Manav Gada - LEAP

Hi! I am Manav Gada, a 3rd-year undergraduate majoring in Mechanical Engineering and pursuing a minor in Computer Science and Engineering. I utilize my spare time mostly in sports (volleyball and basketball) and binge-watching web series. Apart from an inclination towards core subjects, I have developed a slight inclination towards DSA.

Do you know the worst part of a typical holiday break at IITB? Watching others do something productive and developing a not-so-obvious sort of FOMO. This drives you to do something productive. With a similar intent, I applied for a couple of IAFs out of some 'n' companies (n is not a very large number :D) that opened up for us (2nd year, Mechanical) after the 4th semester. LEAP (Leading Enterprise in Asset Pooling) India was one of the companies to which I applied for the 'Analyst' profile. If I remember correctly, the recruitment process was pretty straightforward. It involved resume filtering followed by an interview, which was mainly composed of resume grinding. I was asked to elaborate on my contribution to the tech team and explain other mentioned projects. Apart from these, basic HR-type questions were asked like “What is your motivation to apply for this role?”, “What do you know about the company?”, etc.

My joining date was somewhere during May end and my internship period lasted for about 2 months. Exact job details vary from person to person. Primarily, each of us had to report to a person in senior management based on the project allotted to us catering to their needs and our interests (for instance, someone had to report to the CFO for finance-based projects, etc). My mentor was a senior from the Forecasting and Planning department as my project involved predictive analysis. The project included warehouse visits and regular review meets with mentors and other members of senior management.

Apart from the actual skillsets that I gained (again varies from person to person as each of us was working on different projects) that I gained during the internship, I would like to mention some personal highlights. Firstly, this was my first ever offline corporate exposure and it was a great experience. Honestly, my sleep cycle has never been better than it was during this period, as I had to get up early, travel and reach the office on time. I upgraded my interpersonal skills to a whole new level as we constantly had to interact with employees, clients and shareholders. The employees there were very friendly towards us (interns) and we developed a good bond with them, frequently went out, celebrated birthdays, etc. Overall, the experience was a great value addition to me and served as a gear-up for the 3rd year intern season.