Are Strict Academic Criteria in Campus Placements Holding Back Talented Candidates?

Long back, one of my friends was not allowed to sit in campus placement. The reason was that in the 12th class, he got 54. His profile was as follows: 10th - 70, 12th - 54, BTech - 67. In 2012, he is an IAS today.

Latest Recruitment Processes

For the latest Facebook recruitment process, solve their puzzles, and you can be called for an interview. Google - if you love programming, irrespective of your marks, you can apply for an interview.

Top Reasons for Setting Criteria

1. How can we manage the process for such a large number of students?
2. We want the cream (they themselves know that 10th and 12th marks are nothing).
3. When everyone is following this, how can we remain behind?

There have been numerous examples where people have been rejected due to these criteria. Take the company Tata CMC, for instance. They advertise boldly that more than one gap year is not allowed. What a laugh they deserved.

Google, which is only around 20% of TCS's strength, has 500% more revenues than TCS. :)

If you see their engineers' profile, you would...

Long back, one of my friends was not allowed to sit in campus placement; the reason being in the 12th class, he got 54. His profile was as follows: 10th - 70, 12th - 54, B.Tech - 67. In 2012, he is an IAS today.

Latest Recruitment Processes

For Facebook's latest recruitment process, solve their puzzles, and you can be called for an interview. Google, if you love programming, irrespective of your marks, you can apply for an interview.

Top Reasons for Setting Criteria

1. How can we manage the process for such a large number of students?
2. We want the cream (they themselves know that 10th and 12th marks are nothing).
3. When everyone is following this, how can we remain behind?

There have been numerous examples where people have been rejected due to these criteria.

There is a company named Tata CMC (apologies for naming) who advertise boldly that more than one gap year is not allowed. What a laugh they deserved. Google, which is only around 20% of TCS's strength, has 500% more revenue than TCS. :)

If you see their engineers' profiles, you would mostly find certificate holders, and programming is their passion. Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs were all college dropouts. Most companies, excluding Infosys, removed the filter of throughout 60 after 3 years.

The whole of India is suffering from this situation now. A possible solution could be to increase the hiring process time and make more investment in selecting the right candidate.

Why is India's HR not removing these criteria at the initial level? Why do they not dare to take this step?

Great to see your passion towards coding and development. Not defending what firms follow as a fitment to shortlist candidates; however, shortlisting happens from both sides. Students prepare not just to offer great service or build the next best product, but to work for the brands. As they start working through the continuum, choosing the nature of work becomes more important than the company. Hence, after 10-12 years of work experience, it isn't the certificate that holds good, but the operational excellence and professional acumen gained. Moral of the story, there is no one-stop-shop for students who are willing to look for opportunities beyond the name. We wish everyone great luck!

Kind regards,
[Your Name]

I am glad at least one person has come to discuss. I was wondering if anyone even wants to discuss this critical issue. I have intentionally chosen the name of TCS, as it is the number one employer in India. If we talk about TCS only, I want to ask HR people why you are not changing the criteria fundamentals. Invest more time and money in recruitment instead of hiding behind this filtration criteria. I want to ask them who makes policies in private organizations. I mean, you don't need to pass laws in the Rajya Sabha to change any laws.

I believe that not even Ratan Tata is aware of this fact. I know businesses run on figures, but still, at least these companies can take steps so that others would follow. The model of taking students from any branch and training them is failing.

Your concern with the screening of candidates for jobs based on the consistency of academic performance is highly appreciable. At the same time, it would not be out of place to point out that the present-day employment market is in the nature of perfect competition, thanks to the mushroom growth of professional education institutions. However, the employability of these teeming educated masses coming out every year remains highly disproportionate to their numbers. So, recruiters are always in a fix and are moving from campus to campus.

You have mentioned the meritorious college dropouts like Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates, and Steve Jobs. Yes, it is true that they are great people with fewer academic qualifications, but they are exceptions, and exceptions cannot be a rule. Here I would like to quote a historical anecdote. When Lord Macaulay presented the Bill for the recruitment of Administrative trainees for Civil Services (the prototype of our I.A.S) before the British Parliament, most of the members grilled Macaulay about the correlation between academic performance and civil administration. The selection process devised in the proposed Bill comprised written examinations in various academic subjects of undergraduate degree courses. Macaulay politely responded: "Yes, my lords; Academic performance has no relevance to administrative skills. But, I know not a suitable alternative. However, it is my firm conviction that a person who consistently performs well in his studies would be second to none in any pursuit in the rest of his life. Let the learned members be pleased to suggest any other suitable alternative." No more debate; the Bill was unanimously passed.

We should not simply brush aside the fact that some companies in India like TISCO, TATA MOTORS, L&T, I.T.C, and UNILEVER INDIA are still successfully run by paid Managing Directors with a free hand selected from among the existing employees. It is the other end of the spectrum.

I do agree with your point. Most of the big companies follow the percentage criteria, which is not right. I am not saying that the cream layer is not good, but just because you didn't excel in one year (haven't got the required percentage) doesn't mean the person is not good.

Many of my friends and people known to me who didn't get good percentages in 10th or 12th or degree faced a similar situation while applying for bigger brand names. But now, almost all are in good positions and earning well too. I am in HR now, and when I worked in CMM level companies, I had to follow their policies.

Six years ago, I started working for startups and small companies where we made the policies, and till now, in none of our company's advertisements have we mentioned that we need at least this percentage. Interviews are open for all, but surely the qualification and percentage give an added advantage if we have three people shortlisted with the same scores.

We have a written test for freshers, and there can be other ways to check the eligibility of the candidate. But in India, we still want to start big, with bigger brand names, bigger salaries, and so on. I think freshers and up to three years a person should concentrate more on getting knowledge and enhancing skills.

Regards.