As October rolled around, I realized that it would be wise to start apping since most of the best internships had already been taken. I managed to secure a total of 5 interviews, but unfortunately, none of them converted into offers.

In October and November, I focused on apping for a winter internship and reached out to various consulting firms. Although I didn't receive a response from Deloitte at that time, I did get a reply from one of their employees, an alumnus from IIT-BHU, whom I had approached on LinkedIn. He inquired if I would be interested in a Summer Internship opportunity at Deloitte, as they were looking for a few summer interns. I eagerly accepted and he graciously added
my resume to the process.

The interview process at Deloitte involved 2 rounds. The first round was conducted by a Manager and revolved around a case-solving exercise. The interview lasted for about 30 minutes. After about a week, I was informed by their HR that I had been selected for the second round. This time, the interview was conducted by a Director (a designation that doesn't mean director of the company). The second round consisted of a few HR questions and another case. The interviewer focused heavily on understanding my motivations for pursuing a career in consulting. To my surprise, I was given a non-conventional case, tailored to my background as a Chemical Department student and my role as a Department Research Coordinator working on Research Videos. While I didn't feel particularly confident about my performance in that case, I was still hopeful.

About a week later, I received an email from HR with my offer letter, pleasantly surprised to have been selected. It was a huge relief for me as I had secured a summer internship. During this time, in early March, I continued apping for other firms and was expecting interviews from three of them. I was willing to accept an offer from one of those three over Deloitte, but unfortunately, I didn't get selected in that interview, so I happily went ahead with Deloitte as my internship choice.

I stay in Mumbai, and office was in Mumbai as well, so finding a place was not a problem. Most of the time I worked from home, but whenever I had to go to office, I used Cityflo bus service.

On the first day of my internship, I underwent an induction period that was applicable to all new joinees and interns at Deloitte India. This comprehensive induction was mandatory for anyone joining the consulting domain. It involved completing approximately 20 hours of exercises (obviously not in one day), which consisted of watching recorded videos. These videos provided essential information about the firm's policies concerning clients, measures to prevent client information leaks, the significance of maintaining confidentiality, and much more.

My office was situated in Parel, surrounded by numerous other skyscrapers, with our building not being an exception. One of the highlights of our office space was the stunning view it offered of the Mumbai Sea. The sight served as an excellent stress buster, especially during those moments when work became a bit overwhelming.

Deloitte India works on consulting projects in varied domains like Strategy, Analytics, Mergers and Acquisition, Cloud Computing, etc. The overall umbrella I was under was Strategy and Business Design.

During my 10-week internship at Deloitte, I had the opportunity to work with the Global Business Services (GBS) team, primarily focusing on client resource restructuring. Our main goal was to consolidate client resources through shared services or outsourcing, which effectively reduced their expenses and improved overall profitability.

Throughout the internship, I was involved in two significant projects. The first project was an in-house consulting assignment where we aimed to identify a new market segment for the company to enter. For the initial three weeks, I dedicated my efforts to understanding GBS, how my Senior Consultant envisioned the service, and analysing the global market to learn from successful sectors. Our team had the chance to present our plan to the Director, which was an exciting experience.

As the internship progressed, I shared my experience in making research videos in my department with my reporting manager. In response, I was shifted to focus on writing scripts for branding the Deloitte GBS service. Later, I was given the responsibility of writing a whitepaper that showcased how a GBS service provider could make the customer journey seamless, which was my second project.

In terms of work culture and team dynamics, I felt welcomed and embraced by everyone. My team members were genuinely caring, taking the time to understand my preferences and interests, and doing their best to support me in my desired tasks. At the end of the internship, the senior most team leader took the time to meet with me, seeking my feedback on the experience and explaining the challenges that had arisen during the internship. Their gesture was touching and showed their commitment to fostering a positive work culture.

The time if you are getting shortlists and not getting selected, or the time when you are not even getting shortlists might be testing, and might push you in self-doubt. It is just important to talk to positive people around re-assessing your mistakes. If you are working in the right direction with right efforts, then you are ought to be successful, sometimes late, but not never.

If you get a consulting internship, your experience will be highly dependent on what time you are there with the firm, what was scope of your project, etc. It is seldom that you can get what you want. It is important to go with an open mind and enjoy the learning process.