Students battle it out at placements

Students battle it out at placements

It’s that time of year again when students queue up, CVs in hand, trying to crack the recruitment rounds in campus placements. While the scene does look better this year, when compared to 2008’s empty placement cells that didn’t attract recruiters, the fact remains that snagging a job is still no cake walk.

with leading IT companies giving campus recruitment a miss, the rat race just got tougher. firms that are willing to invest in freshers, have raised the bar, forcing students to buck up and work twice as hard.

Raju Lohar, a final year B.Com student at Bhavans Vivekananda College says, “With fewer companies coming in this year, the competition has just gotten tougher. Since only a few companies have come in the first round, students are working towards making an impression on the few recruiters who will come in the next session.”

The college’s placement coordinator, Seema Ghosh couldn’t agree more, “Big IT companies like Infosys, CTS, TCS, Wipro are missing and the ones that are hiring have halved the slots up for grabs, increasing the competition,” she says.

“Hence, the qualification requirements are more stringent now as companies have raised the bar for freshers who want to qualify for their jobs.”

Students are keeping their fingers crossed and are gearing up to work harder to get picked for the right job. From preparing impressive CVs to collecting as many reference letters as they can, students are going all out to grab available jobs. “We are reading up about company profiles so we don’t cut a sorry picture during interviews. Our college also organised a three-day workshop on the art of facing interviews,” says K. Rajula, a student of St Francis Degree College.

“Since the big IT companies have backed out, the ones who are showing some interest in freshers this year are from the non-IT sectors,” says Ranita Tymerri, placement representative, St Francis Degree College.

Some rattled students are not even prepared to get into the rat race. “With the big ones like UBS and DeShaw not coming, many are not ready to compete for the placements. They want to try their luck in in creative fields,” she adds.

Education, jobs, appsc jobs, 

Indians are half literate, says study

If there is no change in the present system of post-graduate education, India is certain to face a ‘talent gap’ — lack of the right skills for the job required. According to a study by Nasscom, most educated Indians are only half-literate, meaning that they lack employable skills. The findings reveal that tech companies reject up to 90 per cent of graduates and 75 per cent engineers because they are considered “not worth training”.

Agreeing that there is a need to build bridges between industry, education and skill providers, Ashok Srinivasan, VP, operations support, Expertus, points out that there is an urgent requirement to build skills, as they need to keep up with the global culture. These include up-to-date technical ability, problem-solving and analysis, self management, and knowledge about one’s field.

He says, “Most of the college graduates are not good enough because of a lack of job-oriented training. In fact, that’s why a majority of engineering colleges today are investing in C2C (Campus to Company) programmes so that the students become more employable.”

R. Jagdeep Kumar, a student feels that more field training will help them gain an edge during recruitments. “It’s not that we are not trained by our educational institutes. It’s just that colleges need to provide us with more field-based projects and internships which will help us understand our industry better,” he says.

However, Vijay Kumar Jayaram, CEO, Simer Corporation, feels that it’s the educational system which needs a revamp. “We need to distill skills for employability and put them on top of the agenda for inclusion in the curriculum. It’s the mentors who need to play an active role in bridging the gap between book knowledge and practical education.”

Recruitment drive

Infosys, in collaboration with the Commissionerate of Collegiate Education, will organise a recruitment drive for finance and accounts executive posts. Students, who passed B.Com or M.Com with a minimum of 50 per cent marks in 2009 and underwent JKC Tally (AE) training programme were eligible to register their names at their District Nodal JKC between October 3 and 6. Details can be had from JKC Coordinator over Phone No: 9989334985.

