Career Corner: Are we prepared for jobs?

Ranjan K Baruah

(With direct inputs from UN/WHO publication and feedback may be sent to bkranjan@gmail.com)

The common point of worry for any student is getting a job after finishing college or university. Well, jobs are not merely joining the government departments or agencies or institutes but there are many other options in the private sectors, corporate or even opportunity to be self employed. Are we ready for a job is the key concern? Most of us are not very much familiar with many things when it comes to recruitment drives by corporate or any other private players.

Recently there was a recruitment drive by Air India SATS Airport Services Private Limited at Kokrajhar where many students participated and few have been able to get selected for different positions. This was one of the largest drives for the aviation industry where aspirants from different parts participated. I would like to mention a few basic required preparations by aspirants to be selected through this kind of process.

One of the important things is to have our Curriculum Vitae (CV), which is like Bio Data or Resume, ready with us once we join college. It may be short but the best part is to make a CV and keep it ready with us. Every alternate semester or year we can modify and update our CV. The term curriculum vitae and its abbreviation, CV, are also used especially in academia to refer to extensive or even complete summaries of a person's career, qualifications, and education, including publications and other information. We are more familiar with Bio Data than CV but it is preferable to start making one's CV from college days.

Let us not get confused with these terms like CV or resume as I have seen that many students are not aware of these terms. CV, resume and biodata are considered highly important for finding jobs as they represent one individual before aspirants are short listed. When looking for jobs, applicants submit these professional documents, which may enhance probabilities of getting shortlisted and hired. It is good for aspirants to understand the difference so that they can prepare their documents accordingly. A CV is more detailed than a resume. Biodata is a detailed document that provides a comprehensive summary of a candidate's life along with career information. Resumes are more of an overview of a candidate's career. We shall publish more on making effective CV in our forthcoming editions.

Initially group discussions (GD) are held before taking personal interviews for selection for jobs. GD is a type of discussion that involves people sharing thoughts, understanding, ideas or activities. People in the group discussion are connected with one basic idea or one common topic and based on that idea or topic, everyone in the group represents his/her perspective. Topics are given on the spot mostly which are generally common topics or topics related to current affairs or any other important topic. Recruiters look for the confidence level of the aspirants when they are in the group and how they are presenting on the topic. Aspirants who are confident and put forward their ideas or thoughts actively are generally short listed for the personal interview or one to one interview.

Aspirants who are short listed through the GD are invited for the personal interview. A Personal Interview (PI) is a meeting organized by a recruiter in which he evaluates a potential employee for prospective employment. There may be one to one or sometimes a panel of experts taking interviews of one individual. Generally basic questions are asked to analyze the candidates. After PI is done short listed candidates are announced by the recruiters on the spot or after a few days.

Aspirants appearing in personal interviews or participating in group discussion must remember that they wear formal dress. Though there is no exact dress code, casual dresses must be avoided and more focus must be on formal dresses. Formal dresses are applicable for boys and girls. Apart from dress it is important to have proper hair cut and others like for boys proper shaving or trimming is good. Excess jewellery should be avoided and one must be careful while using any fragrances.

Graduates or final year students may prepare themselves for this kind of placement drives which are held in different locations and places. Apart from the qualification, one of the important skills is communication in English. One should be able to communicate effectively and confidently in English. Most of our aspirants do not qualify in GD as they are not confident in English. Let us all prepare and learn different languages if we want to get quick hobs after our studies. More emphasis can be put on communication through English. Communication does not mean that one must be an expert in that language but it is important that an aspirant must be able to communicate in English. For preparing for jobs, aspirants may browse the internet and find information related to preparation.

One of the areas of concern is to get rid of frauds who promise to give jobs and run away after taking money. Aspirants must be careful from different agencies or individuals who promise to give jobs or placement against money. We hear paying bribes or advance money for getting jobs even in private sectors. This practice must be stopped and aspirants must trust their qualification, talents and skill instead of any short cut means like bribes or advance money. Aspirants must look at the credibility of placement agencies before registering with them to avoid inconvenience in future.

Aspirants may start preparing from the day you are in college for recruitment or placement else things might be a little late. One may use the internet and see videos and mock sessions online to get more ideas about this kind of interview process. There are many articles available online and offline which give ideas to aspirants. Let us not only focus on government jobs and waste some time as we can prepare for both if planned well. We should remember that all of us are not going to get government jobs and hence the best thing is to keep preparing for campus placement or other placement drives so that we get placement ahead of our peers.