Are you graduating in 2020 and looking for employment opportunities? Are you struggling to find credible employment opportunities because you missed out on your campus placements? Well, worry not! Through the course of this article, we will tell you how you can get a great job opportunity through the 2020 batch off campus drive. Before we delve into the 2020 batch off campus drive, we will explore the hiring trends in 2020 and the currently available employment opportunities. 

Hiring Trends in India

Upon research by a recruitment agency, it has been observed that there has been a significant increase in hiring in the engineering, manufacturing, and technology sectors in the fiscal year of 2020-2021. The IT sector set out to hire with an increase of 58% employment opportunities, while the non-IT sectors such as legal and human resources also experienced a 35% and 25% increase in employment opportunities respectively. However, the highest volume of freshers to be hired were in the marketing sectors followed by the IT sector. In 2020, IT companies went on to employ 81,000 people within October to December alone. Amongst this 81,000 employees, more than half of them were freshers. Hence, it is safe to say that the 2020 hiring trends depict that the marketing sector and the IT sector were able to employ most 2020 batch freshers. 

Now let us take a quick look at the current job opportunities in India. 

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, technology has transformed the job market in many ways. From hiring virtually to working remotely, the job market has diversified to adapt to technological advancements. In the fiscal year of 2020-2021, 85% of the workforce was hired by the IT sector alone. This was followed by the marketing sector that went to employ about 51% of the workforce. 

As the IT sector went on to hire 85% percent of the workforce, the demand for tech-related jobs and tech professionals increased. It also led to the creation of new tech-related job profiles. As a result, a large number of job opportunities are now available to the 2020 batch freshers which didn’t exist before. 

Some of the job opportunities available for 2020 batch freshers include Digital Analysts, Data Analysts, Data Scientists, Network Analysts, IT Security Specialists, Blockchain Developers, Artificial Intelligence Specialists, Javascript Developer, Back-end Developer, Growth Manager, Python Developer, Digital Marketing Specialist, Full Stack Engineer, and Software Engineer.  

So, how do you get these above mentioned job opportunities? The easiest ways are through campus and off campus drives. Let’s understand these two types of placement jobs in a little more detail below. However,  we will be focusing more on off campus drives here. 

Types of Placement Drives 

Let us now proceed to understand the two different types of placement drives — Campus Placement drives and Off-Campus drives. We will explain how each type of placement takes place and how they differ from each other.

Campus Placement Drives

Over 60% of students depend on placement drives conducted by their respective colleges to seek employment opportunities. Some management universities such as ISB and IIM conduct placement drives every year and invite over 150 to 200 recruiters, who offer jobs to their graduates. Placement drives that are organised by the universities and conducted in the campus are known as campus placement drives. 

Off Campus Placement Drives 

Another way graduates look for employment opportunities are through off campus placement drives. An off campus placement drive refers to placement programs and opportunities provided by the companies themselves. Unlike campus placement drives, universities or colleges do not mediate between the companies and graduates. Graduates apply for the employment drives conducted by the companies and directly interact with the company representatives if and when necessary. 

As mentioned above, we will be focusing on off campus in much more detail here, so read on. 

Off-Campus Drives: Registration Process

As mentioned earlier, off campus placement drives eliminates the universities as the mediator between graduates and companies who are recruiting. Hence, the registration process for off campus placement drives also take place in a similar fashion as applying for any job position would take place. If you are keen on applying to any of the off-campus drives, you can do so online through various ways. The easiest way to register for an off campus placement drive is to head over to the company’s official website and apply for the positions available. Additionally, you can also choose to apply for available positions on the company’s LinkedIn profile.   

Before you consider applying for available positions, here are some documents you will require for the interview round: 

• Academic Marksheets: This includes your Xth and XIIth mark sheets along with your undergraduate and postgraduate transcripts. 
• Resume: A detailed resume is a must when applying for a job interview. It must include your recent work experience (if any), academic qualifications, and all the extracurricular activities you have pursued.
• Work Experience Letter: If you have gained any work experience before applying for the off-campus placement drive, you must have an experience certificate and a release letter. The release letter must state your date of joining and date of release.  
• Internship: If you have pursued an internship during your undergraduate or postgraduate program, you must have an internship certificate indicating the company you have interned at, the duration of your internship, and which department you interned for. 

Now that you are familiar with the registration process, let us take a look at the 2020 batch off-campus drives conducted by various companies. 

2020 Batch Off-Campus Drive By Companies 

We will now explore the various companies that conducted or are conducting 2020 off-campus drives to make jobs accessible to freshers. Some of the companies we will be focusing on include HCL, TCS, Infosys, L and T, and Accenture. 

