From Biotech to TOI: Pooja Jaiswal’s MBA Journey at Parul University

Most career pivot stories simplify in retrospect. The complication, the moments of doubt, the moments when the new path seems implausible, get edited out. Pooja Jaiswal‘s MBA journey at Parul University does not lend itself to that kind of editing. She moved from biotechnology to business analytics, from Bilaspur to Vadodara, from no sales background to exceeding her TOI internship target by 40% in week one.

Pooja Jaiswal is an IEP-MBA Business Analytics student at Parul University (Batch 2025-27), currently completing a paid Sales and Marketing internship at The Times of India in the Revenue Department of Marketing (RDM). Her journey from a Biotechnology bachelor’s degree in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, to an MBA at Parul University and an internship at one of India’s largest media organisations is documented here. The IEP-MBA with KPMG programme structure and the broader Business Analytics specialisation pathway are a perfect guide for the students who are aiming to receive a global placement.

Meet Pooja Jaiswal – a proud student of Parul University. Hailing from Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh, she completed her schooling and bachelor’s degree in Biotechnology. When that path did not materialise, she began exploring alternatives systematically, eventually arriving at Parul University and a programme that bore almost no resemblance to her undergraduate work.

She first came across Parul University through advertisements and YouTube videos. Curious about whether the institution matched what its outreach suggested, she visited the campus with her parents during the admission process. The exposure, the variety of programmes, and the industry-oriented structure of what she saw convinced her that a substantial change of direction was workable. The decision to leave Bilaspur for Vadodara was not made casually. It was made deliberately.

Pooja’s interest in business developed gradually. She initially considered Digital Marketing as a potential direction, drawn by its accessibility and the practical surface of the discipline. During the counselling process at Parul University, the IEP-MBA Business Analytics programme offered in collaboration with KPMG was introduced as a closer fit for her interests and analytical inclinations. The counsellors framed the suggestion in terms of her existing pattern-recognition strengths from biology and her stated interest in business outcomes. She decided to take the risk.

• The mathematics challenge. Moving from a theoretical science background to an analytical management programme was, in her own framing, a drastic change. Mathematics and calculation work were not her natural territory. The first months of the programme required patience and adaptability that she had not anticipated would be necessary.
• The peer and mentor support. For this achievement, she has credited her college mates and mentors at Parul University, as they were the ones who had helped her fill the gap between her bachelor’s & MBA requirements. The environment and collaborative culture of Parul University helped her easily transist via this transition, wherein she mastered everything and championed an internship!
• The eventual fit. Once the foundational mathematical work was internalised, the broader programme content connected to her interests in ways the early months had not predicted. Business Analytics combines the kind of structured pattern recognition that biology training had cultivated with the practical decision-orientation she had been seeking when she initially considered Digital Marketing.

Pooja’s approach to the internship search was strategic from the start. As a student funding her studies away from home, she had specific financial requirements that ruled out the unpaid internships that many of her peers were willing to accept.

Her search was deliberately aggressive. Internships were a compulsory requirement of the programme, but she narrowed her targeting to paid opportunities that would not require relocating to a third city beyond her current Vadodara base. The targeting matters: many MBA students treat internship search as a numbers game, applying broadly and accepting whatever offer comes first. Pooja’s approach was the opposite. She used the channels available, primarily unofficial class groups where Class Representatives shared internship and placement updates, and she filtered ruthlessly for fit with her financial and logistical constraints.

She received an offer from Dabur, the consumer goods major, alongside the Times of India opportunity. Her family advised her toward Dabur because the role would have allowed her to complete the internship from her hometown without the logistical burden of working in Vadodara. She chose TOI instead. The reasoning was deliberate: she wanted the exposure of working in a more challenging environment rather than the comfort of staying close to home. The Times of India is a prestigious brand. Even though the Sales and Marketing role was not directly aligned with her Business Analytics specialisation, she wanted the brand association on her record and the experience of stepping outside her comfort zone.

The application process itself was straightforward. A form circulated in her class group required her to submit educational details, academic percentages, and a resume highlighting both technical and soft skills built through KPMG and Impact training sessions. She submitted and waited.

