Pitch to Win

As the month of June comes to an end most final year students in city colleges begin their journey towards securing a job. Completing their course brings along a list of things to worry about – updating resumes,formal photo shoots,add-on courses and the pressure to get a job. College mails are full of the dreaded placement messages and the campus canteen,a classic reflection of the campus nerves,becomes abuzz again. Twenty-two-year-old Mugdha Ravi,who is pursuing an MBA in Finance from the Symbiosis International University,is in her final year. A member of the placement cell,Ravi spends two to three hours everyday working for it. Post-college,she has to reply to mails,consolidate data and make presentations. “The placement cell begins its work around this time every year. We have started collecting primary data from all the students and compiling details for the placement brochure,” says Ravi. It’s a long and tedious process,but student bodies across campuses have begun their task.

Once the brochures are ready,the pitching to companies begins. “We have to make sure that the brochures that we are designing are attractive enough for the company to open and have a look. We do have an e-brochure ,but we seldom rely on it. It is more effective if we actually go and give the brochure to the companies,” says Rasika Lakhotia,who designed the brochure for her entire journalism batch. And while the brochures are being made,add-ons like aptitude tests and group discussion sessions also begin. Kalol Mehta,final year student of MCA,Pune University,spends a considerable amount of time poring over her aptitude and quantitative reasoning questions. “Nowadays it’s not just the resume that makes an impression. The first round for most companies is the written test and its important to score there,” she says. She has also decided to upload her resume on the several job sites.

The college faculty too begins buzzing. At the BMCC college,the placement cell has already been constituted. C N Raval,principal,BMCC says,“ We are busy with the admission process but the students have already started working on the placements. We will soon start contacting companies too.” Some colleges have introduced mandatory personality development courses. At the Indian Law School,a personality development course is compulsory for all students to qualify for the placement procedure. Similarly,Bharti Vidyapeeth has introduced a lot of add-on courses to enrich the student’s resume. Mukund Sarda,principal,Bharati Vidyapeeth’s New Law College,says,“We will begin a few add on courses for the students,like Diploma in Foreign Investment Laws,Mergers and Acquisitions,and Cyber Laws. Such para-legal courses definitely give an edge to students. By October the students from the placement committee would be divided into four teams – North,West,East and South and they will begin their pitching.”