Three corporates, nine industries and endless learning opportunities

Monday, 10 September 2012 00:55 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

John Keells Holdings PLC (JKH), Ceylon Tobacco Company (CTC) and HSBC came together for the ‘Fast Track 15’ Internship Programme for the second year. This programme provides an opportunity for 15 Sri Lankan citizens studying in local and foreign universities to be engaged in a six-week internship programme during their summer break.

The internship programme is packed with opportunities and exposure to facilitator-based learning. This offers undergraduates to understand the career opportunities available in Sri Lanka.

The programme has a unique quality of offering and hands on experience in nine different industry groups: Leisure, Plantations, Real Estate, Consumer Foods and Retail, Information Technology, Banking, Finance, Transportation and Manufacturing. While motivating and exciting the interns, the programme assists the interns to make an informed career choice.

One of the interns commented: “This programme changed my mind completely. I am now focused on coming back to Sri Lanka after my studies.”

The objectives of the Internship Programme are as follows: To provide a framework to gain experiences through practical work assignments by helping them to relate their academic and educational backgrounds to the workplace, to understand various aspects of the Sri Lankan job market, and to provide mentoring by professionals in specialised and diverse areas.

The programme wanted to bring justice to the valuable two weeks of their summer. Through this programme the interns met some of the most eminent personalities in the corporate sector. In addition, they enhanced their social networks, obtained pragmatic learning through outward bound training, developed their soft skills and advance communication skills, and opened up new avenues of opportunity.

In the final week, referred to as “Project Week”, the interns are given a current project in relation to the business with real time facts, numbers and situational data in order to brainstorm, research, and offer recommendations to the management of the three companies.

The interns are mentored during this week giving them a flavour of the expected delivery standards in the corporate world while leaving ample room for them to innovate and challenge the status quo with their recommendations. The closing ceremony of the ‘Fast Track 15’ Internship Programme was held at Cinnamon Grand Colombo recently.