A Step-by-Step guide for Campus Placement

For students targeting IT jobs

The campus placement season is fast approaching and it’s giving students sleepless nights. Many students face a big question — How should I prepare for campus placement?

Aptitude Tests

The use of aptitude tests to screen potential job applicants has long been standard practice across many different sectors. This is the first step for elimination of candidates aspiring for the job.

Aptitude tests can tell an employer a lot about a potential candidate, going far beyond the traditional interview in helping employers put the right candidate in the right job.

Start taking mock aptitude tests. It is imperative that you crack this first step in order to go to the next step.

Here’s how you can prepare for aptitude tests.

Coding Tests

The two most important subjects asked in almost all coding tests are — Data Structures and Algorithms.

Knowing Data Structures is “the thing” which can get you placed if you are aspiring for an IT job. Some of the important topics in data structures which you must know are array, stack, queues, linked list, binary search trees, heap, hashing, trees and graphs. It would be a plus point if you know algorithms like searching and sorting, divide and conquer, greedy algorithms, dynamic programming.

Be prepared to answer questions on the above mentioned topics both for — technical aptitude test as well as interview.

Here’s how you can prepare for coding tests.

Resume

Your resume is all about what you have done in 4 years of Engineering. It displays your abilities. Your skills. Your knowledge. Your strengths. Your Project.

A resume is a compilation of facts about your achievements, along with specific details about their attainment.

Start preparing a resume now! A well-formatted resume stands a higher chance of being short-listed than the one that is not formatted. Most students don’t even know that while sending a resume online, one should send it in PDF format.

Once you prepare your resume, get it reviewed by your peers, seniors or someone in the industry. They can point out what should be added or what redundant information should be removed. The most important thing — BE HONEST! Do not lie about your skill or achievements. Don’t carpet add all the programming language in the programming skills section. If you get interviewed on any of them and you aren’t able to answer, this will have a bad impression on the interviewers.

Here’s how you can effectively build your resume.

Interview

Interview is one of the final steps in getting selected. Most companies hold two interviews — technical and HR.

Self Introduction: “Introduce yourself” might be the only question that will be asked for sure. Preparing in advance can certainly do you good. The golden rule is to be clear and concise. First, list few points (less than 3) that you really want to highlight in your introduction. It can be one of your past projects, or you have won some programming competitions. Second, compress all of them within 1–2 minutes.

You don’t need to cover details in your introduction. If interviewers want to know more, they will ask. One common mistake is to overly sell yourself. Long introduction not only will bore interviewers, but also shorten your time for coding questions.

Here’s how you should introduce yourself in an interview.

Projects: Prepare yourself on questions about what you did in your projects, internships, training. If required dig out your project reports, go through the technical parts. Students tend to ignore technical details.

Questions for Interviewers: At the end of each interview, the interviewer will ask you whether you have any questions about the company. Use this opportunity to know more about the interviewer and the company. Ask relevant questions about the company/field of work. Showing your interests to the company is always a good sign.

Don’t ask about your interview performance/result. Not only will you not get the authentic feedback, but it may make interviewers awkward as they cannot tell you the result immediately. Also, stay away from salary negotiations — that time will come. These questions are for HR interview, not for the technical interview.

Some of the good placement cells conduct mock drives, if you have that option in your college, take these mock interviews very seriously. Take feedback from the interviewers on your weaknesses.

In conclusion, this blog covers major aspects of what needs to be done in order to get placed. Aptitude tests are very easy. All you need is practice. For coding tests, its important to know about data structures and algorithms. Make sure you’re well versed with your courses and projects before you sit for an interview. In addition to that, non-tangibles like your personality, demeanor etc. are all important aspects. Do not overlook these. It’s a combination of your knowledge and skills along with your personality that will make the employer decide whether to hire you or not.

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