Seeking Guidance: How Can We Bridge the Gap Between Campus Hiring and Corporate Needs?

Respected Sir/Madam,

Today, I am writing to express my interest in conducting research on campus hiring trends and strategies followed by MNCs/Corporates, or the current trend in hiring and strategies in MNCs/Corporates. I am seeking your suggestions and support. Experts can help me by mentoring or guiding me to take it forward.

Currently, I am working with one of the reputed colleges of Management and Engineering. I have several years of experience as a placement officer in campus hiring.

Somewhere, I feel that there is a broad gap between campuses and corporates. Nowadays, you all might have experienced this, where many private institutes are playing a major role in filling this gap. Many corporates still believe that hiring from these kinds of institutes will provide them with the best candidates with the right skill set.

As students, however, despite the training they have received, they still struggle during campus hiring. This is the area I want to focus my research on, where companies can trust campus students as they can potentially become valuable assets for the company. I am aware of the challenges in this area, and I wish to write and research in this field.

I seek your help and support from the HR community to understand the strategies so that I can demonstrate to companies that major hiring should be directed towards campus students.

Many thanks in advance.

Regards,
Prameela B
[Phone Number Removed For Privacy-Reasons]
[Email Removed For Privacy Reasons]

Hi,

There is no doubt that for bulk fresher requirements, campus hiring is the reliable, easy, and best mode of recruitment for corporates, even though we have other options like online recruitment platforms. Campus hiring is the best way to appraise a high volume of talent pool in one place in a cost-effective manner.

Challenges in Communication Skills

The biggest challenge that we face, in my opinion, is that many students with good CGPA are lacking in communication skills, especially written communication. Most of the engineering graduates who join us are asking for templates when advised to write a small (normal) request letter for address proof or some HR-related correspondence. Also, during the induction process, candidates are comfortable with vernacular language and not preferring English. This is where colleges need to focus and emphasize the importance of English as a global language. Though for entry-level roles, language will not be a constraint, I advise them to visualize the position they will be in after 10-15 years and how communication will become more crucial as they climb up the career ladder. So, colleges need to look into additional courses for communication skills or work out seriously if such courses are already available.

Subject Knowledge Deficiency

Another missing factor is subject knowledge, especially after COVID. Candidates with good scores are not technically proficient and struggle to answer questions related to their subjects. Neither colleges nor students can be blamed entirely, and the credit goes to online classes that were not fully utilized.

Groupism Among Students

Another challenge we face is groupism. When students from multiple colleges are placed, students from the same college tend to move as a group, making it difficult to socialize with other peer members. In cases of better offers after gaining experience, they may move as a group, resulting in loss to the company and rendering training efforts meaningless.

Though we have other options like employee references, web portals, social media tools, etc., campus hiring remains the first choice where the volume of fresher requirements is higher. In general, students need to improve in all aspects – subject knowledge, communication, and attitude.