Off to a flying start

Campus selection often provides a good break to students at the start of their career. Here is how you could try to improve your competitive edge during the selection process.


Selectors look out for candidates with the right kind of qualifications and attitude.

Students of professional courses look forward to campus selection since it eliminates the hassles of preparing and sending job applications to different organisations, interviews at various venues and so on. Moreover, the assurance of a good start in one's career even before the completion of their course motivates students to excel in their studies.

Placement cells in several reputed engineering and management institutions help students in achieving success in the campus recruitment process. However, students should plan and play their roles wisely to get the best results.

While the students are saved from the bother of a tiresome hunt for employment after graduation, campus selection helps companies in identifying easily young talent that match their requirements.

Should students make any special preparations for handling the campus selection process effectively? The answer is an emphatic `yes'. The preparation depends to a large extent on the recruitment process of the company. Although every company arrives with the intention of spotting the best talent, the definition of talent varies. Each management may have its own priorities of skills, knowledge or competence that is expected from the candidates. Depending on these, the company evolves its own selection process. The students' preparations would have to be in tune with the relevant selection process of the company concerned. But there are certain common elements that would help candidates to prepare for a campus interview. Let us briefly examine the important aspects

Preparing a good c.v.

This should highlight our skill, knowledge and capabilities that would satisfy the demands of the job we are interested in.

Information about

the company

Specific knowledge of the company that includes the following features would be of immense value: history of the company, products and services and their merits, fields of activity, headquarters and location of other units, paid up capital, number and classification of employees, principal competitors and their products, research and development, pattern of growth, outstanding achievements, salary structure and opportunities offered for professional advancement.

Details about the

prospective job

These details could be gathered from sources such as business journals, finance pages of good daily newspapers, job advertisements, share notifications, company brochures, and most importantly Websites. Any opportunity to discuss the organisation with its employees should be gainfully utilised.

Written tests

If the company usually conducts written tests with objective questions, one should master the techniques to answer them.

There would be a time limit that is deliberately introduced in the test, with a view to spotting the best talent among the candidates.

Further, we should try to find out the areas of knowledge that are usually checked and evaluated by the company concerned.

Some firms may focus on academic subjects of the relevant standard based on the minimum entry qualification that is mandatory for the job.

Engineering firms and IT organisations that conduct campus recruitments in technical institutions sometimes opt for questions from Mathematics, Physics, and Chemistry at the Class 12 level.

Some tests include sections on verbal skills (vocabulary, synonyms, antonyms and so on), quantitative aptitude (school arithmetic), reading, comprehension and psychometric analysis (personality, attitudes, composure and consistency).

There may be exercises to test the candidate's aptitude, ability to understand data and awareness of computers.

The scheme may be different for business schools; the emphasis would be on analytical skills, problem solving, decision-making and case studies.

Some employers may check the candidate's general awareness or general intelligence through graded quizzes.

The philosophy behind this approach is that the university or board has already evaluated the technical or professional knowledge of the candidate.

If an intelligent person with the required educational qualification is selected, he could be given in-house training to enable him to discharge efficiently the duties assigned to him. Interested candidates may gather information from senior students on the kind of tests administered by different companies that arrive on the campus.

We should, however, be prepared to tackle the tests even if there is a change in style.

There would be interviews or group discussions to assess the personality of the candidate.

Interviews

We should practise to master the strategy to succeed in interviews and group discussions.

Mock sessions guided by experienced trainers would help to correct errors in style and mannerisms.

The interview may lay more emphasis on personality traits than on academic subjects. However, for design jobs or others of a purely technical nature, the subject areas may be given priority.

Sometimes, the interview may focus on the candidate's academic subjects.

The interviewer would try to evaluate the candidate's analytical skills or other communication skills.

In such instances, if the candidate gets stuck in a topic, he may even be allowed to choose a favourite topic, for further interaction.

Those who are overconfident may delude themselves into believing that they need no special training for clearing tests, interviews or group discussions.

Their hopes of performing well at the appropriate time without any kind of prior training is likely to be proved wrong.

Any human activity has room for improvement and the race for campus selection is no exception.

It is wise to strengthen our competitive skills through planning and guided practice, for achieving success in campus recruitments.

Personal characteristics Personality traits that are often checked are the following:

* Poise.

* Clarity of expression.

* Cleanliness.

* Comprehension.

* Confidence.

* Style of dressing.

* Temperament.

* Getting along with others.

* Initiative.

* Intellectual curiosity.

* Interest in challenges.

* Ability to maintain confidentiality.

* Leadership qualities.

* Listening with patience.

* Meeting people.

* Patience.

* Pleasantness.

* Courtesy.

* Prioritising.

* Problem-solving ability.

* Pronunciation.

* Reasoning.

* Respect of opponents.

* Response to new ideas.

* Selection of appropriate ideas.

* Teamwork.

* Tolerance.

* Wealth of ideas.

* Willingness to accept responsibility.