Seven of our first years recently got selected into Metro BSC for their Summer Internships. Representing the selected students, three students from Amrita School of Business attended a convene meeting of all the teams in Metro at their Pune office. It was to collaborate and brief the updates of every team to Ms. Christina Petermann, Senior Vice President of Metro AG and other officials. The three students, Ms. Jeya Bharathi M, Ms Srimathi R and Ms Monisha Thangam KS were engaged in the following activities during their fully funded visit to the Metro Office at Pune.

• Involved as a makeshift member of Metro’s Town Hall meetings with different teams like Project Management and Change Management. 
• Presented their portfolio, experiences from the selection process and their expectations from the Metro Fellowship to Ms. Christina and her team.
• Contributed to ideation of best practices to be adopted by Metro and its employee wellbeing, by participating in the company’s inter-teams like Mental Health, Servant Leadership, Technology etc., 

Now that the context is set, let’s hear the personal experiences and thoughts from each of them.

Our journey to Pune revealed new perspectives and ideas. Pune did not seem foreign to me. Even though we did not have enough time, we were able to get a flavor of it through auto rides, our use of sign language with the Rickshaw drivers, and the food at the Metro Office cafeteria. I was anxious about the presentation we were going to present, despite the fact that all these new aspects were exciting me. Walking across the hallway, I was sorting and organizing all of my thoughts while we practiced. Finally, it was time for the presentation, during which we gave a self-introduction and let our heart speak. After the presentation, we felt at ease and had the opportunity to interact with a diverse set of people who mirrored the workplace culture. Before leaving, a community discussion about servant leadership raised a lot of questions in me, and our trip came to an end with the start of fresh lessons from it.
– Jeya Bharathi M, Batch 2024

Metro BSC had become a dream company when I heard our seniors talk about their experience during internships. As an operations driven student, I wanted to crack Metro BSC. The universe conspired and it happened. Out of 7 metro selects, I was one among them. How does it sound when your dream company selects you out of 8 fellows, for a visit to its Headquarters in Pune? Wouldn’t you be on cloud nine? Even I felt the same and what if you’re accompanied with your two comfortable people for the visit? Sounded like a double treat for me. The three of us, along with one senior, who was offered a PPO at Metro also traveled to Pune. The Travel and accommodation were provided by  Metro itself.

We were given a task of presenting ourselves to Christina Petermann, the senior Vice President of Metro AG. I wasn’t really nervous for the presentation but was very excited for the travel, meeting new people in new city, to experience the work culture. But at the end of the trip, It didn’t feel like a new city. I conversed with almost 50% of the metro executives over there. Had an ice breaking session with the PPM team. The people over there were much open minded, vibrant, diversified, ready to take challenges, few were from different backgrounds. Interacting with them was insightful and fun. The people were so grounded and warm. Not at one point of time I felt unfit, scared, nervous, or small. Every little thought was valued and recognized. Such a work environment obviously will boost your confidence and will break insecurities. From the interaction with the metro executives, their learning curve was very evident and their in-depth knowledge about the industry within a short period of time was amazing. Do you think it is that easy to converse with the CEO or Vice President? You would say No, right? But it’s possible in Metro BSC where everyone is treated equally starting from the fellowship. Who would say no to such a work environment?
– Srimathi R, Batch 2024

Pune hasn’t changed a bit from the last time I visited for a paper conference in my UG days. But, being in a corporate environment – wearing a formal dress, staying in a posh hotel room, working in a big office with different teams across cities was very new to me. Though we were students, we were treated like adults and were respected for the thoughts and ideas we came up with, during meetings. The only thing I was focused on was to immerse myself thoroughly and observe myself in situations that I was put into, and the results were interesting by the end of 2-day engagement. Our Alumni, Mr Dev Radhakrishnan and Ms Sakthi Shree who are now working with Metro BSC in project management, ensured that we learnt, met and networked with the other fellow mates of the company, during our visit to the office. More than the formal interactions we had with Dev and Sakthi, I liked the in-between conversations amidst meetings, their exchange of learnings from the CEO, Ms. Sreema and aha! moments at work were exciting to me. It was an emotion filled with serendipity, I should say – the opportunity came my way and I ensured that I exploited it to my maximum.
– Monisha Thangam KS, Batch 2024

The official trip to pune, visiting Metro Global Solution Center was indeed a different experience for me personally. It was my first visit to office where I will be landing up after few months, completing my MBA.

Metro was quite different from the traditional contemporary office set ups due to plenty of reasons. As an organization, we follow a people oriented approach rather than being more process driven. I was so fortune enough that I got an amazing opportunity to complete my three month fellowship program with Metro BSC. Receiving a Pre placement offer (PPO) and being a part of the Metro family gives immense pleasure as I am finally joining a kind of company and the kind of job role that I always wanted to get into. Meeting all our leaders at BSC with whom I have worked with online was indeed a different experience altogether. We had a detailed presentation and an elevator pitch to be delivered before Ms. Christina Petermann, senior vice president of Metro AG, summarizing the project deliverables and the fellowship experience and learnings we gained from the three months ‘Global Leadership Accelerator Fellowship Program’ offered by Metro BSC.

It was my first Co working week at Metro BSC, filled with immense learning opportunities and corporate exposure. Eagerly waiting to be a part of the team as early as possible, completing my academic commitments.
Last but not the least, we have got some best amazing talents from our junior batch this time who will be taking up this program further for this particular year. As a senior, I feel so excited on boarding these young talents to the organization. I could see the real spak and radiance among all those young fellows who recently joined our team. I wish them all the very best for their journey ahead. Miles more to go and many more to achieve.
– Athul K, Batch 2023