29 August 2014
Campus Placement is no more a mystery now
Dear Friends,
Indeed the stage of campus placement is not a small thing in the life of a CA Student. Touching the stage of campus placement means you have been rewarded for your hard work put in during the journey of becoming Chartered Accountant. From campus placement the real test of professional qualification begins. So undoubtedly in the life of a CA or CS Aspirant campus placement is a very valuable occasion.
But at the same time campus placement creates a certain kind of pressure in our mind. This pressure is due to certain questions regarding campus placement. These questions includes how to prepare for campus placement, how to present ourselves for campus placement etc. Through this brief write up I will try to address these questions in an effective manner. I believe that below mentioned suggestions would be very useful at the time of your campus placement process.
1. Do not Panic and stay calm: Initially you may feel panic as this will be your first professional encounter for CA Job. Slight nervousness is fine but as we all know excess of everything is bad. So there is nothing to panic regarding your campus interview. Simply remember you are same as everyone else and your exam mark sheet do not matter here especially when the Company has short-listed you. So you have an equal chance as everyone else. So just stay cool and calm as this is not the last opportunity.
2. Keep High Confidence: Further, you have to be confident during your campus interview. Loss of confidence means loss of opportunity and frustration. Always remember a better candidate with better confidence is waiting for next turn. So remain cool, calm and collective during your campus interviews. The easiest way to improve confidence and practice is to get together with some of your friends for the practice of interview and have a confident practice session.
3. Carry good resume: It is very important to carry a very good resume during campus placement process. It is advisable to prepare to the point and crisp resume which contains relevant description of the work you had done during your articleship training. Let me also warn you about a common mistake. Do not put anything in your resume of which you are not aware. Make sure you have knowledge of all things that you have mentioned in your resume. Do not forget to update your resume o regular basis. Also carry 5-6 copies of your resume with you.
4. Good Knowledge about the Company: Good Knowledge about the Companies came in for campus placement can be very handy as far as selection of right company is concerned. Whatever companies you have decided to interview with, research about them, what they do, what are their key products etc.? For that you may check their website. Being a finance professional it is very important to study the profile and business activity of the company from the company website or from any business portal/magazine. It is also advisable to read the job description thoroughly. This will also help you to guess what kind of questions you are going to face in campus interview.
5. Good Knowledge about your core area: For successful campus interview it is important that you have good and updated knowledge with respect to your core area as well as available job description. This will also give you confidence. For campus interview, prepare your basics as strongly as possible as most of the questions will be connected with them only.
6. Be honest during Campus Interview: Try to be honest during campus placement and interview as this is a pre-condition for success in any sort of interview. You have to be truthful regarding your academic information or any previous job or article ship information. There are certain occasions when we do not have any choice but to 'present' the truth. Personally I feel in life sometimes we are expected to say the whole truth and nothing but the truth and your campus interview is one of those situations.
7. What about your appearance and dressing sense: Your appearance and dressing sense is also very important to enhance your chances for selection in campus placement. There is a very known saying that first impression is the last impression. So get ready to create your impression with good dressing style. Right attire will force the recruiter to take you seriously.
8. Also focus on good communication: Once my CA friend told me that communication is not an issue for Chartered Accountants as we are not required to be very fluent as far as language is concerned as we are more into finance and numbers. All this is must for marketing and sales personnel’s. Now it is high time for us to come out of this myth. Good communication is equally required for Chartered Accountants or any other professional. Communication is to be treated as part of personality. So when you prepare for campus interview also workout on your communication. You should be bold enough to face the interviewers and try to give answer in the language in which they are asked.
9. Final Interview rehearsal and preparation: It is advisable to complete interview preparation one day before interview like preparation of your bag or selection of attire etc. On the interview day keep yourself free and relaxed to ensure your focus on the interview. You may rehearse your interview to boost your confidence though the same is not compulsory. Remember your selection is dependent on the right amount of attitude, confidence and knowledge.
10. Some common points for good campus interview purpose: There are few other general points which should be kept in mind before appearing for Campus interview. These points includes:
i. No need to take hurry in finalizing the company for job. Take your time, go through the job description and then decide whether you are going to avail the opportunity. There is no point getting influenced by others as you have all the right to make your own choice.
ii. One of my friends who is a CA now had faced group discussion during his campus placement. So get ready for group discussion and prepare for the same.
iii. There is no point making big promises during early stage of campus interview. Some candidates tend to make promises like “Give me an opportunity to work with you, I will do this and I will do that”. Remember you are a fresher at this point of time. This may create negative impression.
iv. You may give some time for interview practice with your family or friends and beware there is no need to conclude a discussion which implies what you had said is final.
v. I would also suggest you to search on google for some good interview tips and tricks. On google you will easily find tricky interview questions asked by recruiters to bold the candidates. Read and understand them properly.
vi. You may refer the link below for some tricky interview questions and answers. I hope the same will be very useful:
Remember campus interview is just like other interviews and routine things and observation before interview can make it very effective and enhance your chances. All the points mentioned above are very general like good confidence, good dressing sense, carry resume, be focused, avoid over confidence, knowledge about the company, etc. But their impact is very high and avoidance of any point may damage your chances. So it is better to observe these simple points. Further the thinking above is my personal thinking and accordingly different peoples may have different thinking and perception. So it is always advisable to think from your mind and prepare a strategy for yourself.
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