Internship For Dummies

Internship for Dummies (Week 0 - 2)

After a week of tirelessly going here and there to process my requirements before starting the internship –because I actually went and play the waiting game for weeks (months even!) before I finally received a call from my internship company. Finally, on November 21, 2016, I was officially hired as an intern in Nestlé Philippines, Inc. – Cabuyao Factory.

The Nestle Cabuyao Factory was established in 1976 and is covering 25 hectares of land area in Brgy. Niugan, Cabuyao, Laguna. It is the Nestle Export Center for infant nutrition products. Not only do they manufacture infant products, they were also responsible for the manufacturing of many range of products including NAN, NESTOGEN, BEAR BRAND, NIDO, NESVITA, NESTLE ALL PURPOSE CREAM, Ready-to-Drink MILO, and CHUCKIE. The Cabuyao Factory is twenty minutes away from our house if the traffic is light, but can take up to an hour when the traffic is heavy (because trust me, the traffic in Cabuyao is usually heavy, miraculously light at some days). Since the head office of Nestle is located in Makati, the Factory Control Department (FCD), the department I was assigned to, is responsible for the decision making of expenses for projects, order processing, and scheduling of deliveries that are mainly related for the Cabuyao Factory.

Before I move on to telling about my first two weeks in Nestle, I would like to tell a few details on how to be an intern at Nestle. Since this was originally my preferred company and was not one of the choices in our internship application form, might as well tell you guys my experience before finally getting a spot in Nestle. I tell you, it was quite hard, but all worth it. Of course, the first thing that you should do is to have your resume submitted to the HR Department. Actually, the first thing to do is to give your resume to the receptionist, and the receptionist will be the one to give it to the HR Department, since it is inside the factory and one cannot simply get in without a valid reason to get in, and sadly, to simply give your resume is not an enough reason to get in. Now, the waiting game starts here, where you will wait for a message from the HR Specialist telling that you will be undergoing a phone interview regarding few details about your internship. No need to fret! The phone interview will only consist of questions about how many hours you are needed to render in the internship, and if you already have the requirements. The requirements that are actually needed are your registration form, a proof that you are enrolled in your Internship subject, and a recommendation letter from your institution. Once secured, you will wait (again) for a text that will give you details regarding the pre-assessment test.

Now, the pre-assessment test scared me the most, because this is where the applicants of the internship was trimmed down drastically from around 50 to roughly ten applicants! I was on the first batch of applicants to take the exam, and we were around 30 applicants that time. The pre-assessment test consisted of questions that are going to test your abilities in thinking logically. It was not hard, but it was tricky! Add that it was time-constrained, where you can only answer 40 questions in 20 minutes, you will really end up frantic in answering when the proctor tells you how many minutes are left. No, you are not allowed to use pencil, you should use a ball point pen. But yes, erasures were allowed.

I waited for two weeks until I received a message from the HR assistant saying that I was scheduled for an interview at 1 in the afternoon, I grew so happy because in that two weeks of waiting, I was so worried that I might not make it, and when I really won’t, I’ll be doomed because it was mid-November and no companies will accept me for internship. From the batch I took an exam with, around ten (sorry I keep on guessing numbers, I really can’t remember exactly how many were there that time, since I, and I am sure them as well, were so nervous to count) made it to the interview. I actually feel bad for the others who didn’t make it, since I had a chance to talk to one who is a student who came all the way from Sta. Cruz, Laguna to take the exam. I became friends with two, and unfortunately, they weren’t able to become interns. One of them made it to the interview, but she wasn’t chosen after. Oh, were you wondering how many applicants were hired as interns? Nine. Yes, we were the lucky nine. Not all of them were from the batch of applicants I am with during exam, but most of them were.

I mentioned earlier, I was assigned as an intern in the Factory Control Department, and I am the only intern in the department. Five of the other interns were assigned in the Human Resource Department (HR), one in the Safety, Health & Environment Department (SH&E), one in the Liquid Beverages and Dairy Culinary Department (LBDC), and one in the Factory Supply Chain Department (FSCD). One thing that I learned is that when you work in Nestle, you are meant to memorize all these letters, because they don’t really say the whole name of the department (I mean, that’s relatable, who would dare say “Have you seen Ms. X from the Luquid Beverages and Dairy Culinary Department?” multiple times?). There are a lot of initials that I still have to know of, like OP, TMP, QA, NQAC, and other more. Surely, I will memorize them all before I even end my internship. On our first day, it was actually just an orientation, apart from the orientation we had one Saturday for security and safety orientation –which has another exam! And if you did not pass the exam, you will have to attend the whole day orientation and take the exam again, until you pass. Anyways, our first day served as our orientation to the do’s and don’ts inside the factory, we get to wear our uniforms and have our own lockers (yay!), and we get the chance to go in the far areas of the factory.

