Till recently, final year students relied on the campus placement season, this year’s corporate reluctance to hire freshers now has students scampering for requisite experience the old fashioned way – internships and jobs. Some ‘early birds’ have in fact, started differentiating their profiles right from their first year.
Swathi Kuricheti, 18, a first year student of Mass Communication in St Mary’s Degree College says, “There is huge pressure to start looking for jobs in the final year and you have to start early. I scouted for an internship in a PR agency, right in my first year, to be one step ahead of other students.”
She agrees that experiential learning is the best way to increase one’s skill set, “Experience is very important because companies prefer taking youngsters with hands-on experience, thus ensuring a faster orientation at work. Joining as a PRO at ITPlexus is a great learning experience and will also enable me to have about two-and-a-half years of experience under my belt.”
Other students are mastering the nuances of marketing by plunging headlong into promotions.
19-year-old, Ritika Sampaney, a student of B. Com (Marketing) elaborates, “I’ve taken part in promoting products, emceeing and organising events, which directly helps me with my course. It is very hard to pitch yourself for a job, even if you start off early and often have to settle for peanuts. But, it is important to get leads and go knocking to avoid job stress later on. Earning while you are learning was a great experience for me. Though I started managing events in my 12th grade, I continued with it through my first year.”
Lochan Punjabi, 18, a first year student from NIFT agrees, “Marks do not really matter and internships help ground you with realities at a workplace. I will learn the ropes and will opt for internships from the list of electives in our college. NIFT allows on-campus internships wherein top designers handpick students in the third semester. Some students prefer honing their skills early on by engaging in creative, profile-building activities.”
N. Kartik rao
The Asian Age
