WHAT MATTERS MOST?

In the training and placements departments people are happy these days. But for the trainers! Most Trainers are facing what you usually call the mixed bag.

 On one side, we have students who have received their first salaries. There are many more who have realized what is needed in the world of industry and management and they are trying very hard to acquire the same. They are surprised to know that they know so little of what is expected of them. The induction training in the company can be a real mirror to the selected people. In such a group the atmosphere is generally of hopes and greater aspirations. There are a few students who were selected but now find the heat of expectations from the employers very unbearable.

On the other side of the spectrum there are students who have not been selected for the jobs, are much more serious about their careers than they were any time during the course of their tenure in the college. Each campus drive where they are not shortlisted makes them very sad. Their confidence levels are at the rock-bottom. The weight of the expectations from their parents coupled with the casual attitude they had displayed during the tenure of the course, makes their lives very difficult. No more new shortcuts to success are available.     

 This article is for such students or what is more fashionably called as the aspiring managers and technocrats.

When these people (who are not yet selected) talk, it is obvious that they are bitter and disillusioned. They are in desperate search for finding scapegoats. They are trying to shift the onus of their failures on everything and everybody available. The world for them suddenly has become very narrow, dark and mostly hopeless. They are not ready to accept that the present effect is not an accidental, but is an emergent. When they were supposed to have put in hard work they did not. Such people remind me of the proverbial butterfly and the ant.

But when they approach me for sympathy, I do not really know how to respond. I am sure that showing sympathy is not the answer to such situations. At the same time reminding them of their mistakes further worsens the problem. As a trainer, one has to understand that such students must have required a huge mental push to break the inertia and present themselves in front of a trainer and further accept that they are not where they should be. 

What matters most in such situations is whether such students can be brought back to a listening mode. If this is somehow achieved, can they be further coaxed into an action mode. No trainer can really mend any situation, but he can hope to change the current viewpoint of a person in such a way that he once again starts to believe in the fair practices of the world. This is one of the most difficult times in the lives of the students and the trainers. The trainer has to start right at the beginning by asking the student whether he is absolutely sure that he had put in his complete efforts. He has to explain that all interviews are conducted with an objective of employing right people. Similar to the pilot after crash, student should be ideally provided at least one more opportunity for an interview before he loses his faith in his capability and the system.

The preparation of the interview becomes the foremost factor which can at least divert the attention of the student to some thing worthwhile rather than his usual brooding. The complete interview process is to be mocked to create conditions as similar as possible to the actual. The rehearsal assumes a great importance; and the better the student can do in the mock, better are his chances to clear the actual interview. The sincere practice of the event somehow instills a confidence in the disturbed mind of the student and he is back to something more positive.

The trainer has to be tactful and has to follow certain basic principles in human interaction. He has to impress upon the student that he is not the only one who is facing this problem.

1. The first thing the trainer should do is to talk to the student in private. There should be no public ridicule.
2. Secondly, the trainer has to listen very carefully. He should also be able to analyze the content and subsequently find out the pressure points which need right pressure.
3. Thirdly, the trainer should show concern. He should also assure the student that the institute would back him till he gets the job. At the same time, he should be forthright enough to dissect what has gone wrong, and how to correct the mistakes in the forthcoming opportunity by way of a fresh campus selection process.
4. Lastly the trainer cannot afford to be judgmental or dismissive. He has to rekindle the hope in the minds of the students. The trainers also have to very strict about confidentiality of the discussion the students have with them. It also helps to have a ready-made case from the earlier batches. Students are more likely to identify and feel positive. I have seen that such a reference is usually very effective.

Most of the times all these problems are due to the fire-fighting management style! Every year the problem recurs with various degrees. The preventive action plan which should ensure a smooth placement process is still a far-fetched idea, barring a few top-notch institutions. In such institutions, the lot of the students is altogether different. The students are from the top drawer of the academics. But it does not mean that these institutions are without any problems. Their problems stem from extremely rigid and highest expectations of students.

What matters most in the placement process is the correct estimate of what the employer wants. If the student is somehow trained to match his profile with what the employer wants, the placement becomes relatively easy. Any employer wants a dependable person with correct basic knowledge. So, the activity of ‘back to basics’ must be run just before the placement season starts.

Any professional job interview has two basic components. The first part is about what the student knows and the second, if he knows how to express the same. Both these activities are practice oriented and both have a distinct tendency to improve with each additional try. One small thing the trainer has to explain to the students is to think about what should be the expected answer for any question raised by the interviewer. The student should try to match his answer with the expectations and he would find the interview much simpler. The interview is about how you appear during the interaction. Practice to appear sincerer, thinking and if possible intelligent and you would find that people start liking you.

The students must remember that the world never changes for anyone. So, it is advised to change  the self as per the expectations of the employer, to be able to get the job and more importantly retain the same.