What I Actually Do Here

I've had a lot of people ask me why I'm in India for the next two months, so here's the full story:

How I got the internship:

Last year, I applied to go on a networking trip in Silicon Valley that my school was organizing (but to be honest, I didn't really expect to go). I received my first shock when I learned that I was actually selected to go on the trip; it's normally reserved mostly for select juniors and seniors, and only two sophomores (including me) were chosen to participate. So for the last week of winter break we were paraded around San Francisco as we toured tech companies, passed out resume books, and handed out business cards. It was an informative experience, but only two of the companies sparked my interest: Intuit and Infosys.

So I applied to both, with great excitement for Intuit and smaller expectations for Infosys, which was more selective than I thought myself to be qualified for. So imagine my surprise when I was hit with shock number two: shortly after submitting my application, Infosys contacted me for an interview.

Perhaps most surprising of all was that it was less of an interview and more of an inquiry as to how soon they could book my ticket to India so I could begin work and, by the way, would I like the job? So here I am, surprised even now to find myself here.

About the Internship:

This is where it gets exciting. I've been charged with the task of researching and enhancing the volunteer process at Infosys. This is a project that will actually impact a large number of people, seeing as Infosys has over 150,000 employees in 39 countries. And what I'm doing will change the way all of them use their company as a platform for community service. I met with my project mentor's boss last week, and she explained that she is really seeking a way to intrinsically motivate people to do good because they want to, not because it's something to check off their to do list. 

Right now, there's not much of a system to speak of. Which really means I'll need to create an entirely new system, and I'll need to do it quickly. 

I was supposed to have 8 weeks to work on this project, but I learned last week that I will be presenting my results to Kris Gopalakrishnan, CEO and Managing Director of Infosys, for use in his keynote address at the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Rio+20). So I'll be in hyperdrive for the next two weeks, and then I'll focus mainly on implementation of my suggestions, quality enhancement, marketing the final product, and progress tracking until it's time for me to go home. 

Whew. 

What's really great about this internship is that it's giving me international business experience. I'm working with people from literally every corner of the globe (there is only one other American on campus besides myself), so I am really getting a variety of perspectives on the business culture. I love it :)