Many students in the Engineering colleges all over India are curious to know what is really expected of them in the Campus Recruitments. Many used to ask queries like – what is the required knowledge capacity in programming or technical expertise, how to perform in the aptitude test, how to prepare resume, and many more. For the time being, this article aims at explaining some secret tips that the most HRs of the visiting companies look into. This article will explain a little bit briefly – why is a resume very essential… what things to be included inside and why to be inside… how the format of presentation to be … and many more…
Resume is the first interface for a student to the visiting recruitment team of the company. A student may be good in studies or may be he/she is not having a good rank/mark aggregate; but, everyone would like to get a job irrespective of the ranking, while at campus placements. Points to be noted down here is that everyone in the same class or the college will be having the similar curriculum and some short of ranking system to rank the merit of the students. So, only those who prove to be different in approach and style will get only recruited.
The number of students to get placed in the visiting companies is just a few seats. Moreover, the number does not just meant for the same college but for the whole India/world. The visiting company has a planning for how many number of students to recruit in the current year and what are the skill sets to be known by the fresher B.E. students. The number also depends on the higher level planning of the corporate business based on the market survey, the need of experience employees and the choice of recruiting fresher B.E. students, etc. Let’s not go in-depth about the recruitment processes and other related issues. We will just get into the resume structure for campus recruitment only in this article. Another point to be noted is ‘Campus College Resume is different from outside job seeking resumes’.
The point worth remembering as the baseline for getting campus placement is that – the individual who has the capability to market himself/herself with the knowledge and the skills above the fellow college-mates preferably, to the visiting company recruiters wins the opportunity to get placed. So, presenting oneself and getting to know what is expected of an individual in the campus placement to the likes and dislikes of the recruitment team is the best option to get the opportunity.
Opportunity and luck are just only for those who are efficient and good in academic. But, as the competition becomes tough with the number of students more in number and the number of individual to get placed few in number; only those who know secret tips to showcase the talents and skills will get placed irrespective of low aggregate or low rank.
Thinking is going to make the whole difference in such objective to get job while in college; as in terms of academic ranking, mark aggregate, teacher’s feedbacks, access to tech-info, etc compared to other local students in the Engineering colleges, outside state students are poor. Things do vary from person to person in approach. There are many sites and notes available in Internet for enhancing one’s knowledge and skills. It is suggested to at least surf the net at times (along with one’s chatting schedule) about the new technologies coming up, stories of prominent companies, the market scope of technical applications in future, many more… to enhance one’s scope of thinking and boost one’s skills in technical skills along with those of academic courses in colleges.
In the resumes from the same college, everyone will show the similar skill set of programming languages, technical knowledge, etc; then, how does one is going to distinguish among others. One needs not wait for all the toppers in the class and the college to get placed first and wait for their own turn at last. If the thinking is to wait till those toppers get placed first or on luck only, then, there are high chances of getting 100% jobless. Among the full strategy for campus placement, having a resume to predict one’s capability in advance to the visiting recruitment team before actual interaction, is the best strategy to get the interview call out of the hundreds of classmates after the aptitude test.
Mostly, visiting companies has one round of Aptitude test (which comprises General arithmetic questions, quantitative aptitude test, GRE style grammar test, Puzzle test, etc), and 2 rounds of interview test (one for technical & HR each). Sometimes, in extra, there can be more rounds of the same, one/two technical aptitude tests and also there can be Group Discussion at times. To get cleared from the aptitude test is mostly on luck though some readings and practices needed to done. One need give only 25% emphasis on this activity as no one is 100% sure to know all aptitude test questions even though one reads from many sources. Here, some intelligent reading and gathering of knowledge is needed. For Quantitative and English test, Some of the books worth reading are –
1) R.S. Agrawal’s (a) Verbal & Non-Verbal Reasoning, (b) Quantitative Aptitude.
2) Barron’s GRE book.
3) IMS CAT preparation Notes.