Off-Campus Drive: TCS 

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) organises an off campus drive for each batch of freshers that graduate every year. The first phase of off-campus hiring was conducted in September 2020 for the 2020 batch. TCS is currently conducting phase two of their off-campus hiring process for engineering graduates passing out in the year 2020 to 2021. To be eligible for the TCS off-campus hiring, you need to have an aggregate of 60% and above in your undergraduate degree. Additionally, you must not have any impending arrears and if you have taken a break between your education, you must declare it to TCS and mention the reason behind it as well.

If you are interested in applying for the TCS off-campus drive, you can head over to the official TCS website and register for the drive. The TCS off campus drive is being conducted online, which means you can attend the drive from the comfort of your home. As part of the TCS off-campus hiring process, you will be required to take a test. TCS recruiters will recruit you based on your performance on the test. If you are interested and want more information regarding the TCS off campus drive, you can head over to the TCS official website. 

Off-Campus Drive: HCL

Hindustan Computers Limited (HCL) is currently conducting an off campus drive for the 2020 to 2021 batches. The off-campus drive is being conducted physically in the Knowledge Institute of Technology in Salem, Tamil Nadu. To be eligible for the HCL off campus drive, you should have graduated from the 2020 batch or the 2021 batch. You must have an aggregate of either 75% in your undergraduate degree or an aggregate of 65% in your graduate degree. Additionally, you must be willing to sign a 24-month service agreement with HCL if you get placed at HCL through the drive.

The off-campus hiring process consists of two components —  a technical test and a personal interview. If you perform well in both the technical test and the personal interview, you will be offered a job by HCL. If you are interested in applying, head over to the HCL official website and apply for the off-campus drive. 

Off-Campus Drive: Accenture

Accenture Solutions Pvt. Ltd. is currently conducting an off campus drive for the 2020 batch and 2021 batch graduates. The off-campus drive is being conducted virtually and you can apply for it on the Accenture official website. However, before you apply, let us have a look at the eligibility criteria.

The eligibility criteria for the Accenture off campus drive is as follows: 

• You must have an aggregate of 60% and above in your undergraduate or postgraduate degree. 
• You must have completed your undergraduate degree. 
• You must not have any backlogs when applying for the drive. 
• You must be an Indian citizen. 
• You must have a minimum work experience of 6 -12 months. 

If you are interested in applying and learning more about the drive, you can head over to the Accenture official website.  

Off-Campus Drive: L and T 

Larsen and Toubro Limited is a prestigious company and each year they take a large number of fresh graduates under their wing. Over the years, L and T have been present at various campus placement drives as recruiters and have also been conducting off-campus drives. L and T is currently conducting an off-campus drive virtually for batch 2020 and batch 2021 graduates. Since it is one of the top companies in India, the competition is fierce. Let us explore the eligibility criteria to be eligible to apply for the L and T off campus drive. 

• You must have an aggregate of 70% and above in your undergraduate degree.
• Your academic record must not have a gap of more than 2 years.
• You must have basic knowledge of MS Office and Programming. 
• You must have excellent communication skills. 
• You must also possess interpretation skills.

The L and T off-campus hiring process consists of four stages — an aptitude test, group discussion, personal interview, and HR interview. The aptitude test is usually conducted virtually, if you perform exceptionally in the test, you are qualified for the second stage. 

The second stage is the group discussion, which might be conducted virtually or physically. It will require you to interact with peers or other freshers just like yourself. You will be required to initiate a discussion as a team based on a particular topic assigned. An L and T recruiter will observe and evaluate you based on the contributions you have made to the ongoing discussion. If you have performed well, you will be qualified for the third stage. 

The third stage is a personal interview, which is a one-on-one interaction with L and T recruiters as well as higher management. This is the most crucial part of your hiring process. Recruiters will not only have a look at your CV and analyse your academic performance, but they will also evaluate the skills you possess, how you carry yourself professionally, and if you have the potential to thrive in their company. 

If you perform well in the personal interview, a job offer is made to you. Once the personal interview is completed, the HR interview serves as a formality to complete the process of hiring. If you are interested in applying for the L and T off campus drive, you can head over to the L and T official website and apply for the same. 

Last but not the least, some coaching services also assist you with off-campus placement drives. One such ed-tech coaching institute is CareerLabs. It has recently launched an app called Elev8 to help fresh graduates develop industry-relevant skills and participate in placement drives remotely. They have curated the app to cater to anything that a fresh graduate might need — from assistance with placement drives to guidance from the industry experts on how to develop a strong profile and more.

As a fresher, it might be overwhelming to step out and look for a career opportunity, especially the right of opportunity that will help you pave the path to your professional growth. We have curated this guide to the 2020 batch off campus drives to help make the process a little less overwhelming for you. So, what are you waiting for? Start applying and get ready to grab that ideal job opportunity you have been waiting for!