10 Things to keep in mind during campus placements

Don’t run after package

It’s a common mistake that students commit during college placements. Students usually decide to apply based on CTC numbers. This is a big NO! Instead, apply based on brand name.Initially location and package shouldn’t be the deciding factors. If you can crack a good brand placement, you are more likely to have a sustainable career.

Aptitude Tests

Most of the time the first hurdle to cross in a recruitment process is the aptitude test.  A number of times, people with good technical knowledge and communication skills also have a hard time with the aptitude test.  Hence it is important to take the aptitude test seriously and to prepare for it. Only if you clear the aptitude test that you can attend the further rounds.  Though the structure of the aptitude test may differ significantly from company to company, the overall test, most of the times, may be divided into the sections ofquantitative ability, verbal ability, logical and reasoning ability. Your preparation in these four sections gives you the general ability to solve any type of aptitude test designed.

Technical skills

Technical skills are those skills that are needed to perform a certain task and hence difficult to describe in a general list.  A resume may not be selected if it does not display the technical skills that are needed to perform the tasks described for the role. For example, in finance, technical skills may consist of the knowledge of topics such as computing abilities, quantitative analysis, financial forecasting techniques.  Marketing related technical skills may be content management, data visualisation, web analytics, etc. Highlight these skills in your resume and during your interview.

Stress management

Being stressed out during the placement process is natural. Therefore, managing stress becomes crucial. Few things that will help manage your anxiety right before the interview are trying tongue twisters; think about the present; think about positive things; and lightening your mood. Think of the personal interview as a conversation, conversations don’t go wrong! The Thumb rule is ‘Act confident, feel confident!

Personal Interview

Once clearing the hurdles of resume selection and clearing the aptitude test, interview is the next big step.  To clear the interview, you need to orient yourself for the same.  There are certain steps that should be followed in preparing for an interview- review the job description in-depth and understand each term mentioned there;  know about the company; prepare a list of expected questions and rehearse the answers with your friends or family; practice mock interviews; organize your documents and thoughts about yourself so that you do not appear confused in any way; and update your social media profile with the latest work that you might have accomplished.  All these preparation tests take you a one step closer to success and give you an advantage compared to your competitor applicants.

About the author

This article has been co-authored by Dr Jyoti Ahluwalia and Dr Ekta Singhal, PGDM programme faculty at SOIL Institute of Management. 

Note: The views expressed in this article are solely authors own and do not reflect/represent those of Shiksha