Land Top Internships with HHL’s MBA Program

This article was originally published by Norma Maher via businessbecause.com on January 9, 2025.

Germany’s automotive industry stands at the forefront of global innovation and sustainability, making it a prime destination for professionals eager to make a real impact. As Europe’s largest car manufacturer and one of the world’s top vehicle exporters—producing more than 4.1 million automobiles in 2023 alone—Germany continues to shape the automotive landscape through influential brands such as Audi, Ford, Mercedes-Benz, and BMW. But how can you break into this competitive sector, and which skills are essential for success?

Find out how their MBA in Germany helped HHL’s MBA students Shubham Saklani and Meenakshi Srivastav land internships with automotive leaders, Mercedes-Benz Mobility and Ford.

 Shubham’s MBA Journey in Germany

With a background in finance, risk consulting, and client management, Shubham was eager to take his career to the next level. He decided that an MBA would help him pivot into strategic roles, and Germany presented a unique opportunity for this. “Germany has made a lot of advancements in sustainability and finance, and the return on investment for an MBA in Germany made it a clever choice,” he says.

The country’s forward-thinking culture, especially in the automotive sector, has led many companies in Germany to increase their implementation of responsible supply chains and broader ESG (environmental, social, and governance) considerations. Motivated by these trends, Shubham enrolled in the MBA program at HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management. The business school is based in the German city of Leipzig—a major player in manufacturing.

 From HHL to Mercedes-Benz Mobility

Shubham says the program’s customizable courses in business design, modelling, and entrepreneurship offered an edge he hadn’t encountered elsewhere. Beyond classroom teaching, personalized career sessions and workshops helped Shubham secure his internship at Mercedes-Benz Mobility. “I received detailed feedback with marked suggestions on how to restructure my resume and my cover letter to better appeal to recruiters,” he says. “Even the professors shared guidance. When I first landed my internship, I reached out to my finance professor for advice, even on matters such as what to wear on my first day.”

As an MBA intern at Mercedes, Shubham’s day-to-day responsibilities revolve around financial reporting and ensuring compliance with international financial reporting standards (IFRS). Based at the company headquarters in Stuttgart, his role has a global reach, allowing him to collaborate with accountants and auditors worldwide. This experience has emphasized the importance of connecting financial insights to broader strategic goals—an approach he learned during his MBA.

“My MBA has helped me combine my financial skills with management and strategy. It taught me how to use numbers to support senior management with strategy building or decision-making,” says Shubham. Looking ahead, Shubham plans to pursue roles in finance or strategy consulting, either in Germany or internationally, before eventually returning to India.

With nearly a decade of IT experience in India, Meenakshi had long been curious about the business side of her projects.  As a Salesforce developer, she worked on user stories and led small teams. These experiences sparked her ambition to shift from a technical role into management. Determined to expand her career horizons, Meenakshi balanced a full-time job with GMAT prep. She took a leap of faith and applied to HHL, drawn by its international focus and top-tier reputation.

“I had been working in India for eight years, and I wanted to take a risk in my career and explore something new,” she says. “When I got the confirmation email from HHL, it was one of the best days of my life.” During her MBA, visits to assembly plants at Porsche and BMW cemented her interest in the automotive industry. The hands-on exposure convinced her to pursue a role in the sector, ultimately leading to her current internship at Ford. Here, she contributes to the company’s transition to a cloud-based Salesforce CRM—work that merges her prior technical expertise with the strategic business skills she learned at HHL. Her day-to-day involves coordinating cross-functional teams, managing project roadmaps, and integrating customer feedback.

“My background as a Salesforce developer combined with the strategic skills that I gained during my MBA made this the perfect role for me,” she says. Thanks to her MBA, Meenakshi has developed a combination of technical and practical skills that have proven invaluable in her internship. One of the most influential courses in her MBA was on negotiation skills. “Negotiation was the first course I was taught, and it showed us how to present our ideas while taking into account the other side’s perspective,” she says.  Other subjects, including strategy, marketing, and public relations, offered frameworks she now relies on daily.

How HHL Helped Meenakshi Adapt and Succeed in Germany

Meenakshi credits HHL’s international cohort with preparing her to thrive in a global environment. Working alongside peers from different parts of the globe has given her insight into multiple perspectives—a skill she has found useful as she adapts to Germany’s professional environment. “The work culture here is so different from India. It’s more relaxed and places greater emphasis on an employee-friendly environment,” she says.

Meenakshi plans to remain in Germany for several years, developing her career in the automotive sector before eventually returning to India. “I feel hugely grateful to HHL for helping me get the seat at the table that I always wanted and allowing me to make a difference from the business side of the table,” she concludes.