Hello, First Year Students! Congratulations on cracking the tough rounds of GDs and PIs and making to your dream colleges. For the ones who did not get the college they wanted, chill! You still will be shot at with umpteen opportunities - one of the most important being the Summer Placements.
This article will be targeting the aspect of preparations, related to the Summer Placements. I will be focusing on some key points and also share my experience briefly. No matter what one says, the Summers are a fundamental and significant part of one's MBA. For the freshers, definitely a duel to fight for.
Following are the areas where the preparation part is primarily concentrated -
- CV Building and Reviews - For some colleges, the first-year students are told to work on their CV even before joining their respective campuses. For some, it starts off right from the first week. Thereafter, a lot of refining will be done to your CV points depending upon the mentor allotted to you, and the quality of points. Some colleges even have a designated committee towards CV building that helps eminently. The committee will also help in figuring out your profile, and apparently the type of companies you should target. The CV review process takes a long time and lasts approximately until one month before the start of the actual process.
- CV Verification - Another aspect of CV building is the verification of whatever you write. Mind you! Try not to incorporate fake points for the CV. Verifications are pretty strict and can render negative results with absolutism. You would not want blank spaces in that one and only document, which is sent to the recruiters. It is also advisable to prepare numerous versions (allowable limit by a college) for respective domains.
- Mock Sessions - There will be numerous mock sessions that will occupy the routine of the newbies. Sessions on GDs, chairman GDs, personal interviews, and et cetera, will be conducted throughout the term. Initially, it all might sound useless. But, the mock sessions play a vital role in getting to know the previous year's recruitment process for a particular firm. Additionally, they will render you with the viewpoint as to how prepared you are. Continuous assessments will empower your preparations.
- Domain-based preparation - For Summer Placements, the companies come to the campuses across different profiles. And apparently, the kind of questions asked, and the processes involved are pretty much different for the numerous recruiters. Students who are targeting a particular domain should be preparing likewise. Again, students can take insights from the seniors. Be it case-solving, brand ads, guesstimates, or anything; appropriate time should be divided in accordance with the profile targeted. Also, significant domain knowledge is also essential. Sharpen your skills to answer the interviewers, smoothly.
So yes, all these points above will consume your patience. Trust me! Handling everything, in addition to the academic quizzes and projects, becomes cumbersome and hefty. But again, you need to bear with it, because undoubtedly others will. Plus, they will fight
(apparently kill, if it was legal). Even if you are opting out of your college's placement process
(I know someone who landed up in Google, some motivation, aye?) the above points will still stand effectively. So, try to calm yourself down during this phase. It is not tough, just tiring, yet significant.
For my Summer Placements, I was trying to focus on finance and marketing companies, and my preparation was aligned accordingly. Strikingly, my interview went entirely different and unexpected, and I landed at Flipkart.
Stay focused and consistent. There will be enough companies visiting your campus. Even if do not get into your dream company, chill! Opportunities are not fading away. You can always try to get into that particular firm anyhow, even after your MBA, if it actually was your dream company. Rest, enjoy the preparatory months of MBA, for which you gave the beloved CAT! Good luck, people!