Have you always wanted to do a little bit more than your usual course but stopped yourself at the thought of what your options are? Now, imagine a company that allows students as interns and also allows you to choose what you would like to do instead of what the organisation wants you to do. You can apply for the in-house internship programme offered by SPI cinemas.
The programme was conceived by Sathyam Cinemas to help college students to discover what they would like to do after their course, and what they are good at. “It provides a channel that enables self-discovery. We help them to choose departments and projects they want to work on, thereby giving them corporate hands-on learning even before they enter the industry or discover their areas of interest,” says Ratheesh Krishnan, L and D Manager SPI Cinemas.
New direction
What is unique about this internship is that it allows you to start with a particular vertical such as technology or marketing and provides you a chance to dabble with a parallel vertical such as HR or customer service. The mentors work round-the-clock to make sure that you are using your potential and thereby help you give yourselves a direction. And this is why this Externship programme is different from your usual internship programmes which do not give you a flexibility to opt for roles that may not be in line with what you are studying.
Sanchitha.R, an intern from SPI Cinemas explains how her internship at SPI Cinemas was an enlightening experience in the corporate world. “I was a part of the graphics designing team where I created logos for companies and events such as ‘Hackathon’. This helped me learn new software from my mentor and enhance my designing skills. Even after my internship tenure, I still work for SPI because of the wide scope and the welcoming culture.”
While they don’t pay any stipend, they do make sure to take care of travel and accommodation if you are not from Chennai. Besides allowing you take charge of projects and giving you complete decision-making control another noteworthy feature is that the programme is not time-bound and Sathyam allows you to continue with the externship for as long as you want.
Lakshmi Sneha, another intern elaborates on how, “Starting the internship as a part of operations, I handled two innovative projects that were tried for the first time in SPI Cinemas. This was an amazing experience as I had to be part of how the projects were formulated and executed from scratch.
Later, I wanted to work with the HR team to learn the functions. I got to manage externship and also be a part of Hack for Social Good. The externship has shown me new ways to work with teams and also made me more effective and aware.”
