<div><em>Why are B Tech placements in most of the private colleges consistently becoming worse? <strong>Neeraj Pathak</strong> explains</em><br><br>Readers, by the time you read this article, I am sure you must have flipped through at least half a dozen news items on start ups' and billion dollar valuations of companies started by people in their early 20s, most of them B Techs. You might also think there couldn't be a better time than now to get an engineering degree. It is partly correct but mostly incorrect. </div><div> </div><div>Amidst the startup party season, here is the real story of the average engineering graduate which is missing the headlines and needs to be told. </div><div> </div><div>This story is of confusion, pessimism, wasted talent and depression.</div><div> </div><div>Meet Saurabh, a 2012 B Tech from a Greater Noida based engineering college. When he joined the college in 2008, his yardstick to select the college was based on the placement figures the college boasted off in its advertisements. Guess the number! It was 100 per cent campus placements. Years passed by and parental pressure started to 'set in'.</div><div> </div><div>Cut April 2012- His father called him up from Varanasi and enthusiastically asked," So, how many companies are coming to the college? I heard TCS, Infosys, Tech Mahindra are big campus recruiters. It will be great if you could land up a job with Infosys, we will also get to visit Bangalore"</div><div> </div><div>That year, none of the above mentioned companies visited his college. Rounds of heated conversations, strikes, dharnas and mass bunks resulted in a meeting with the head of placements of his college. </div><div> </div><div>Students efforts to build pressure on the management yielded some results-albeit., too little and too late. They were fleeced into attending pool campus events and fake companies. As expected, pool campus did not get him through even a screen test which was hastily done by the organizing college and shady offers most students did not opt for.</div><div> </div><div>On one hand, his father had set high expectations and on the other he was crumbling under pressure of his inability get a software job.</div><div> </div><div>As I write this article, this is the situation majority of our engineering graduates are facing right now.</div><div> </div><div>Last week, when he visited our office in search of a job opportunity, I overheard his conversation with one of my team members and resolved to help him find a suitable job that befitted his qualification and aspirations.</div><div> </div><div>With some efforts, I was able to help him get a job as a business analyst with an industry chamber in Delhi. I asked him to meet me in a week's time since his joining that job. He came in and said," I have quit that job too". I was speechlessness and said," what! you left that job in less than a week? It gave you a stable career with a handsome salary and you quit? It is so unfortunate, 3 years you have been jobless, when you get a decent one, you leave it. Tell me why!", I was fuming at Saurabh.</div><div> </div><div>With a blank and expressionless face, he explained," I am a B Tech; I did not find the job interesting enough. I want to get into a technical, "coding" job. I want to have a great work environment and these things were missing in that office. It was dull and I just don't want to live my life that way."</div><div> </div><div>Saurabh is again unemployed and like always, may join another BPO in a few days’ time as a stop gap arrangement in his quest for a software job.</div><div> </div><div>Saurabh epitomizes the ailment we suffer as a society. Job seekers, their parents, peers etc who influence career choices are inflexible about emerging job opportunities. So there are jobs in business intelligence, consulting firms, sales & marketing and new age startups which have no inhibitions in trying out with freshers and non MBA students. The essential skill sets for most of these jobs are a person's ability to be logical, being solution oriented, target driven and being very agile to situation.</div><div> </div><div>The question which emerges is that why are B Tech placements in most of the colleges (private) particularly, consistently becoming worse? I was also curious to understand this. I met the campus placement heads of one of the IT companies mentioned above. He pointed out three reasons for it. 1st: Lack of quality student pool in most of the colleges. 2nd: Automation taking over jobs done by humans in a steady manner. 3rd: The HR decision makers in companies preferring certain colleges over other campuses for reasons best known to them. He explained," My boss bought a car within 3 months of our campus placement process which is unthinkable vis-a-vis the salary that he is paid. So you can understand where the money comes from." </div><div> </div><div>The appetite to accept reality is seldom strong but job seekers and their parents/family must understand they need to decide and decide fast. Quality of jobs and kinds of jobs are swiftly transforming and candidates who do not join the 'bandwagon' on time are in for very tough times.</div><div> </div><div>It is also important to understand that to start somewhere is better than not to start anywhere. Job seekers should join companies, ideally in 3 months of completing their degrees and if the job is not matching their desire, they should up-skill themselves through week end programs, intern-ships etc so that they are in sync with their goals and have some credentials to show whenever they get a relevant job opportunity.</div><div> </div><div>We are producing close to 1.5 million B Techs every year, almost 50 per cent of them are in Saurabh's situation. Think! </div><div> </div><div><em>Neeraj is the head of communications and knowledge alliances at Map My Talent consulting. He thrives off of making people feel empowered, inspired and get better careers. Most days, you can find him solving hiring problems for corporate and young job seekers get deserving careers.</em></div><div> </div><div>Twitter: @mrneeraj</div><div>Linkedin: neeraj Pathak map my talent</div><div> </div><div> </div>
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