Benefits of creating a campus hiring strategy in India

Reports are mixed about the efficacy of campus hiring.

Say, Amazon India is quite gung-ho about it. But Indian PSUs are going to stop the practice.  And to stir the pot a bit, we have some companies not honoring their promises to recruited graduates.

“Campus placements didn’t work for one of every three IIT students expected to graduate in 2017.”

By 2020, campus recruitment is expected to decrease by about 25% according to People Strong. “There are various reasons for this gradual decrease. Some of them include a reduction in hiring numbers of IT giants due to the global economic slowdown, automation of transaction-heavy jobs through Artificial Intelligence and lack of job-readiness in the campus pass-outs,” says the firm’s CEO Pankaj Bansal.

Graduates from these hallowed institutions have always taken great jobs for granted! Why?

Visa restrictions? Automation of lower-level jobs? Economic downturn? Wrong evaluation practices? Reskilling existing employees?

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Manipulating global downturns or visa policies may be out of our hands, but using better assessment methods and upskilling employees aren’t.

What is campus recruitment?

Campus recruitment encompasses the strategies and efforts undertaken by employers to engage, assess, and hire graduating students for roles that match their academic background and career aspirations. This initiative is mutually beneficial: students gain direct access to potential employers and career opportunities, while employers get the chance to select from a pool of fresh, talented individuals who are eager to start their professional journeys.

Key features of a good campus recruitment strategy

• On-site visits and presentations: Companies often visit educational campuses to conduct informational sessions, workshops, and presentations. These events are designed to introduce the company to the student body, showcasing their culture, values, and the opportunities available.
• Recruitment drives: These are the core of campus recruitment, where companies conduct tests, interviews, and group discussions to evaluate candidates’ abilities and fit for various roles.
• Internship offers: Many organizations use campus recruitment to offer internships to students. These internships can sometimes lead to full-time job offers upon graduation, depending on the student’s performance and the company’s hiring needs.
• Diversity in hiring: Campus recruitment allows companies to enhance diversity in their workforce. Students from different academic backgrounds, cultures, and regions bring a variety of perspectives and ideas to the company.
• Early identification of talent: By engaging with students before they graduate, companies can identify and secure talented individuals early in their career search, often leading to long-term employment and loyalty.

Why campus hiring in India is a great bet

President Obama certainly thought so with his Pathways Program.

Where else can you find a huge and assured pool of enthusiastic potential hires who have undergone rigorous and top quality academic programs? Although most on-campus programs of top companies target only Tier-1 colleges, campus hiring is largely non-discriminatory. (The world be a much happier place if people understood that prestige doesn’t necessarily mean quality. Wonder how they plan to achieve diversity goals?)

Think of the time and money you save by going to campuses and comparing students of a great caliber to pick only the best. (Check out this ROI calculator when you hire better performers.) And, it is quite likely they are up-to-date with what’s happening in their field; they can get into the swing of things easily enough.

“We like their energy, passion, willingness to roll up their sleeves, desire to find an answer when a solution doesn’t exist, ability to dive deep into (a) specific issue and not just stay at a superficial level, and their ability to look at a problem differently, thereby finding a solution that is good for our customers,” says Amazon’s Asia-Pacific HR Head, Raj Raghavan about hiring young talent.

Benefits of campus hiring strategy?

Obviously, conventional methods, such as career fairs, are fast losing their usefulness. Better strategies to improve campus hiring include

• Connecting early with aspiring young minds
• Building an online personality that can’t be faulted
• Re-designing time-worn pre-placement presentations
• Infusing creativity into existing hiring practices and performance-based exercises
• Using a smart sourcing/screening/interviewing approach through online tools*

*Online assessment tools, such as those for psychometric or skill testing, score over pen and paper based tests in terms of time, speed, validity, authenticity, and intrinsic motivation.

(For more ideas, check 5 strategies for campus recruitment)

The amazing turnaround time and lack of prejudice are USPs of automated evaluation tools. As the first level for filtering candidates, for example for a tech-related role, use customized coding tests or hackathons to identify exceptional talent. Most automated tools, such as Recruit and Codility platforms, come with a plagiarism detector, window proctoring, curated question library, and webcam monitoring.

Hire for the long term

As Marsha Forde, Workopolis HR Director, says, “More and more companies are realizing the necessity for a solid campus recruitment strategy.” Apart from getting a leg up on changing demographics, campus recruiting allows you to engage with emerging talent, right on their own turf. This can be invaluable to your company’s future, providing key intel for recruiting and marketing initiatives, among others.”

Efficient campus hiring practices do not revolve around branding or sourcing or dedicated recruitment teams. It isn’t about swag. It is about being an Equal Opportunity Employer who values great talent and rewards it no matter where it comes from.

Be the smartest brand on campus. Try HackerEarth Recruit for campus hiring.

PS: For more such insights on tech recruitment, we invite you to join our LinkedIn group – “Yours Truly HR”

Arpit Mishra Author 49 Blogs