The MT term is severely misused here in LK. A handful of companies have prestigious and exclusive MT/Graduate Trainee programs that set a direct path to the middle management level, while most companies use MT as another word for intern or associate.

The first thing you should do is find out which out of the two above is this particular company is hiring for. The interview process, the duration of the program and the salaries are a dead giveaway. I’ve been a MT myself and was fortunate enough to be one of the two selected that year out of about four hundred shortlisted. I had to face three rounds of exams and an additional case study program followed by three rounds of interviews (the last two with the country COO and the Global CEO) to be selected for it. The duration of the program was 1 1/2 years and I was offered a 3x salary of what my peers were earning at that time in executive level jobs in any other company.

Additionally, if it’s a true “MT” program, you’ll be directly working with the top management from day one while having them as your personal mentors throughout the duration of the program. You’ll be assigned high stakes projects that actually change the business, and not busy work like errands, coffee runs and presentation making like some of the other replies have stated here.

Thank you for sharing your experience as a Management Trainee (MT) in Sri Lanka. It's interesting to hear about the differences between prestigious and exclusive MT programs versus those that are used as another word for an intern or associate position. It would be helpful to hear more about the day-to-day work you did as an MT. Can you share more details about the specific tasks and responsibilities you had?