Students’ Speak: What role does a placement cell play in making students interview-ready

Most of the MBA institutes have the same procedure for placements. Placement cells arrange for intensive aptitude training every week and it is really helpful in the future so as to gain cognitive ability.

Adani Institute of Infrastructure Management offers PGDM course in infrastructure management. The two-year course includes an internship of two months and an infrastructure lab project of three months. Six trimesters full of tremendous learning and expert sessions with various clubs coordinating to meet the ends actually made college life more interesting. I'm currently gearing up for placements and our college has an efficient placement committee cell which makes sure that every student is placed at the end of two years. Placement has three major aspects, namely, Aptitude Test, Group Discussion (GD) and Personal Interviews (PI).

Most of the MBA institutes have the same procedure for placements. Placement cells arrange for intensive aptitude training every week and it is really helpful in the future so as to gain cognitive ability. Aptitude again has three parts namely verbal, quantitative and logical reasoning. Students who score more than 50 percent in all three components are shortlisted for companies.

A student can look at various videos available on YouTube with shortcuts and tricks to easily crack questions. Many career-guidance institutes have also started helping students with tutors to teach and tests can be given online on many websites for practice and to increase speed.

Adani Group specifically shortlists students above 60 percent in aptitude tests. It is the basic and first step towards attaining placements. Aptitude tests are all about doing a problem in the least time possible and this skill can only be acquired through practice.

Second, is GD in which every student has to sit for two group discussions in a week and a tutor is assigned to conduct them every week. Based on the performance grades are given, and those who are weak get a chance to speak again, consecutively. Apart from the stressful schedule of second-year students, the college also boosts the confidence of students by arranging expert sessions and club activities so as to engage and gives a platform to showcase their talents.

The final step in the placement process is a personal interview, and it is the toughest among the two. Mock interviews are conducted in college at regular intervals by different faculties and also officials from Adani Group reach out for pre-placement talks. In order to crack an interview, there is a simple mantra to be followed which is "be calm and cautious in uttering words". Good communication skills and interpersonal skills are mandatory requirements. Proper dressing, neat and tidy looks and attitude judges the person in you and hence your offer letter. If there is a firm understanding and good base in the undergraduate courses, also knowledge from classroom learnings along with successfully completed project works, it is more than enough to crack any interview.

At our college, we have grooming sessions once in a week and special sessions who are about to sit for final placements. I have imbibed a lot of knowledge and learnings and placement cell's constant effort to help students through the process is commendable.

About the Author:

Athira Anand is pursuing PGDM in Infrastructure Management from Adani Institute of Infrastructure Management.