7-step plan to ace your campus placements

Piyush Mahajan

Campus placements are moments of mixed emotions — excitement, anxiety, and curiosity. Getting a job offer through campus recruitment drives is one of the biggest objectives not only for the students appearing for interviews but the ones who will be appearing in the next one. Campus placement prepares one for better professional growth. The first job has a huge impact on the direction of your career.

The key to cracking your campus placements is the right preparation and awareness. Here are the top 7 smart tips for you-

1. Plan your approach and devise a practical plan: Before you understand the next steps i.e. research the companies, understand the selection criteria, placement rules, and prepare for interviews, it is very important to set the stage by planning your own approach. Rather than comparing yourself with where others are moving, understand what are your career aspirations and goals, plan your time, and accordingly devise a practical plan with clarity. Self-reflection at this step will help you handle more than half of the preparation.

2. List down the companies: Gather the list of companies that visit your campus. Prioritize the companies you are interested in, identify your reason for selection, and update yourself with the latest trends in the industry. Talk to your seniors, batch mates, friends, professors, and placement department to get as much information.

3. Company research: After prioritizing, research adequately about the company, know about the company’s culture, technologies used, services, and latest achievements/announcements by the company. This will help you build an initial connection and rapport with the interviewer.

4. Selection criteria: Research the selection process of your target companies. How many students do they plan to hire and how many are likely to apply? Do you qualify for their shortlisting criteria? What skills do these companies look for? What is the minimum CGPA necessary for placements?

5. Placement rules for your campus: Every campus has its own processes and rules to follow. Understand the placement rules for your campus. Attend presentations arranged by your placement team. Carefully study the do’s and don’ts in different situations, such as if you get one job offer, can you appear for another interview later? If not, do you want to apply to any company earlier and miss out on your dream workplace? Discuss with your network to be sure you have understood each potential situation.

6. Build an impactful resume and professional online profile: Building the right resume will help you position yourself better amongst the campus placement teams. Use the format if suggested by your college or research professional resume format. Focus on building a professional-looking LinkedIn profile, and clean up your social media accounts to remove the unwanted stuff. Tailor your resume each time you apply based on the job description and your research on the company. Understand that this is the first step to shortlisting you for the role and differentiates you from your peers. This may require multiple iterations and a lot of feedback.

7. Get ready for interviews: Your performance during the interview is the final deciding factor of your selection process. Be aware and prepared for group discussions, aptitude tests, technical interviews, subject matter interviews, coding tests, and HR interviews. List down common interview questions, practice the content and body language. Overall, stay focused and calm.

The writer is career coach/corporate trainer

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