Campus placement season is the most awaited
phase in any student's campus life. It can be made very memorable if one
prepares well for the Campus Hiring Process. Let me take you through salient
aspects of a typical Company Selection Process.
Most of the campus recruiting programs begins with a Pre - Placement Talk (PPT)
by a Senior Manager of the Company. Students should do some homework even
before attending the PPT by visiting Company's website and understanding the
company profile. Read Placement Office notice clearly to understand the job
profile and conditions of employment. Ask some intelligent questions during
/after company's presentation. Making a good first impression through lively
interaction with company officials during the pre- placement talk may kick
start the selection process in an effective way. Ensure that you reach venue of
PPT at least 15 minutes ahead of the scheduled time and settle down in the
front row seat preferably. Make notes while attending the PPT as some of the
details of the company shared during the PPT may crop up as questions during
your interview.
Some of the important aspects of succeeding in campus interviews are
preparation of an impressive CV, doing well in Aptitude & Technical tests,
Group Discussion, Technical and HR Interviews. Let's see how you can fare
better in the above selection stages.
Preparing an impressive CV:
While most of us use the
terms curriculum vitae (CV) and resume interchangeably, there is a difference
between these two documents. Employers ask potential employees for a CV while
applying for a position. While both documents are used in the job application
process, there is a subtle difference in what the contents of each should be.
Curriculum vitae means "the course of life" whereas resume means
'summary'. While a CV discusses the course of life of a person, his resume is a
brief summary of his skills and achievements. The meaning of the words offers
the basic differences between the two. While a CV is detailed, a resume is to
the point. A CV is longer than a resume. Usually, a CV is two or more pages
long while a resume is essentially one page long. A CV can contain some
information about other facets of your life such as hobbies and extracurricular
activities. A resume strictly contains information relevant to the job. While
the CV represents in-depth and structured information about the professional
experience and qualification of a person, the resume usually is the same thing
in a short form. This means that your CV could be same when applying to two
different jobs, your resume has to be different, highlighting different
achievements in different cases.
A CV should be well laid-out and printed on a good quality printer. You should
use bold and/or underline print for headlines. Do not use too many fonts and
sizes. Before submitting your CV, do not forget to spell-check/proof-read. This
is important. Also, make sure that you include all the information about
yourself that will help the recruiter to consider you as a potential candidate.
Your CV must be precise, easy to read and attractive. After you have written
your CV get someone else to look at it. What you have written may seem simple
and obvious to you, but not to the other person (and ultimately an employer).
Go through it again and again and refine it to make it short, easy to read,
impressive and error-free. If you have your own web homepage, include it if
it's good!. Do not give false or any misleading information to an employer
under any circumstances. If you have got 59.45 % marks, do not round it off to
60%, Just write its as 59.45%. Do not exaggerate. Give verifiable and
trustworthy information.
Quality of information is what really matters for any CV. Keep it real, at all
times. While giving references, give two names of dependable persons who know
you very well. Give correct contact numbers and inform the respective persons
who are mentioned as references. Do not take the name of Placement Officers/
Principals unless they know you very well and after you have taken their prior
permission.
Preparing
for Aptitude/Technical Tests:
Most of the companies go
for a written/on line technical/ aptitude test to start the selection process.
So, you have to be very careful and give your written test a best shot. The
first thing to do is to determine which type of questions you are going to be
asked.
Types of question can be classified as follows:
Verbal Ability - Includes spelling, grammar, ability
to understand analogies and follow detailed written instructions. These
questions appear in most general aptitude tests because employers usually want
to know how well you can communicate.
Numerical Ability -Includes basic
arithmetic, number sequences and simple mathematics. Sometimes you will often
be presented with charts and graphs that need to be interpreted. These
questions appear in most general aptitude tests because employers usually want
some indication of your ability to use numbers/statistics.
Logical Reasoning -Measures your
ability to identify the underlying logic of a pattern and then determine the
solution. Because logical reasoning ability is believed to be the best
indicator of fluid intelligence and your ability to learn new things quickly,
these questions appear in most general aptitude tests.
Programming Test - Measures
your computer programming knowledge and Object Oriented Programming Concepts.
One should have to be strong with the basics of at least C and C++ (you might
get questions from pointers and trees).
Technical Knowledge -Designed to
assess your domain technical knowledge. Prepare well on fundamentals and
applications of respective courses/engineering discipline.
Strategy to prepare well for Aptitude Tests:
Sincere and disciplined preparation is needed to do well
in these tests. You must find out what type of questions you are going to face
in specific company tests. Collect the information related to aptitude tests
from seniors or from the websites on Campus Placements to get an idea of
different types of questions. Acquire a good number of sample tests and
practice a lot. Important thing to note here is that you can answer maximum
number of questions correctly provided you have enough time. But as the time is
limited during the test, it is wise to pick questions which can be answered
fast and try to attempt time consuming tests towards the end. Particularly,
when there is negative marking, this strategy will work well. In case, there is
no negative marking, one should not fail marking answers to all un- attempted,
unsolved or partly solved questions during final 5-10 minutes of the test. For
multiple-choice type answers probability says that you would get 25% of such
answers right. And those marks will greatly help in getting shortlisted for the
next stage.
Many candidates may assume that they won't have any problems with verbal
ability questions because they once got good marks in English. It is very easy
to ignore the effects of not reading as much as you used to, and of letting
your spell-checker take care of correcting your written English. The same thing
applies to numerical ability. Most of you might have been out of touch with
probability, profit & loss and time & distance for more than a few
years and have forgotten some simple formulae. While it is easy to dismiss
these as 'first grade' or elementary mathematics, most people do not work on
these things on a day-to-day basis. So, do not take anything for granted - it's
better to be sure! You should make your own decision about which types of
question to practice. You could either concentrate on your weakest area or you
could try to elevate your score across all areas. Whichever strategy you choose
- keep practicing. Because of the way that aptitude tests are marked, even
small improvements to your raw score will have a big influence on your chances
of getting the job.
By
V. Uma Maheshwar
Placement Officer, Osmania University
Have a Gud Day!!!
