Anubhav Das has landed a dream internship. Through this month, the 25-year-old BITS Pilani graduate will function as “chief executive officer” at Adecco Group India.
Selected as “CEO for the month”, the intern will shadow Priyanshu Singh, country manager and managing director, Adecco Group India. Das will also be allowed to contribute ideas towards developing the organisation.
Here is the icing on the cake: After completing the internship, Das will be richer by ₹1,61,335.
Obviously, Das got this internship after a long and thorough screening process that eliminated over 19,000 young applicants.
Further, Das is hoping to be selected the ‘Global CEO for one month’ programme. Forty-six other candidates are in the fray for this prestigious programme.
This unusual internship is part of a growing trend that allows interns to meet, travel and learn from the company’s top executives and in some cases, also get handsomely paid for it.
Earlier in March, Wooplr, a Bangalore-based start-up, selected an M.Com student as ‘Intern-CEO’ for a month. Other finalists were taken in as “City Heads of Wooplr”.
Vedanta Limited selects 10 students from top B-Schools and gets them to assist senior management.
Internshala, an internship and training platform, provides students with an opportunity to learn directly from a well-known personality. In its ongoing ‘Intern with Icon 3.0’ edition, 30 students will be shortlisted for internships with bigwigs who represent a cross-section.
Personalities include AICTE chairman Dr. Anil Sahasrabudhe; singer Sona Mohapatra; Olympic medalist Abhinav Bindra; actor and social activist Rahul Bose; the Minister of State for Civil Aviation, Jayant Sinha; experimental physicist Prof. H.C. Verma and the CEO and co-founder of ScoopWhoop, Sattvik Mishra.
Harley-Davidson offered a summer internship programme, enabling eight students to explore America on a motorcycle and share the experience on its social media page. The best part of the 12-week-long internship: At the end of it, the eight students get to keep the bikes!
A well-designed internship programme can boost a company’s brand image — this is especially true of companies that target a younger demographic.
Such internship programmes will also enable companies to get the best talent.
“When companies have to hire workforce-ready candidates, this is where they have to look,” says Sudhir Dhar, director, HR and Admin, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