My second day is the day that I was officially introduced to the department I am assigned to. That was when I thought, “I am really ready?” “I won’t do any mess with work, right?” “Can I still run for my life and be a kid forever?” But, no. There really are things that you cannot run away and get back to them when you are ready. Even if you are not ready, you must face them because that's how it is. That is life. You can't just face the things that you are ready to face, you need to be ready all the time and adjust when it is needed. And so, I went with Ms. Joie, the HR specialist, to the FCD which was just beside the HR! If not for the walls, I would be this close to my intern friends (we call each other momshie, LOL). After she left I was then introduced to everyone, which wasn’t really awkward because they gave their welcoming smiles. My supervisor, who is the compliance manager of the department, then explained to me my responsibilities. When she was explaining, I swear I felt like drowning, imagining how much the work load was assigned to one soul. I was scared, because it felt like my memory in Accounting were all gone, will I survive?

Actually, I did. My responsibilities consisted of making reconciliations for the payments of the customers, reconciliation for the sales every month, filing of the forms for disposal of items such as wastes, scrap materials and such. My minor responsibilities consisted of helping in the annual audit of every department, but I was told that I will be joining them by March, since the international auditors will come by then (nerve-wracking!), and to maintain the 5S in the department –which I am very familiar with since LPU-L is implementing the 5S policy as well.

In my first two weeks, I was able to accomplish all the work I needed to do. I thought, it was fun, and that was when you will realize the importance of EVERYTHING that you learned in the university. I was even surprised with myself, because I know that there were times that I had a very hard time with answering the questions in the exam, but in the practical setting, it’s just easy, and you can get the thought right away. It is also true that you will really end up being so engrossed that you will lost track of time when you really enjoy what you are doing.

And I never enjoyed working with numbers like this before!

The highlight of my first two weeks, aside from the fact that I never enjoyed my working with numbers like this before, is the idea of being dumb about loads of things (and places) around the factory. I actually been inside the Nestle Cabuyao Factory for how many years, since my father previously worked there but was already a retiree. But for how many times I have been there, who would even know that I only went to places that I can count with my fingers in compared to the whole place itself. One day, while I suddenly got bored of doing my job, I decided to head to the washroom. The washroom I always go to was the washroom that can be found near the receptionist. It is also located near the HR Department. While I was on my way to the restroom, I bumped into our HR Specialist and we went in the restroom together. She told me, “Why are you using the restroom here when you’re only steps away from the washroom in the admin?” In embarrassment, I said, “I just feel comfortable using this washroom,” when in reality, I really did not know there was a washroom near our department! When I left the restroom, I had to take time look around the administration office and voila, there was actually a restroom near the pantry. That was when I told myself that the next time, I should take a quick tour around the place and look for hidden places. I thought the pantry was just  a pantry, no one told me there was a restroom there!

Secondly, one should really remember to remove all their things inside their uniform. In Nestle, you do have a uniform, but you do not take them home with you. They have a laundry team (LOL the word 'team' sounded so weird to me, but anyway) who is responsible in washing your clothes. Since we were interns and that we were just newly hired, we were given uniforms that doesn’t have names yet (maybe on the next posts, I will be showing a drawing of our uniform, or a picture; but I doubt pictures, since cameras and camera phones are not allowed inside the factory), and they were mixed up with other uniforms. The dumb me, one day, has forgotten to take off my earplugs from my pocket, and has absent-mindedly left it inside my pants. It was the next day when I realized my mistake, so I ended up requesting for a new one. Ugh, I wanted that earplugs so much because it has its own container, the one that I have now is a disposable one without a container. But since I have a friend who is assigned in the SH&E, she gave me three pairs! Still a win-win situation.

Lastly, I must tell everyone that we take long, long walks before we get to a specific location. For example, from the administration office, you need to take a five minute-walk towards the cafeteria, the laundry area, and the locker rooms. But then I just found out on my second week that there is a shortcut to everything! I realized the offices are actually connected at the back, and they will cost you less time to go. However, there are certain places you are not allowed to go to, so one should still be careful with roaming around.

There you go, folks! That has been my first two weeks (even week 0 is included) at Nestle. I am fully aware that this is not even a half of everything that has happened to me, but these were the highlights of my journey. In my next blogpost, I will not only be telling about my third week in the company, but I will also tell you all about my new-found friends, colleagues and more amazing entries for keeps!

Are you an intern like me? Share your thoughts about your internship on the comments!

xoxo

References for history:

https://www.nestle.com.ph/asset-library/documents/aboutus/nestl%C3%A9%20production%20centers.pdf