With the final year of college only months away, the pressure of placement began to build

      in my head. Terms such as “job security”, “company profiles” and “CTC” were becoming a

      large part of my Google’s search history. And I don’t just speak for myself, but for every student

      who at one point faces these months every year, with everyone at their own levels of aspirations

      and anxiety. I write today not to address a particular company, job or profile, but to address

      the whole campus recruitment procedure in general.

      Here is my take on HOW TO PREPARE YOURSELF for one the biggest responsibilities

      of your life – your FIRST job. 

 

      1.) Ask the RIGHT Questions

           It’s needless to say, your seniors and college faculty are the ones who will give you their

           first hand experiences. If you want to really DIG DEEP, go beyond “how much money do

           they offer?”, and start asking these questions –

           a. What companies come to our campus, and WHEN?
               Since many colleges offer a single-job policy, it’s important to sit for the RIGHT companies.

               Rushing into decisions might get you a job, but might not get you one that you truly deserve.

           b. What profiles are offered by each of these companies?
               You might hear huge names like Google and Microsoft, but you need to know what kind

               of work they’re asking you to do. For example, there’s no point sitting for a business

               analyst profile if you intend to get your hands on coding.

           c. What are the LOCATIONS?
               If you’re someone who easily gets homesick, or in contrast, want to head out and explore

               a new city, learn what options you will potentially be offered. Right now you might THINK

               you’ll go for anything, you just care about the job, but in actuality, locations are what

               often make or break the whole deal.

           d. What is the growth rate of the companies?
               Your career is yet to begin, so there’s no point in moving towards a company that might

               seem to offer a relatively good package now, but has slow growth in the market.

           e. What is the growth rate for the individual at the company?
               If you’re truly up for some WORK, you’ll want to look for companies that offer lots of

               projects, challenging work, lots to learn, but at the same time, giving you space to breathe

               and go at your pace. People with even a year of experience are capable of saving you from

               their mistakes.
 

      2.) Google It
           Now, it might seem something not even worth mentioning, but many of us don’t even realize

           the masses of information that is placed on the internet for us to consume. Here are the top

           4 websites I want you to checkout –

           a. Quora, a great community to find answers to just about all your queries

           b. Glassdoor, goes into the details of company-wise profiles and have some GOOD advice to

               share from the employees themselves

           c. LinkedIn, where you should build your virtual resume and a lot of contacts, that will help

               build your professional network

           d. YouTube, which you should now use to explore about interview experiences, tips and tricks,

               lectures on various topics of your field, etc.
 

      3.) READ and SAVE
           To be honest, I’ve never been this grateful for blogs before, but it was in this phase that I

           found the smallest forums and blogs my biggest saviour. BOOKMARK everything as you go,

           or take notes of the things you WANT to remember, because over the months to follow you’ll

           have SO much to remember that you’ll end up forgetting half the things you found, or HOW

           you even got to them!

 

      4.) Understand the Placement Process
           There are multiple rounds of screening, each requiring its own set of skills as you go. So

           make sure you understand what each round is about, how many potential rounds you’ll be

           driven through, etc.

 

      5.) Work on Your Resume
           Focusing on your field, start browsing through various resume samples, understand the

           keywords and pointers you can add to make your resume a HIT, and take the time to frame

           and reframe your resume to look clean and concise.

           Take a look at the ebook “The Google Resume” by Gayle Laakmann.
 

      6.) Work that Mind
           Apart from your field skills, every company wants people who have the ability to work out

           puzzles, logical reasoning, and solve aptitude.

           Here are some reference books I would highly recommend –

           a. Useful sites – lumosity.com, pagalguy.com

           b. Brain teasers – “Puzzles to Puzzle You” by Shakuntala Devi

           c. Quantitative – “Quantitative Aptitude” (R S Aggarwal)

           d. Verbal and Non Verbal – “A Modern Approach to Verbal and Non Verbal Reasoning” (R S Aggarwal)

           e. Logical – “The Great Book of Puzzles and Teasers” (George Summers)

 

           Here are the technical books and reference sites I studied from –

           Useful sites – geeksforgeeks, stackoverflow

           Crack the Coding Interview by Gayle Laakmann

           140 Google Interview Questions

           MCQ’s in Computer Science by Timothy J Williams

           Data Structures and Algos Made Easy by Narsimha Karumanchi

                        

      7.) Work SMART, Not Just Hard

           Try and work with yourself to device plans to study. Do what helps YOU.

           Things that worked for me were -

           a. Discussing my progress with a friend I can trust and can truly compete with.

           b. Reminding myself that myself that only 15% (3-4 hours) of the day was work, the rest was

               still for my leisure. It made me feel bad when I couldn’t even give that insignificant 15%,

               thus keeping me going.

           c. Unlike many students who chose to study one thing a day, I studied a little of everything

               everyday – some apti, some tech, some coding, some vocabulary, etc.

           d. Making milestones. Having short-term, day-to-day based goals makes things on the long run possible.

           e. Use POST-IT notes that plan your work schedule, topics to be covered, etc. Cross out

               something once you’ve achieved it. Within days, you’ll start seeing crosses which will

               motivate you to move forward faster.

 

      8.) Work on Your Self-Development
           Take a look in the mirror and start thinking about the physical things you’d like to improve

           about yourselves. Even the smallest improvements can make all the difference in your

           personality and build your confidence. For me, it was things like –

           a. Grow out my shabby nails 

           b. Stand straight (I tend to shrug since I’m tall)

           c. Don’t move your hands too much or act fidgety

 

           Furthermore, work on things like your vocabulary, group communication and fluency in

           speaking English. Download the app called “MAGOOSH VOCAB for GRE” if you’re looking for

           some (1000, to be precise) of the most common (yet somehow uncommon to most of us Indians)

           words that aren’t just necessary for GRE, but for ANY course requiring English proficiency.

 

           Another thing I’d like to advice is – CONTROL THY JARGON. In situations where you have

           developed a reflex to use inappropriate words like “shi*t” or “f**k”, it’s time to understand

           that these break the first rule of professionalism – sophisticated speaking.

 

      9.) Learn to Accept Failure

           I was blessed to get placed in the first company I sat for, however, I also see peers breaking

           down and going into absolute depression as they see themselves still struggling after months.

           Here are things you need to know –

           a. The number of companies that come to your campus is only a small FRACTION of some of

               the best in this country.

           b. Don’t waste time being morose, start applying for companies OFF CAMPUS.

           c.  We all make mistakes, but you’ll succeed only if you learn from them. If you’re being

               rejected one company after the other, there’s a possibility that you’re making those

               mistakes more than once.

           d.  Even if you start losing confidence, set a standard for yourself from the start, and do

               NOT resort to compromising to anything less.

               NOTE: Please set a realistic standard only after you truly self-evaluate.
 

     10.) Start Preparing for the Interview
 

            Don’t neglect your final round. Because while some companies have gaps between the various

            rounds, there are companies who wind up everything within a day.

            There are DOZENS of HR questions that you can easily screw up if you don’t go prepared for.

            Here is an article I really liked

            http://m.timesofindia.com/business/india-business/14-tips-that-are-designed-to-help-you-succeed-in-                          interviews/articleshow/39176273.cms?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=referral

 

 

  These are probably just some of the things you can do, and there’s a lot more you should! So get right to it folks,                                                                                      all the best!!