Students’ Speak: Know the essential stages in Placement process

By: Gatiq Doultani

Placements are very important for engineering students. Gatiq Doultani provides a detailed insight into various stages in a campus placement process and shares tips to successfully clear all stages.

If you are pursuing a professional degree such as BTech then you in all probability dream of bagging a great offer before coming out of college — a well-settled environment after a few years along with a systematic growth. For any aspiring professional, the first job is very crucial to set a firm footing. Most students have some doubts regarding internships and placements.

Internships can be both paid and unpaid, yet they are very important for future placements. Internships infuse professionalism in the candidates which most of the companies assess for in an interview. Prior work experience is always a key factor in a job search. There are several websites which help students to find internships, Internshala being one of them where you can directly explore opportunities in different domains. I myself completed a 20-day unpaid internship at OYO for the internship certificate and some work experience.

Many industry experts and teachers believe that engineering students should start interning from 3^rd year onwards but what I have learned from my experience is that you should start looking for placements from the very first year. You are going to get a lot of time during you summer break so need not worry about the studies and all. You can take up an internship during the summer break. Internships even at BPOs or small scale call centres can help improve your speaking and communication skills, which are worth their weight in the CV.

Maintaining a good Curriculum Vitae (CV) is also very important. You should know the difference between a curriculum vitae and a resume. CV's have no length, i.e. you can describe yourself in detail, but resumes are usually 1-2 pages long. You have to be more specific while writing a resume.

Different Stages in Placement Process

When it comes to placements, companies give equal importance to both soft skills and technical skills since attitude and good communication is necessary to succeed in workspace irrespective of the industry. The selection procedure for any internship project or placements typically include:

1. Pre- Placement Talk Education Qualification
2. Written Test
3. Group Discussion (optional/non-IT specific)
4. Technical Interview (optional/IT specific)
5. HR Interview
6. Post-Placement Talk

Let’s look at these stages in more detail.

Pre-placement Talk

The pre-placement talks are arranged by the companies for all the candidates sitting for the campus drive. It is mainly in the form of a presentation. The presentation includes the company's profile, selection procedure, organizational achievements and company's vision and mission. It also includes the growth opportunity for a candidate within the company and other benefits, if selected. At the end of the presentation, a candidate can ask a question about any doubt they may have.

Educational Qualification

A number of companies place importance on the academic performance of the candidate and specify requirements for minimum marks. Some companies give preference to candidates based on the marks scored in class 12^th while others the candidate has any backlog or any drop year in the school. Therefore, place great importance on your academic performance both at class 10^th and 12^th level as well as throughout all the semesters of your graduation.

Written Test

Most companies conduct a written test and candidates are shortlisted for next rounds based on the pre-defined cutoff scores. The written test is usually the aptitude test that includes questions from Mathematics, English and Reasoning. Some important topics in Mathematics are Statistics, Probability and other secondary level topics such as Algebra.

Some companies also include technical questions in the test. Many tech firms these days have started taking coding and written ability tests. You should practice using the online placement test papers and clear all the concepts from the topics I've mentioned above.

Group Discussion

The main object of this round is to check the communication skills, listening ability, the etiquette of a candidate, leadership qualities, convincing power and domain knowledge. This is really important and can be considered as a critical step as some student don't realise how to approach the discussion and what all to say. Students, more importantly, should realise that it is a discussion, not a debate round, so it should be a healthy discussion.

To prepare for this round, students should first work on their verbal skills. Some students are not comfortable to interact in English. Your language will be judged based on your intent rather than emotions. So prepare for this round well. You can watch videos for understanding the nature of GD rounds and if you feel a glitch while speaking English then the time has come for you to start practising.

HR Interview/Formal Interview

A formal interview is considered the final round of the selection procedure. This round reflects the overall personality of the candidate. Good presence of mind and clear understanding of your past learning and its applications will be the key for your selection. Your past learning will also include the internship, live projects, work experience, industrial visits, etc. Basically, the interview round evaluates the stability and confidence level of the candidate.

You should be well dressed and follow proper code of conduct not only at the time of interview but throughout the entire process as you are being observed every second as one wrong step can result in a lost opportunity. You should be very careful while speaking. I can give you an example — one of my friends went for the interview in TCS and he cleared all the rounds, but was rejected in the interview. The interviewer asked him what his strengths and he mentioned his coding and communication skills. But the big mistake he made is by saying, “I am a manipulating person. For company’s benefit, I can manipulate the client.” The interviewer later told him that ‘manipulating’ is a negative word and instead, he should have said that he is an ‘influential person’.

Remember to stay polite and humble. Since the time you decided to get into BTech, you have entered the professional world and you need to know when and how to speak.

Post-Placement Talk

After the selection of the candidate, the offer letter is issued. The company executive informs about the guidelines related to the joining process and about the company's policies.

Therefore, we can conclude that your confidence, appearance and personality are equally important as are your academic performance. You should, therefore, start working on yourself five to six months before the start of placement season and focus towards an overall improvement in your skills and personality. 

About the Author:

Gatiq Doultani is a student at Dronacharya Group of Institution pursuing Bachelor of Technology. He loves to be around computers and to code.