Placement Stress
'Placements', 'Jobs', 'Salary Packages' – these are
common terms you hear during your placement season at college, home, relatives
and …. everyone.
It is quite stressful, Isn’t It. But always
remember – "It is not stress that hurts us, it is our reaction to it."
As human beings, developing stress at an important phase of life is
absolutely normal. But the way you handle it and not letting it to make you
underperform is very important.
Remember Campus Placements is also a slightly random process, where luck
plays an important role in my opinion. It is by no means a clear testament of
your calibre or potential.
Let me
share with you few things about the stress that one experiences during placements
and ways you can handle and adjust to it.
Placements
consist of about 5 stages through which stress keeps accumulating-
- Resume making
- Preparation
- Company Tests
- Release of Shortlist
- The Final Interviews.
1. Students often panic as they start comparing their resumes among each other as this decides whether they will get selected for the job or not. Learning from someone else is a great thing, but stressing out because of self-doubt and inferiority complex is detrimental to you. One should believe in oneself and back his/her strengths rather than worrying about what others have on their resume.
2. Remember the Placement deadlines are strict. Ensure to make your resume on time to get reviewed by your faculty, seniors and prepare the final draft well in advance to avoid unnecessary stress.
3. Aptitude and technical Preparation for placement is one of the most stressful times of placements. Managing academics, completing projects, preparing for additional exams, preparing for different fields of your choices etc, with so much on hand it is natural human tendency to freak out when you see huge tasks coming on your way. But what matters is how you handle this huge chunk of tasks in relatively short span of time. Please relax, make a time table for the day to allocate hours for placement preparations, academics, refreshing activities. Follow the schedule diligently.
4. During the preparation too, you should focus on your preparation and continue following your plan of action instead of panicking because your peer is doing something else for preparation. During any discussion with your peers if you find something worthwhile, incorporate that into your timeline and do it as per your schedule rather than becoming panic.
5. On the written test day, one important aspect to ace in the test is to go in without any tension. Stay calm, trust your preparation, do not think of your peers preparation level. The most important aspect is self-confidence.
6. Some exams may go well and some may not. People often freak out after messing up one exam and let that stress affect the other exams as well. This is one thing everyone should try to avoid. If one written test did not go as per expectation, leave it there, and move on.
7. Next stress building phase is the shortlisting process. You see your peers getting shortlisted, surely the pressure builds up, you start frightening. This fear would only hurt you and hamper your preparation for other firms. The key is to remain calm and focussed and keep trying your chance.
8. Finally, the stress levels reach its peak when you have to face interview. Tensed look becomes a common sight at the interview board. One thing to keep in mind is – In life there will be rejections and acceptances, but we ought to remain calm in both the situations. If you get placed, you should be there during the next placement process helping your peers instead of celebrating.
9. The ones who face rejection should take the positives and learn from the interview and be ready for the upcoming interviews. No doubt seeing your friends getting placed, while you are facing rejections can be disheartening, but the ones who get depressed sink further down. Instead, they should pull up their socks, pump up themselves with confidence.
by: D N Roopa, Assistant Professor.