Every year the students passing out of IILM face the million dollar question, “How should I decide on the company I should work for”. The situation becomes quite complex as a multitude of companies with different Job offerings visit the Institute at different times of the year. The students also receive advice from various sources mostly from people who are quite ignorant themselves. What should be the practical approach for students which will not jeopardize their careers? When the choices are many, the practical approach is ‘Stick to Basics’.

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The Basic desirable feature in a Job would be a good organization, interesting profile, good work environment, growth opportunities and a decent salary package, in that order. Many years of Industry experience have dictated this order. If one is inexperienced and ignorant of how organizations work, they may put salary package as the most important feature. The order works typically for fresh post-graduates without any industry experience. The order changes as work and experience factors change.

Many large multinationals do not offer high salary packages. Why? The other factors far outweigh the salary considerations. It is like saying that a job does not offer everything under the sun. The considerations are mainly around the background of the organization and the Job description. Relatively smaller or new organizations do not require selection from a large pool of Institutes. Their advantage is the exposure students get to different Management functions whereas in large organizations, the exposure is limited to the specific job function only. The catch is that the students should be able to weigh the different factors and put more weight on those that are more important to them. The initial years of work should give a rich experience and should enrich the students’ Profile.

The most practical point for the students to understand is that jobs offering lucrative terms also attract larger number of students however the positions on offer are limited. Companies offering such positions also tend to be extremely selective. While it is good to have aspirations for joining a good company, the grounding should be, make your-self suitable for them. The marks obtained at High School, Graduation and Post-Graduation have to be as per standards prescribed by the companies. These companies require the students to be fluent and articulate in communication, the ability to understand and discuss current business scenarios and a smart personality are prerequisites for each one of them. Most large corporations also require the students to be flexible to relocate as and when the job demands. Recent developments show that the companies with front-end operations want managers to be able to “sell” to their customers, whatever their specializations may be.

While looking at the past performances, the companies are quite wary of those candidates who show sparks of brilliance (inconsistent performance). They look for consistency in the performance. Companies look at candidates past performance to determine their potential for future commitments, whereas students gauge their worth by what they think they CAN achieve. Companies are skeptical when a student expresses that although his past academic performance was below par, he will work very hard to prove his worth.

What does work with the companies is the energy and intent shown by the candidates in taking various initiatives. This is gauged by the participation in co-curricular activities organized by the institute during the two years of Post-graduation. While the jobs on offer as well as companies willing to recruit fresh talent are increasing, their expectation for knowledge and skills are also increasing.

The most positive aspect on the Job front is, even if the choice made does not work out as per expectation, there are many more companies which can still be chosen to develop careers.

Placement Managers Workshop

A Placement Managers Workshop was conducted on Thursday September 20 and Friday September 21, 2012. Placement managers across all our campuses participated. The theme of the Workshop was “Negotiations”.

The agenda of the Workshop was to achieve the following objectives:

• Communicate with Companies in a way different from other institutes – Selling through Story Telling
• Reinforcing the parameter of Quality in our Placements
• Negotiate with companies for job profiles, number of positions and compensation

Day 1 of the workshop

All Placement managers across all our campuses participated in the discussions resulting in the following points:

1. Placement Managers sensitivity to deliver Quality Placements, Internships, Guest Lectures and Industry visits for the students.
2. Prioritize companies scheduling consciously, basis their Unique Numbers to ensure better companies get to pick students earlier.
3. Negotiate for higher packages, designations, job profiles, work environment, career growth
4. Update knowledge of the different electives offered in Marketing, Finance, HR, IT, Operations for improving the Placements.

Day 2 of the workshop

All the Placement Managers came with a story and a few shared them with the rest of the team. The picture which emerged with clarity is that it will take some thinking to make a Story which will engage the interest of a Recruiter.

There were extensive sessions on Role Play performed by each Placement Manager as a Placement Manager and as a HR manager of a company. The objective of the role play was (1) Understanding one’s own advantages (2) Negotiation and Persuasion for better deals. The Role Plays enabled zeroing-in on some common mistakes made and the same were pointed out by observers to the Placement Managers.

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