The interview, when it came, was conducted by HR over a phone call and consisted of essentially one question. The HR representative asked her to introduce herself. That was the interview. What the call actually tested was not knowledge but communication: her fluency, her ability to structure a self-introduction coherently, her presence over the phone. Her communication preparation through the CDC (Career Development Centre) classes at Parul University paid off concretely in this moment. The HR was impressed enough that confirmation of selection followed shortly afterwards.

The selection outcome brought relief more than excitement. Relief because she did not have to continue searching for another internship or relocate elsewhere. For a student balancing academics, expenses, and future aspirations, that phone call brought operational stability alongside the credential it represented.

Pooja joined The Times of India as a Sales and Marketing Intern in the RDM (Revenue Department of Marketing) on May 25, 2026. The internship duration was 45 days, running through July 10, 2026, with office hours from 10 AM to 6 PM. The first two days were entirely training: the cohort of interns learned about the company’s history, operations, revenue structure, and departmental responsibilities before being given live work.

Her core responsibilities mapped to the operational reality of the sales and marketing function at a major media organisation.

• Customer outreach calls. Contacting prospective and existing customers by phone to discuss subscription products and offers.
• Subscription explanation. Walking interested customers through the available subscription tiers, pricing, and inclusions.
• Follow-up management. Tracking customers who had expressed interest and following through to convert interest into completed subscriptions.
• Field visit coordination. When customers showed interest, the team visited their homes or offices to deliver subscription gifts as part of the conversion process.
• Customer data management. Recording, managing, and protecting customer information, including identification details (Aadhaar) entrusted by customers. The data management responsibility was assigned to interns demonstrated to be trustworthy, which Pooja was during the early days of the programme.
• Subscription target delivery. Each intern was expected to secure a minimum number of subscriptions per week, with team-level and individual-level performance tracked.

Within the first week of the internship, Pooja was appointed leader of an eleven-member team. The appointment was not signposted in the recruitment process. It emerged from the operational rhythm of the early days. Some team members were struggling with language barriers, particularly the Gujarati-speaking customer base that posed challenges for non-Gujarati interns. Others were finding the subscription targets harder to hit than they had anticipated.

Her job as team leader extended beyond target tracking. She had to encourage members who were losing confidence, manage small interpersonal conflicts, and communicate tactfully with peers who had ego sensitivities. Communication discipline was as important as the sales playbook itself.

The language barrier was real. For non-Gujarati customers, Gujarati can feel like an encrypted language. Pooja relied on Gujarati-speaking teammates who helped translate during specific customer interactions. Asking for help is not a weakness; collaboration bridges the gaps that solo effort cannot.

Each intern was expected to secure a minimum of five subscriptions per week. Pooja secured seven in one week, exceeding the target by 40% and earning recognition from the broader team. For someone who had entered the internship with no sales background and a science-oriented undergraduate education, the achievement represented something more than a number. It was concrete evidence that adaptability and structured communication preparation can compensate for the absence of direct domain experience.

• Communication and rejection handling. The work taught her that not every customer would buy. Rejection was structural, not personal. The skill being trained was how to convince effectively and how to handle the rejection that inevitably followed even strong outreach.
• Punctuality and trust. Travelling from Parul University to the office daily reinforced operational time management. Equally, when customers were promised specific times for gift delivery or follow-up, those promises had to be kept. Customer satisfaction depended on trust, and trust depended on punctuality.
• Soft skills from CDC training. Pooja has been explicit that the CDC classes at Parul University were the most useful preparation for the workplace situations she encountered. Presentation skills, communication techniques, confidence-building activities, and professional etiquette work translated directly into daily operational effectiveness.
• Excel and data work. The technical skill stack required was bounded. Excel handling for customer data was the primary technical tool. The internship reinforced that soft skills mattered every day while technical skills mattered intermittently, an observation that matched what Business Analytics graduates typically discover early in their careers.

Pooja’s five-year framing is corporate work in roles like Product Manager or Product Data Analyst, with particular interest in skincare, e-commerce, and consumer products. After approximately five years, she intends to start her own business. The IEP-MBA with KPMG programme and the broader internship pathway set up this trajectory.