Campus placement or campus recruitment is when companies come to your college campus, conduct interviews, and hire candidates to work in their company. Campus placement is a crucial part of college life. Everything in your final year leads up to your placement interviews. Recruiters are on the search for the best candidate that can represent their company. This being said, candidates are evaluated on a variety of parameters during placement drives.
In this blog, we’re going to discuss each of these parameters and cover everything you need to prepare for in order to get hired in a campus placement.
Top 17 things that will get you HIRED in Campus Placement
Campus placement is a make or break situation for every student. Having a reputed company hire you is like a dream come true. Even though your grades play a significant role in the hiring process, your grades alone cannot impress the recruiters. Candidates need to showcase their skill set and expertise.
Great communication skills, confidence, openness to learn, multitasking, leadership skills and being a team player are some of the essential qualities you need to acquire. Along with these you need to maintain basic qualities of honesty, consistency and integrity. No matter which field you’re in, the points given below are beneficial to all.
Confidence – Your confidence is the first most noticeable feature of your personality and the way you present yourself. This is what makes it the most important quality that one needs to possess. No matter how nervous you are, you should remain calm and confident through the interviewing process. If you aren’t feeling confident, it will affect your communication skills during the interview. Confidence is also required in delivering a message or conversing with your bosses or colleagues. Confidence is also what takes you far in your career and gets you leadership roles.
Enthusiasm – Even though your interview may make you anxious and nervous, try to create a pleasant atmosphere. Bring with you an enthusiastic mood. Recruiters pay special attention to how enthusiastic, positive, and hopeful the candidate seems to be. Personal qualities like enthusiasm and good energy can take you a long way making them essential attributes. The panel considers an enthusiastic and optimistic candidate over one that is not.
Communication Skills – In today’s world, possessing good communications skills is an absolute must. Having a good command over verbal and written communication is considered a bare minimum. This is required in every aspect, be it, email communication, preparing presentations or speaking to clients in person. Students are expected to know good English and have the ability to understand and drive conversations. Along with this, effective communication is a requirement too. Not only do you need to speak and write well but also need to know which words to choose in which situation, you need to pause at the right time and be careful of the tone as well. Active listening and appropriate body language are also assessed under communication skills. Great communication skills are not developed over night, this is something you need to cultivate and update every step of the way. Reading books, newspapers, magazines and watching and listening to English content on the TV and over the internet will benefit your communication skills. Surrounding yourself with the English language will improve your command over it. Possessing great communication skills is a major criterion in the hiring process of any organization.
Quick Learners – With today’s ever-changing demographic, adaptability is an essential quality too. Candidate must be open to learn new things in a limited amount of time. In a fast-growing organization, you must keep up with the pace. Quick learners have an edge over those who require some more time to understand new concepts. This makes them a more worthy candidate in the eyes of a recruiter. In order to learn quickly you must thoroughly understand the required concepts and workings.
Team Player – For an organization to function effectively and successfully, it is crucial that the each one on the team understands their roles and responsibilities. Colleagues must have an excellent rapport with each other. They must be considerate and understanding towards the feelings and abilities of another on the team. This is key to functioning as a unit. Everyone must work with precision, dedication, and motivation to complete their duties on tasks appointed to them in order to achieve their common goal. For this, you must be a team player. After all, team work makes the dream work. Team players possess the required personality to work and coordinate with their fellow colleagues to bring about more productivity and business to their organization.
Leadership – Possessing leadership qualities can definitely grab the attention of your interviewers. This is one such quality that can set you apart from your competitors. Being a team player is good. However, having leadership skills will get you noticed and help you achieve much more in your career. Leadership skills include great communication skills, trustworthiness, creativity, positivity, motivation and dedication. Along with these, a leader must function effectively even under pressure, they must have good planning and organizational skills, problem solving capabilities, strategic thinking and management skills. If you manage to showcase these qualities to your recruiters, they will definitely consider you.
Honesty – Recruiters look for an honest candidate who has strong principles so they may not compromise the credibility of the organization. They consider honesty a very important quality and therefore, you must not alter any information whenever asked. Being honest can create an environment of being accountable for yourself and your responsibilities. Owning this quality makes you trustworthy and speaks a lot about who you are as person. Hence, honesty is an important step towards building integrity.