‘Raise number of Group II posts’

The Andhra Pradesh State Backward Classes Welfare Association has demanded an increase in the number of Group II service posts from 682 to 6,063. R. Krishnaiah, president, said in a statement that the association during personal verification found that the number of posts needed to be filled was 6,063.


jobs, appsc jobs, Education, 

Gen N opts for quirky careers

The next generation of Hyderabadis has moved on from queuing outside job consultants, hunting job melas and scouring the classifieds. They’d rather couture their employment to suit their unique passions and create work that would erstwhile have been considered quirky or innovative. What’s more, it’s also lucrative.
One young entrepreneur living her dream is city girl Vani Harkara, founder of the trekking and team-building company, Happy Go Places. Harkara says, “Despite serious injuries after an accident, I went river rafting. That boosted my confidence and I joined the river rafting camp as a co-instructor. Before I knew it, I was trekking and came back to Hyderabad to open my own trekking camp. My husband quit his job to join me and his expertise of being a travel agent was helpful. We’ve had clients like Oracle, Microsoft, Dell and others. I’ve built a team on my own,” she says.
Deepesh Agarwal, an ISB graduate, chucked humdrum career options in favour of working full-time on his online portal that aims to create an effective car-pooling service. “By car-pooling, one can commute, yet cut one’s travelling costs by half. What’s different about this site is that we currently only let MNC employees use the service since security is important while car-pooling.”
A creative approach to business seems to go hand in hand with ingenious marketing ideas. From using online social networking to word of mouth, run-of-the-mill advertising strategies seem old-school now. Tejas Delhikar, who is the city’s first manufacturer of sporty car spoilers, says. “No one manufactured trendy fibreglass spoilers. I consulted friends in the car accessories business and found that it was a viable option. Luckily, it’s picking up really well. Presently, I sell as many as 50 to 70 in a month and I hope that goes up to 150 to 200 soon. It’s profitable and it’s fun!”


Education, appsc jobs, jobs, 

It's time to job hunt again!

25 per cent of employers in India intend to recruit people in the next three months!

This is by far the best news we've heard since the economic downturn hit us and turned us all into recessionistas. Does that mean it's time for all you people in dead-end jobs to get cracking and update those CVs? Let's find out, shall we?

Recession's on it's way out!

"The job scene is a lot better than it was about six months ago when companies were actually calling and asking us to place their own employees elsewhere because they couldn't afford to keep them," says Suraj Lokare, Deputy General Manager at Xanadu Consulting Group.

So should you start looking immediately? Suraj thinks you should hold on just a bit because businesses will really start picking up towards the end of October, when the market revives. But if you are too impatient to wait, here are some pointers you just shouldn't miss:

Get noticed

Glenda Pereira, a management consultant says, "I had been looking for a job for a while before I decided to revamp my CV. Bingo! I've been getting a lot more calls."

"With the newly opening market, we have CVs streaming in. So we just go through the ones that really stand out," says Kartik Ahuja, a senior recruiter at a Bangalore-based resource management firm.

It's not enough to mention your job profile. You need to highlight your achievements and why you would be an asset to the new company.

Be choosy

Don't get hung up on any one job opening. Keep your options open and know your worth.

Graphics designer Prachi Jain thinks her strategy of not focussing all her energy on one opportunity really paid off. "About a month ago, a really big brand made me an offer but I felt they were low-balling me in the name of recession. So I stuck to my guns. Two weeks later, I got an offer by a not-so-big company that was 40% more than my present package, and I took it up," she says. The best part is they even customised Prachi's job profile and went so far as to let her work with a new software that she wanted!

Negotiate!

Kunal Sheth, a web architect with 13 years of work experience says, "I was called for a couple of interviews and at present I have been made three offers - all really good ones!"

What Kunal means is if you are good (and you know it), don't settle for some measly package. "If the company really wants you, they'll be willing to offer you a hike of up to 50%," he adds.

So what are you waiting for? The time is better than any to go out there and get that dream job you've always wanted!

source:idiva

587 selected for Group II posts

The A.P. Public Service Commission on Wednesday provisionally selected 587 candidates for 11 categories of Group II services posts.

The registered numbers announced for those who had been selected for posts are: deputy Tahsildar, assistant CTO, sub-registrar grade II, prohibition and excise SI, assistant labour officer, executive officer grades I, II, assistant development officer(Handlooms & Textiles), junior employment officer, cooperative sub-registrar.

Recruitment of degree lecturers soon

The State government will shortly recruit a thousand degree lecturers after asking the APPSC to notify the posts as part of efforts to meet the shortage of teaching staff in Government colleges, Higher Education Minister D. Sridhar Babu informed the Assembly during question hour on Wednesday.