Every management-student does an internship-programme as a part of his/her cirriculum...I was lucky enough to do two of them...that too in diametrically opposite companies & sectors.
My first internship was with a manufacturing-biggie & the second one was with a midcap IT-firm with 200-odd employees.While the former had hardly anything to offer apart from the big brand on my certificate....the latter,despite being a much samller organization offered me such hands-on experience which I had'nt received even in formal 20 months of work-experience before in an IT-giant.
This differential experience brings me to a fundamental question:
"Which is better...a big brand with its name & fame or a small firm with the much-needed personal touch?"
Must say.....both have their merits & demerits.
As young people,as freshers....we tend to suffer from a certain amount of brand-consciousness which in turn,makes us myopic.I remember,one of my ex-colleagues who himself hailed from a small company told me"what one learns in 5 years in a large company is equivalent to what the same person learns in 1 yera in a smaller company...because there one has to do everything starting from designing to developing to testing to business analysis".My experience of working in a small company as an intern was also similar as I found out HR's taking up a more generalist role & handling a large gaut of functions including recruitment,PMS,employee-engagement & so on.probably,tha's why a small company is always such a good traiing-ground for any junior-professional at the beginning of his/her career.But,then it ultimately bolis down to getting p;aid for your work...somewhere bigger companies win hands down with their transparency & reliability.Nevertheless,it's all really dependent on where one lands up initially & how one makes the most of it.
My first internship was with a manufacturing-biggie & the second one was with a midcap IT-firm with 200-odd employees.While the former had hardly anything to offer apart from the big brand on my certificate....the latter,despite being a much samller organization offered me such hands-on experience which I had'nt received even in formal 20 months of work-experience before in an IT-giant.
This differential experience brings me to a fundamental question:
"Which is better...a big brand with its name & fame or a small firm with the much-needed personal touch?"
Must say.....both have their merits & demerits.
As young people,as freshers....we tend to suffer from a certain amount of brand-consciousness which in turn,makes us myopic.I remember,one of my ex-colleagues who himself hailed from a small company told me"what one learns in 5 years in a large company is equivalent to what the same person learns in 1 yera in a smaller company...because there one has to do everything starting from designing to developing to testing to business analysis".My experience of working in a small company as an intern was also similar as I found out HR's taking up a more generalist role & handling a large gaut of functions including recruitment,PMS,employee-engagement & so on.probably,tha's why a small company is always such a good traiing-ground for any junior-professional at the beginning of his/her career.But,then it ultimately bolis down to getting p;aid for your work...somewhere bigger companies win hands down with their transparency & reliability.Nevertheless,it's all really dependent on where one lands up initially & how one makes the most of it.