Consistency – Consistency means you have to keep delivering good work after good work. It improves overall company performance. Also, consistent good work gives you some credibility. Your managers will be aware of what you’re capable of and won’t need to micromanage or guide you every single time. They can rely on you because they can trust you to get the job done. Companies that deliver consistent results build a good reputation for themselves thus bringing in more clients.
Problem Solving – The ability to come up with solutions effectively is something recruiters look for. Problem solving skills include identifying and defining a problem, understanding everyone’s interests, thinking of multiple solutions, evaluating options and implementing them successfully. You should be able to solve problems even under pressure and not let pressure get the best of you. This makes it a special skill and those who possess it are better qualified than the rest. Recruiters may test your problem-solving skills by presenting a case study for you. You must understand the question, think over it and then answer with the best possible solutions for a successful outcome.
Openness to Learning – Keep an open mind to learning. Companies assess candidates on factors like skills and knowledge. However, completing your educations from college does not mean the learning process stops. You can be forever acquiring knowledge and gaining further understanding of the field you’re in. What you learn from textbooks may not always be the same on field. This means you have to accept that you don’t know everything and be open to learn always. Having an attitude that wants to learn and better yourself is always appreciated.
Ability to Take Ownership – Ability to take ownership is a key factor in accelerating the growth and development of the worker as well as the company they work for. Taking ownership and accountability can strengthen the employee-employer relationship. It means you have to take responsibility for all the work you do. It builds trust and confidence within the workplace.
Never Say Never Attitude – A qualified candidate must not limit themselves to just their roles and responsibilities as per their job profile, you must be willing to work much more and outside of your comfort zone as well. Doing so will boost your creativity and you’ll increase your ability of taking risks and accepting challenges. The panel gives such aspects great importance too.
Personal Credibility and Integrity – Credibility is what makes others trust you and depend on you to get certain things done in a certain way at the workplace. Credibility is not something that is handed out to everyone, rather it is built and worked upon carefully over a period of time. Personal credibility consists of honesty, integrity and trust. These personal characteristics define you as a person and set the benchmark for what the panel can expect from you. Constant learning and updating your knowledge, asking questions, preparing in advance and establishing rapport are some of the ways of earning credibility. Being genuine, respectful and sincere adds onto your personal credibility and that is something recruiters look for. Personal credibility and integrity help position you as a valuable candidate in the hiring process.
Likeability Factor – Friendliness, relevance, empathy and realness are few of the qualities that come under likeability factors. Being comfortable during your interview, listening actively and engaging in conversation are few things the panel notice immediately. Recruiters look for a candidate that is real and authentic. They want someone who has a friendly nature so they can connect with other co-workers. All workplaces need someone who can empathize and show compassion towards their colleagues. This creates a positive and healthy atmosphere to work in thus boosting productivity.
Ability to Multitask – Multitasking is juggling a number of responsibilities simultaneously. You must be able to switch back and forth between tasks while keeping track of all of them. Multitasking consists of planning ahead, dividing your time and focus, prioritizing tasks and managing distractions. Ability to multitask increases productivity and improves time management. Recruiters consider such skilled personnel as they can increase organizational growth, thus making it a vital quality to possess.
Industry Certifications – Usually, companies interview only those candidates that have studied a particular stream of education and will choose from among them. You must be aware of the qualifications and other important criteria companies have set for the recruitment process. Recruiters will check your knowledge and skills related to the subject you’re studying and other important technical skills related to your profession. Choose a college that also provides additional industry certifications, or make time to do these courses after college.
Integrity – Integrity characterises of honesty, morality, and ethical principles. Integrity being the foundations of trust and confidence is a vital trait that recruiters seek in the employees they wish to hire. They aim to hire a candidate whose actions will always be consistent with their words. Integrity is the act of acting honourably and doing so even when no one is watching. Candidates of such calibre provide high quality service and maintain the reputation of an organization. This feature shines light on your professionalism. When employees have integrity, their managers can trust their team is working diligently. It also promotes a honest, positive and successful work environment. Having ethical standards will help you achieve your goals.
To sum up, campus placements is one of the most critical steps in your career. Receiving a good campus placement can forecast your future, it means you get to learn more from one of the best companies in your field while earning a good salary.
Even if you don’t possess all these mentioned skills, don’t worry, you can definitely work on what you lack. You can try your best to acquire everything you need to impress the recruiters. Follow these pointers to ace your interview and receive the best placement. Good luck!