Placement Musings (on a more serious note)

Had a good session with the juniors yesterday on our placement experiences. Placement is like the final culmination of the very reason of your existence in college....very few things (not even a 'SVR maal' walking around in a skirt!) generate more euphoria than placements in campus. Sure that our experiences can benefit the juniors,here's my gyaan on CRP.

Study material:
1. Quantitative: R.S.Agarwal,Abhijit Guha.
2. Reasoning/Puzzles: Shakuntala Devi(aka Shaks),George J Summers,analytical reasoning from Barrons GRE(old edition).
3. Verbal: Barrons (high frequency words,synonymns,antonymns,analogies,RC),verbal reasoning from IMS/CL material. (Mugging up of words from Norman Lewis finds no application anywhere,still not a wasteful exercise,will surely help you somewhere).
4. Previous question papers of various companies. (Important for companies like Infosys and Wipro)
5. Test your C skills.
6. www.chetana-jobs.com, www.freshersworld.com
7. Your friends at other colleges should be of great help. There have been instances where same question papers have been given to different colleges.

GD: Mostly software companies dont have GD. Patni and Kanbay are exceptions. CSC has a group talk procedure. In other cases, the subjects given are of current relevance,social,political or ethical in nature. Case studies can also be expected.

PI: The most interesting part.
1. Prepare a short introduction about yourself, highlight your +ive points,achievements etc. in this.
2. Be prepared to justify why you are shifting from a non-circuit branch to sotware.
3. Questions on your interests,career goals,hobbies etc will be asked.
4. Companies like Infosys have puzzles also in the interview.
5. Few probable questions could be: Tell us about yourself,why do you want to come to software,arent you wasting your three years of college education by shifting from your branch,what is your single most important achievement,what are your hobbies,what are the qualities required for a successful software engineer,do you have any locational difficulties,describe how you spend a holiday,why do you think you are fit to be in our company(why should we recruit you),what did you like the most about our ppt,will you go for higher studies,what do you expect out of our company,write any C program,any question to ask us.....
*remember that your question will mostly be based on your previous answer,so ultimately through smart answers you can steer the PI to your favour!

Myth: Getting a job is REALLY difficult.
Reality: For anyone having an aggregate >60,having average communication skill and a positive attitude can sail through the process.

So,for all the 3rd yearites reading this....put in around a week of serious preparation before the J-day (J for jubilation,joy etc) and take the process with a cool mind. Remember that these recruiters are people who interact with thousands of students and realise the limit of our capabilities,it is not an interview to the post of CEO or a UPSC interview,they know that you are a sixth semester student and just be yourself, all the best! (Sad that I wont be here to get your job treats!)