For accessing old question papers for technical questions for aptitude tests, one can get to know from seniors of the respective colleges and also access the web-sties like –
http://www.exam2career.com/
http://www.freshersworld.com/questions/questions.htm
http://www.tcyonline.com/
And many more can be searched in the Internet…
One should have two resume formats, one for showing to classmates and one for the visiting recruitment teams. One should not share one’s original resume to any, and the individuality of the resume in format and styles including the content should be maintained to attract the attention of the HR team. In the mean time, one should not loose the friendship of the classmates and should not block the flow of information regarding the visiting company from them. So, one must be intelligent enough to tackle the issues.
So the original resume needs to contain the following items.
1) One needs to have an introduction about “who & what” … in brief.
So, it will have (a) Name (b) Department (c) Contact number (d) mail id (e) contact address.
Nothing extra and details should be given at first, as the company is interested to know the name and identity only now. And for the time being, the company is just only in the look for choosing the resumes to be selected for verification. So, too much info will spoil the mood of the HR.
2) Secondly, One needs to show the expertises and IT skills, followed by Theoretical Technological Expertise…
Here, one should show the programming language known in details… subjects of IT that one knows well… and area of interest. While giving language details, one should give in some different style of presentation format like…
(a) Language (Level – ? out of 10)
(b) The one which is more comfortable with bold letter, to attract the attention of the interviewer to ask questions from the same.
While giving the details on the subject/technology of expertise, one should give –
(a) The name of the subject, followed by the sub-areas where one is more strong… to let the interviewer to ask question from only a small portion where one is strong and comfortable). E.G. Computer Network (TCP/TP – Layer 2/3 Congestion Avoidance)
(b) The technology latest in the field of the subject chosen… idea about the topic is a must.
Any paper presentation if done… (Or any certification if got earlier)… should be also given here.
(a) The topic name
(b) Intent of the topic and scope of the paper presentation
(c) The lessons learnt from the presentation.
If feasible, the project details (if any done)… also should be given…
All these steps (1) & (2) should be in the first page… (That is a must) …the reason of ‘why it should be in the first page’ will be explained at the latter stage of the article.
3) If the project details are more, it will go on to the second/third pages…
In describing the project details, it should have the following points –
(a) The project title
(b) Scope of the project (Concept of implementation and the extent where the project covers)
(c) No of people in the project
(d) What is the role taken?
(e) Software’s used and languages
(f) Achievements to the individual out of the project… i.e. any learning.
g) Project duration
The projects if many should be properly ordered along with the above details. This will give a good impression on the interviewer. Some questions are suggested out of these details, and sometimes the whole interview can be just from this portion checking the language knowledge details, and about the expertise in team spirit, etc.
4) One can give the training details (if any undergone)… Here also one should have
(a) The Project title
(b) Scope of the project (including technologies and others used in brief)
(c) Time duration and no of students
(d) The role and what is the learning made…
5) One should have the idea of what final year project one is going to do…
(a) Roughly imagined name of the Final year project
(b) Scope of the project (area and interest)
(c) Software needed and helps that will be required.
(d) Merits and demerits.
===> Till now we are showing what one is technically sound… Nothing else… as the visiting people are interested to know about the technical quality… not the personal story… So, it will be catchy to show the name and a brief intro followed by the skills… Once, they feel the individual qualified, the focus will go to the individual behaviour and thinking styles…====>
6) Now… one is supposed to explain about the Academic career made so far…
(a) first of all, the current academic performance of B.E… (Semester wise)
(b) Previous 10th and 12th marks… and other details.
(c) All academic achievements till today….. i.e. Prizes one got and anything related to study… and other competitions…
(d) Then… extra-curricular performance…
(e) Then… one’s real personal behavioural skills in points separately in a paragraph
(f) Now other details like… Date of birth… Sex, Place… and others… which we use to call as ‘bio-data’… (But at the start of the resume, only … Name, Department name… E-mail id, Phone no, contact address… should be given and nothing else…)
7) Lastly, some others… extra stuffs… to just feel up the resume.
