Off campus drives are gaining popularity among students since it opens up a variety of job opportunities, which campus placements might not be able to provide. According to AICTE, only 6 lakh graduates found jobs during campus recruitment drives in the period from 2015-2019. Hence, this is where off campus drives became really helpful. So, if you are looking for freshers off campus drive 2020, then you can look for them at various job portals, company websites or even connect with recruiters on LinkedIn and more. 

Although freshers hiring has dropped down due to the pandemic, the current scenario has improved and there are over 3.5 lakh fresher job openings on popular job portals currently. The leading job roles for freshers include — Administration roles, Tech Software roles, Customer Servicing roles, Marketing roles and finally Sales roles. To apply for these positions it is necessary for you to be well trained and competent. But, before we tell you how to apply for these job roles and how to prepare for the interview, let’s look at the employment opportunities in India. 

Employment Opportunities in India

There is no dearth of employment opportunities in India. Post the pandemic, there has been a huge surge with about a 14% increase in hiring in the third quarter of 2021. Sectors like engineering, manufacturing and technology have seen a huge increase in employment opportunities. Non IT sectors have also seen a rise in job opportunities by 35% in comparison to the previous year. The top five sectors that are likely to emerge as the top employers in India are —  IT, Telecom, Healthcare, Infrastructure and Retail. Let us now see the popular companies that revolve around these sectors and how to apply for jobs with them.

A few of the most popular IT companies are Accenture, L&T, Infosys, IBM, HCL, etc.  Many students wish to apply for jobs at these well reputed companies. However, such companies may not visit the campuses of all colleges to hire people and hence, you will have to apply for jobs through off campus drives conducted by them. We have listed some ways through which you can be informed about the off campus placement opportunities below: 

• Make a list of your top 5 companies and follow their portals on a regular basis so that you are updated about the latest entry level openings available and also when they conduct off campus interviews.
• Join fresher portals online and job websites that post authentic job positions.
• Stay in contact with your college placement cell and also with your alumni network. Additionally, you can also register on LinkedIn to be updated about the latest job opportunities available. This is sure to provide you with good leads to find job opportunities.

Let us now learn more about how many candidates attend the off campus drives and how to prepare for the interview.

How Many Students Attend the Off-Campus Drives?

The number of students who attend these off campus drives are plenty in comparison to on campus placements. This is because with on campus placements the number of students is limited to that particular college, whereas an off campus drive is open to all students from various colleges, across all locations. 

Therefore, you are likely to face a lot of competition and hence you should prepare in a disciplined manner to clear all the rounds of the interview. We have listed some strategies which you can adopt to prepare for the interview below.

The first round in most companies is the aptitude test. It basically consists of 3 sections — Quantitative, Verbal and Reasoning. 

• To prepare for the Quantitative section you can practice by solving questions on basic topics such as Percentages, Simple Interest, Ratio and Proportion, Speed Distance, Profit Loss, Averages, Number Series and more complex topics like Trigonometry, Algebra, etc.
• For the Verbal section, you must increase your reading speed so that you are able to answer the RC questions quickly.
• Some of the important topics that you need to know for the Verbal section are Adverbs, Parallelism, Non-finite Verbs, Sentence Construction, Prepositions, Tenses, Subject Verb Agreement, etc.
• You should be able to spot errors in any sentence in the grammar section. 
• Also, remember to improve your vocabulary skills by practicing with flashcards and developing a reading habit.
• For the reasoning section you should practice solving questions from topics such as Syllogism, Verbal Analogies, Blood Relations, Seating Arrangement, Data Sufficiency, Coding and Decoding, Non Verbal Reasoning, Puzzles, etc.
• You might have a vast amount of resources available but you must remember to use only credible sources for your preparation.
• You can also learn various shortcut methods to help you solve questions faster.

Interview Rounds of Off Campus Drives 

After you are shortlisted in the first round, you will have consecutive interview rounds that include — Group Discussions, Technical Interviews and HR interviews. Ensure that you study on a regular basis and brush up on all important topics for the technical round. The group discussion topics could be from a wide range of subjects and you must be prepared to present your views during the discussion. Having good general knowledge of things happening around you helps here. There is no shortcut to getting the offer letter, so you should dedicate a few hours each day until your interview to prepare for these rounds.

Having said this, the hiring scenario has changed a bit due to the pandemic, so let’s look at how companies are hiring these days. 

Hiring Trends

The upcoming recruitment trends include:

• Using AI in the recruitment process
• Mobile hiring processes
• Using predictive analytics to help make future predictions and to help with hiring decisions
• Hiring based on soft skills
• Virtual on boarding and e-learning modules
• An increased number of webinars
• Candidates being prepared for working remotely
• Retention focused hiring
• Using strategic talent insights
• Emphasising employee’s life cycle during employer branding
• Increased importance of candidate engagement

It is necessary to be informed and updated with the current hiring trends so that you can secure a job at your dream company.

To help you in this aspect, you can resort to ed-tech firms such as Careerlabs that help you find jobs. CareerLabs has launched an app called Elev8. Many placement drives are made available on the app for students. Usually students will have to look for placements on several platforms to find job opportunities whereas Elev8 supports students with the complete process. Right from preparing for the exam till placement at the best companies in the country, the Elev8 app is your go to. In addition to the above, the app also has a career recommendation engine, which analyses each candidate’s individual profile, interests and then determines three potential career tracks. You can attend industry relevant certification courses that are in collaboration with top companies. It also provides higher education options for the candidates and also has resources to help prepare for GRE and GMAT exams as well. 

We hope the above information has provided you with the necessary insights about freshers off campus drive 2020, how to apply, what to prepare for the interview and more. 

Good Luck!