Campus Placement is not a (completely) random process!

A car assembly line is a beautiful and orderly process to watch. There is a predictable path, and as parts get added onto a naked frame, products of the same consistency and quality come out through it. If you look at a typical placement process of any company, it is mostly designed in the form of an assembly line. Resume, Group Discussion, Personal Interview - some finished goods do make it to next side, others are rejected somewhere along the process. But does the process always have to remain the same?

A buyer and a seller transact only when there is a mutual benefit in the transaction. No matter however great a product is, if it doesn't fit the needs and aspirations of the buyer there will be no transaction. Period.

At one level, a student and a job provider needs to understand this. If you look at this transaction, the experience of going through tons of interviews and the experience of a recruiter sifting through thousands of candidates is terribly bad. As a student, what can you do to change this experience you bring upon yourself?

Answer is simple - Bring certain level of focus in the preparation and provide matching value to the relevant buyer of your skills.

There are 5 sure shot ways how you can provide value to the buyer of your skills and reduce the randomness

1.      Relevancy of skills - Take a deep breath, take a few tests, look at your life, sit with a coach and understand what kind of role really fits you. This is the most critical part. If you are someone who really doesn't enjoy talking to customers, a front end sales role is not for you. If you are someone who likes sitting in front of a computer, read and synthesize, make charts and stories, an analyst role will be a good starting point to think of. Match this with a little bit of market reality and you will be better off. You might want to be an investment banker but are the chances steep and is it really worth it for you?

2.      Industry & Company Knowledge - If you can talk the language of the business, understand what the company really does and the competitive landscape, you are better than 90% of the candidates. During preparation stages focus on this part really well, know the company and industry that you apply for reasonably well.

3.      Resume - We never buy high end category products from salesmen who give us low quality brochures. Similarly your resume is your product brochure, kindly make sure you hit the nail with the right amount of quality work behind it. Resume building is an art and a science, seek professional help if needed.

4.      Work experience preparedness - If you are someone with work experience, and you are unable to explain the broader implications of your work ( top line and bottom-line impacts), a recruiter might feel you don't understand basic business concepts of revenue and cost.

5.      Build a network and apply to limited companies - If you are a focused student, your roles/sector aspirations will be limited. Your key to entry into many of these firms is to actually network with people inside the firm and understand how to break through effectively.

In 2000, psychologists Sheena Iyengar and Mark Lepper published a brilliant study. Shoppers at an upscale food market saw a table with 24 varieties of gourmet jam. Those who sampled the jam received a coupon for $1 off any jam. Next day, shoppers saw a similar table, except that only 6 options of the jam were on display. The large variety attracted more interest than the small one. But when the time came to purchase, people who saw the large display were one-tenth as likely to buy as people who saw the small display.

You will be greatly doing a favor to yourself, by cutting options rather than keeping all doors open. If you can bring in the ability to focus along with market reality considerations, a campus recruitment experience will be a glad one for you. These are testing times, but ''to stay cool'' actually means ''to stay focused''. At Board Infinity, we tell this to our students every single day, and thankfully it works!

Less is More, any day! :)