Alumni of Bharathiar University working in back-end operations and business process outsourcing of Information Technology-enabled service companies will address the final-year students of affiliated colleges of the university to explain the nature of the work. Offer letters after placement drives will be given to students in the presence of parents, and only those who are serious about working will be encouraged to attend these placement drives.
Recruitment drive
The university is gearing up for October’s mass recruitment drive for its final-year students to be conducted by the back-end operations division of an IT-es company with such strategies. This is because many who got offer letters last year did not honour it. Faculty say that students and parents believe that all business process outsourcing jobs are call centre jobs.
A meeting of placement officers from Bharathiar University and Periyar University at PSGR Krishnammal College for Women on Tuesday came up with measures that would be taken to motivate students to attend placement drives only if they were keen on accepting and honouring the offer of the company.
Feedback
Feedback from placement officers reveal that students are given offer letters only after they are made to understand the nature of the job, the need to work night shifts, etc. Students are aware of all this when they accept the offer letters. But when the time comes to join the company, they have apprehensions.
Reasons
M. Jayakumar, Director of Department of Extension and Career Guidance of Bharathiar University, who is in-charge of career and placement activities of the university and affiliated colleges, says that the company along with the colleges of the university took steps to find out the reasons (see box).
The above strategies were worked out based on the reasons got as feedback.
M. Saravanan, Placement officer, Vivekananda College of Arts and Science for Women, Tiruchengode, says that the college has decided to filter students before allowing them to attend the placement drive.
Counselling
Those who have decided to take up higher studies, write competitive examinations, or take up jobs in other sectors, will not be encouraged to attend the placement drive. Since they are not able to make up their mind, we have decided to counsel the students before they make the decision.
It has also been decided that one student will be allowed to take up only one offer, encouraged to make a career decision before attending any drive, and also orienting them and their parents about the need to relocate if the job required doing so.
The university is looking at putting in place the measures as soon as possible to improve the conversion rate in this year’s placements.
