunal Bahl, the founder of Snapdeal. This is what her feedback tells us about the company:

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It's one hell of an easy going place
"A day before joining, all interns received a mail stating that we needed to be in formals for Induction. So, we showed up in an exquisite Induction Hall the next day, all suited-booted and set to conquer the e-commerce world. But we soon learned that the HR managers were simply messing with us. Snapdeal doesn’t have a dress code. It’s a very open and informal place to be in. During induction, we learned more about Snapdeal and also about the heads of various verticals. They shared their vision for the organization and their functional expertise, which helped me frame the right approach for my coming days at Snapdeal..."

Snapdeal has interactive, warm and motivating employees
"Next day, I was warmly received by my mentor and manager and was introduced to the whole team. I was overwhelmed to know that my project was the key KPI of the whole team. But, it struck me - "What should I do now?" The project title was a 5-word sentence, the meaning of which was a struggle to decipher. Even Google failed to help me. So, I had no option but to bother my team members on the very first day. After a few hours of discussion, I had a roadmap for me. In the course of the next 7 weeks, I interacted with numerous employees from multiple departments. Everybody I met at Snapdeal was very transparent, receptive and extremely supportive."

It offers great exposure and provides superb mentors
"The real challenge of my project was - In the current set of resources, the system can’t be optimized anymore. It either needed a lot of money or a lot of time. But the system definitely needed improvement. So, I decided to seek some guidance from my mentor. His simple reply to this was - Think innovative, Something new. You are new to the system, and so you don’t have any bias. So, just forget the system in place and find us a solution.

It was here, Sakshi says, where her quest for innovation began. A comprehensive primary research plan was laid out. Right from visiting third party partners to listening to customer comments, competitor benchmarking, mystery shopping, surveys, understanding other functions inside Snapdeal, Sakshi was at her game in full force. "I used to discuss all my ideas with my team and manager, and almost on daily basis. I learned a lot from them. While research helped me in generating ideas, discussions helped me in full-proofing and validating those ideas."
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Interns are like permanent employees
"At one point in time, I almost felt like a permanent employee, not just responsibility wise, but because I was also given the freedom to make my own decisions. I loved my job, I loved my office and I loved the energy at Snapdeal."

There's opportunity for networking with other B-school students and learning from diversity
"There was one more dimension to my internship. Snapdeal had interns from 15 different B-Schools in India and we all stayed together. This facilitated networking and knowledge sharing. I learned more about other B-Schools as well."

You don't leave before a crazy and fun party
"We interns had a super duper active WhatsApp group. You’re stuck with some problem, or just need a foosball partner, simply drop a text on WhatsApp group. Not to mention fun parties, Sunday shopping and late evening gossips. On our graduation day, we received an amazing party, heard straight from thwe founder Kunal Bahl, had good food, played kickass games, clicked a lot of pictures and bid goodbye to Snapdeal.

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She concluded saying - "The day I landed in Delhi, I had no clue what to expect but as I was leaving, I had a collection of memories and valuable lessons for a lifetime...."
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