To understand what really helps candidates stand out, I spoke with Tareq Abdullah Prio, a student from the Department of Accounting and Finance at North South University, who recently secured this opportunity.

Prio’s profile already carried several strong experiences before he applied for the internship. Alongside serving as a Teaching Assistant in the Department of Accounting and Finance at NSU, he had previously completed a part-time internship. Another major achievement that strengthened his CV was his team finishing among the top 10 in the CFA Research Challenge, which added significant value since he was applying for a finance-related role.

Prio said, “Being a Teaching Assistant in the Department of Accounting and Finance at NSU helped me a lot. I had also done another internship before, although it was part-time. My team being among the top 10 in the CFA Research Challenge definitely added weight since I was applying for a finance internship. I believe these things made my CV very strong among the others.”

Recruitment stages
According to Prio, the recruitment process consisted of only two stages: CV screening and interview. However, he believes the toughest filtering happens during the CV screening phase, where recruiters mainly focus on academic involvement, extracurricular achievements, leadership experience, competition exposure, and previous internships.

He explained that a strong and relevant CV plays the biggest role in securing the interview opportunity.

During the interview stage, Prio noticed that the recruiters were not only assessing technical knowledge but also evaluating personality and attitude. Although he could not answer every question perfectly, he tried to remain cheerful and confident throughout the session instead of becoming nervous.

At certain moments, he even managed to make the interviewers laugh while responding to tricky questions, which helped create a more comfortable atmosphere during the conversation.

One particular question stood out during the interview. The interviewers asked him to compare another company with Nestlé based on a financial parameter. Instead of trying to overly praise Nestlé, he honestly explained why the competing company performed better in that specific area.

Prio said, “I told them the other company was actually better in that parameter and explained the reason behind it.”

He believes that honesty and authenticity worked positively in his favour during the interview.

Reflecting on the overall experience, Prio believes Nestlé values genuineness, positivity, and confidence alongside technical capability. According to him, candidates should remain calm during difficult questions and avoid pretending to know everything.

Prio said, “I think they look for genuineness and cheerfulness besides your calibre. Candidates should be honest during the interview and they should not unnecessarily glaze Nestlé. They also shouldn’t let difficult questions get to their nerves.”

Prio’s journey shows that cracking highly competitive opportunities like Nesternship requires more than just academic excellence. Strong extracurricular involvement, relevant experience, and competition exposure may help candidates get shortlisted, but confidence, honesty, and authenticity often become the deciding factors during the interview stage.

His experience highlights an important lesson for aspiring applicants: recruiters are not only looking for capable candidates, but also for individuals who can remain genuine, composed, and confident under pressure.