If I knew Then

If I knew then what I know now, college would have gone a lot differently...

Half a decade ago, while I was pursuing my masters degree in Human Resources, I thought I had it all figured out. I had my textbooks, my class assignments and good enough grades to get me through college. I was confident enough to land a job via campus placements and voila, I did. I was all set to lead a comfortable life and a good enough corporate career. If you have sensed a ‘but’ in this account, it is because there is one, if not many.

The University I was studying at had a rule that said during the campus placement drive, you could only remain an active participant until you bagged an offer from one of the visiting companies. Which means, if 15 companies were expected to visit the campus over a period of 10 days and you got an offer from one that visited on day 3, you could not sit for any further interviews. Undoubtedly, this rule was laid down to ensure fairness among the whole batch. No one wanted a situation where a group of students received not a single offer while some received multiple.

I was one of the lucky ones to receive a decent offer from one of the leading Telecom companies. And so, I happily sat out the rest of the drive, until just before the final exams when I learned the company had decided to roll back the offer to recruit me, saying they had made an error with their manpower planning and only intended to bring on board two of the three candidates they had selected. To say they swept the rug from under my feet would be an understatement. It was the most downtrodden I have ever felt. With no job offer in hand, was not how I had imagined graduating. But that’s what I did. I had to. Between the time my offer was cancelled to the time I graduated, I must have reached out to about 200 companies, but nothing materialized. And then the one that finally came through offered 1/7th of the original offer. I felt defeated and joined with my morale at an all time low. It set me back by over five years in my corporate career. Only recently, I managed to bring my yearly salary up to what I would have earned right from the start. From the biggest lesson life has ever taught me, I bring to you five things you MUST do, if you want to walk a path smoother than the one I did.

Textbooks aren’t enough to give you the life of your dreams

Consider this, the world as we know it today, is ever changing. What is significant today, might not even be talked about ten years from now. The curriculum however has remained unchanged for YEARS. How beneficial do you think it will prove in equipping you with the skills and knowledge needed to land a high paying job? Can you recall any ten definitions from those textbooks off the top of your head? Exactly. Your textbooks only give you the fundamentals of the subjects you’ve signed up for. They are meant to introduce you to them. And that’s it. Doing well in exams is great, but if that is the result of all the words you can temporarily cram into your head and then promptly forget, you are not doing enough.

We are all familiar with class assignments, gradings for which form a significant amount to your final score in a subject. Of course, you need to do them to get through college/university but have you ever asked yourself what value they add to giving you an edge over others doing the same assignment? If not, then you need to. If it is something you can easily copy from your textbook and get away with it, it is not worth anything. There is nothing you have learned in the process of doing that assignment that arms you with knowledge for the big bad world out there. If you aren’t getting those assignments in class, then create one for yourself. Use professional networks/social media sites to learn what your favorite leader / dream company is talking about at the moment and see if you can find a topic to research or simply gather information for the sake of gaining knowledge. And if you end up coming up with an idea that will solve their latest problem, you can even pitch to them. Social media has made connecting with leaders across the globe easier than ever before.

Do not rely solely on companies visiting your campus.

If I could go back in time and enroll in an MBA program at the university again, I would, but with a renewed mindset. This time around, I wouldn’t wait for opportunities to come to me. I would practice ‘The Law of Attraction’ by putting myself out there, with articles, blogs, perhaps helpful videos and research paper(s). The more you research, the more knowledge you gain and it helps you when the time comes to graduate and put your knowledge to the test. I would reach out to companies at my end, so that the Campus placement would be a fallback situation if all else fails. Not the other way around.

Edward Druce, author of ‘This Is Where to Start: Find Superstar Mentors, Master All They Know, and Get Ahead in Your Career’, during TEDxDonauinsel event of 2015, gave a very informative talk on ‘How to land your dream job with one email.’

Time Management. Do not let time pass you by.

Elon Musk (echoing PayPal co-founder Peter Thiel) said, college is for fun, not for learning. “You don’t need college to learn stuff”. College is nonetheless going to consume a major portion of your day every week. It may or may not add value to what you need to learn. Which means, you need to make space for college while in the midst of preparing yourself for the future. It is equally important to make time for a regular workout. It freshens up your mind and gives you the energy to keep going.

Know the function within your specialization you would ultimately make a career in

For example, Human Resource Management may be defined as the function within an organization which caters to personnel management, recruitment and selection, performance management, compensation and benefits, learning and development and policy administration. While your degree will introduce all of these topics to you, understanding how they are implemented in an organization will help you deduce the area of interest you would like to be offered a role in. When you go in for an interview, you should have a clear understanding of the organization’s expectations from you and vice-versa.

Work on your communication skills

A poised, well spoken candidate who is able to put his point across is more likely to be considered for a role than someone who cannot. While it is important to have a theoretical understanding of your subject, you should be able to explain it well enough too. A lot of high rated organizations like to do ‘Stress Interviews’. Imagine going through the pressure of that if you are not well prepared. Participate in mock interviews. The old fashioned, interview yourself in the mirror can work wonders. It may help to keep in mind that while you need the job you are interviewing for, the company also needs candidates to fulfill their talent requirements. It is a two way road. Put yourself out there in a way that companies would want you on board for the potential they see in you. But it is you, that needs to make them see that potential in the few minutes that you go through the interview round with them.