Tips to improve your campus placements!
Some colleges today have committees and student bodies that are focused on keeping students engaged and motivated. One of the most important student bodies is the placement or career cell. The best placement cells ensure that students receive mentorship and career support. It’s easy to complain about the best companies not coming to campus or not hiring enough talent. However, as a student you can also try to make the most of the placement cell to achieve your career milestones. If your college doesn’t have a career cell, you can start one and focus on the students work-readiness journey. Here are a few tips every placement cell can incorporate:
- Pre- placement and industry training
This is one of the most important aspects to improve your placement. Some colleges start their training in the final year, others begin from second year onwards. Your training should focus on helping students know themselves and then prepare them for placements. The training should be focused on real world problems and what the industry currently requires. Having your students trained on this will differentiate your college from others and will certainly give you an edge.
- Build connections with Alumni and industry
You can build a network with Alumni from your college. These graduates who are now working will be excited to come back and support your college. To ensure that the maximum students get the benefit out of the placement process, the team should conduct pre- placement visits to potential companies, build relations, follow up continuously and make sure that a senior level experienced head is directly involved in the placement process. Share stories of the activities your college is doing via a newsletter with relevant industry bodies so that they are impressed. Think about leveraging LinkedIn to invite industry on your campus. Create a resume book of your students and share it with potential recruiters. This will be a good way to build a brand and get people hired.
- Professionalism and hospitality
Showing professionalism in every step of the way from the first email you send to a company’s HR to the way you and your college conduct themselves when a company visits your campus, makes a huge and lasting impression. Most large corporates, if not all, rate this as quite high in their list. Like a good host, your hospitality has to excel and the HR recruiters must remember their trip. You have done all the hard work to get them through your door and most importantly you need to make sure they visit your college every time. Hospitality is one of the factors that maintains your long-term relationship with any external party. It is also great way to network and build your professional relationships.
Most colleges have academics as a focus. However, when students enter their third year they are extremely anxious about the next step. This is where a strong placement cell can really help. In fact, the placement cell should collaborate with other student societies to build the communication and confidence of students in college as a whole. This will be required along with their academic scores to crack their dream job or Masters interviews. In case your college does not have an active cell, revive it and support the professors and faculty to build a brand for your college in industry. Wish you all good luck for this placement season!
