Reshma Saravanan

Not everyone will have a great experience, but being an intern is one of the best thing I’ve ever done! My Internship at Aravind Eye Hospital, Madurai started in April 2019 and it lasted for a period of 9 weeks. I was selected by a direct interview process and I was very surprised and thrilled to work with such big reputed organization. My project was on Preparation of Finance Manual for Aravind eye hospital and MIS reporting for all Secondary hospitals. We had orientation programme, hospital tour and visit to Aurolab center, an on-site lens manufacturing unit.  I was treated as part of the team rather than an intern. I would like to start off by saying that, before I interned I wasn’t excited about having to do it but after completing my internship I realized this was probably the best thing Aravind made me do.  Being able to utilize all the skills that I was taught at Aravind in a real-life situation is the best learning experience in the world. In 9 hours of daily routine at the organization, 3-4 hours were spent on collecting data for the preparation of finance manual. I feel that during my interning time, the most challenging part of my work is networking with people, which requires skills such as communicating, learning to deal with diversity. I had an opportunity to gather information from employees relating to my project and I learned that “When you let them know what you do, and find out what they are doing — the entire organization benefits” And the rest of time spent on preparing reports from the data collected. Another aspect that I learned throughout my internship is to never be afraid to ask lots of questions. By asking questions I got answers. On the other hand, I observed and analyzed the income and expenditure flow of all secondary hospitals of Aravind Eye Care and prepared a Daily report and Monthly report format for Management Information System Reporting. Fortunately, I got more experience in MS Excel during my course of intern and in short I observed that it is a key to professional growth. Other employees used to share their ideas and experiences with me, also I was part of various meetings. Unexpectedly, I got the opportunity to attend the International Hospital Administration Course, wherein we had guest lectures, assignments and activities on Analysis of Income and Expenditure Statements and also met people from 13 to 14 countries all over the world. My nine weeks at Aravind allowed me to grow personally, but it also helped me to gain new skills in basic accounting and finance and an overview of GST filling and some of its concepts. I had an experience that I did not previously have. But most importantly, I gained a new sense of professionalism and a clearer view of what it meant to be in the professional world. I learned more than I ever expected. I say this because, I used to attend every week’s Journal club meeting held at LAICO, the training branch of Aravind. Yes, it was very useful and I came across many case studies relating to hospital administration and ophthalmology, wherein we study, analyze and discuss actual scenarios, where case studies are particularly important for management students. “The only way to do great work is to love what you do”. I gathered much knowledge under the guidance of Mrs.Harathi Raghuram and I am truly grateful for this opportunity. I honestly say that, my journey at Aravind Eye Hospital was a great learning opportunity and on the whole, I had a very good internship experience for 9 weeks and I would recommend students to experience an internship in this hospital.Gaining work experience is key for boosting your employability, especially as a business student. I thoroughly enjoyed my internship this summer and now I have very valuable experience under my belt. I know this will help when looking for jobs and references.