Well, it is very difficult to suggest the right resume for every individual. The article is just for a general over-view of resume. For more details, and to maintain individuality and to show one’s skills; one should search in the internet and consult other friends and also those who are working. The preparation of the resume should be done well before (may be nearly one year to actual campus interviews and test), i.e. the resume should be first prepared and one should work towards achieving whatever is mentioned in the resume & make up modifications now and then. Via this way, one will be able to show the reality of whatever mentioned in the resume and also maintain a good showcase of knowledge and skills via the resume.
In the resume preparation regarding area of knowledge and area of interest, topics/subjects are to be charted out according to the subjects studied semester-wise in the college; i.e. the planning has to be based on the college syllabus so as to prove the truth & proof of being thorough on the topics. So, new topics can be chosen keeping an eye on the college syllabus. The resume preparation has to be done by looking into all the subjects to be studied in all the semesters from 1st to 8th Semester in the whole 4 year B.E; since, every college has their own syllabus styles. The company will prefer some set of topics to be strong and the same subject may be studied at different semesters in various colleges. So, the planning has to be done w.r.t. the company’s requirements.
Regarding programming language, one is to be preferable to be strong a bit; but not that much necessary to be excellent. If one is strong in concept of the fundamental topics of basic electronics, computer architecture, basic programming in any language, computer network, Data structure, etc; then, one is sure to get placed. But, there the individual has to be good in behavioural skills so that the interviewers (of technical/HR) would be motivated/pulled mentally to ask in those areas where one is strong. For circuit branches (EEE, Electronics, IT, CSE, Telecom), the mostly company looks at the similar level, with a few changes in question styles at times. For non-circuit branches (Chemical, Mechanical, Civil, Instrumentation), it is hard to get through into software industries unless the individual is pretty good in programming and a basic computer & Electronic fundamentals. Other options are there, too, for all the engineering branches. Software industry is not only the option. But, in this article, the emphasis is given only for preparation of resume for campus placements.
Once the person is into interview round; everything is dependant on the personality of the individual to get things done. More than technical skills, more necessity is the behavioural skill. Even for technical questions too, the questions can be forced to ask in the domain where one is well prepared via skilful techniques of answering styles. Well, it is up to the individual to practice a lot, since the individual is the one who is going to face the interview and tests. One just needs to think that he/she is going to get campus placement amidst other qualified students, that also among the first batch. It is more or less all about mental game. Developing one’s personality can’t be done on a single day or month. It is a continuous planning effort for years.
But, basically, one can easily develop one’s personality not just to get placed first among the friends in the college but also maintaining one’s image in the college among friends and staffs, and even juniors; by changing oneself day by day from being in 2nd year in the college. Keeping a good and friendly relation with the local students from the same college and the neighbouring college is a must. One should participate more in college functions organising technical forums and quizzes. One should go for paper presentation to other colleges. One should also participate in other curriculum works. Such activities will boost the morale of the individual to face any person whether a CEO/MD of a company without any fear. Such interaction will help the student in times of interviews and group discussions as one can easily analyse the other person via the facial expression, speech style, physical movements, eye movements, and many more.
Lastly, to get a job while in campus interview is very easy compared to being competing out-campus in the company offices. It is just a matter of 5-10 minutes of interview in which one has to just make the interviewers believe that you are good in technical stuffs & have a good personality. Unlike the college teachers, the interviewers have never met the students before; so the credibility of the student in the studies or interaction is not known to them. So, everyone seems to be similar in mind to the interviewers. So, they will look first on mark and then to the resume style, then to the personality of the individual. Thus, one should keep the aggregate above 75% always with no backlogs in the semester exams.
Then, just using the above tips, one can easily get job. Again, dear students in the college, one needs to be mentally strong. One should remember these words – Anyone having good personality & a good academic aggregate will surely get a job if mentally confident irrespective getting lower ranks in the class or not being brainy like the local students. One just needs to get the medal with the knowledge & the skills one has; and there is no need to worry how much one knows. Just capitalise on what one knows and has i.e. maximum efficiency & productivity out of one’s capability; & skilfully hide what & where one is weak. Wishing every young fresher in colleges a bright future ahead…
Shan (Shanjoy Mairembam)'s Weblog 