My views on job fairs

Job fairs are mostly organized by recruitment consultancies were many people don't do a genuine job. A great amount of money and publicity is involved in the business. The advertisements of the job fair usually lists many companies that may really won't turn up during the recruitment event. But for mere publicity companies leave them unnoticed. Job fairs collect registration fees from the candidates. Easily if a job fair is organized, candidates turn up in bulk. So even a small amount collected will fetch them a great money in total.

Apart from such issues, a few firms do fair job fairs. For candidates, they should analyze the job fair event when published if they are going to attend the interview. The companies that are featured should be checked thoroughly whether its fake or not. Before paying amount in any point of time candidates should question about the interview process for the various listed companies and whether jobs are offered in the event itself or not. Candidates should also clarify about the companies that are actually present at the day of event. If the queries are not given satisfied answers then it is better not attend the job fair.

Since my work is in recruitment field and my company's testing solution for screening the candidates in job fairs made my presence in job fairs. I am able to see the game played by the consultants in those job fairs. Before going to those job fairs i too thought that recruiting people were doing a great job there. But it didn't satisfy my expectations that i had on those job fairs as thinking in the perspective of candidates in many ways. I like to share the experience in two of the job fairs that took place in and around of Bangalore.


The consultant firm requested our company for scoring purpose some one week before the  job fair and booked their slot for continuous two days. The job fair was advertised by big brands and the company listing crossed over 100. But it was all small to mid sized companies. In a business thinking it was also a big advertisement for our start up to accompany the recruitment process. The event took place in vast ground and not in any college premises. On the day of event we were surprised to see only few companies came and the organizers of the event hided the information from the candidates.

They collected the money and allowed to see the companies. This was one of the mistake done by them. However the crowd didn't mind about the money and eagerly waiting for the interview process. Then they were conducting screening exams and asked candidates to attend the interviews for the companies present and for the absent ones they told they will send the resume and screened scores. This was funny. Candidates are unaware of the tricks played by the consultants.  On the end of the first day many candidates realized that they are getting cheated and got the funds back.

The biggest mistake of the job fair was it took place on the next day also. The greediness of the consulting firm made them to fall in trap. There was only two to four small companies participated. The candidates grew more fierce and started querying about the condition. The consultants couldn't answer and finally steps were taken under the grounds of law. The job fair was a total damage. As our company handled only the scoring of answer sheets our name didn't get damage. In this case many candidates realized that they are being cheated.

The next job fair was a little brainy attempt that because it took place in a college and the companies that are said to participate had both IT's and BPO's. But on the day of event many IT companies that are advertised that they will come didn't participate. They managed with the BPO's and with some non IT companies. The companies list that the job fair forecasted was also funny. It had our companies client names and the company people were not even aware of the consultancy and the event. The crowd as usual had tough time in participating the event.

We are about to do only the automated scoring part but the consultant firm tried to portray ourselves as recruiting company. It was a horrible experience that we escaped from the situation. Great money came in hands of the consultant firms and the pathetic candidates left the place with frustration and dissatisfaction. Actually our company had an idea of organizing such a job fair but thinking of the present hurdles and past experience halted the thinking of doing such stuffs.

So as an advice to the candidates who wish to participate in job fairs, they should be more cautious before and after the participation. Before going to the job fair candidates should collect data's of the organizers, company attending. After attending the interview if they get selected to any company and if they claim for money to join then think twice before paying the money.

Is pursuing a course in a training institue after compleing graduation more effective??

Learning some stuffs from the training institutes after graduation with the expectation of a job from the training institute in reputed company is not a correct thinking path of a graduated fresher. Many candidates join courses after a very long time after completing their college exams and attending many interviews. In my views this certification courses can be done in early college days rather than postponing it after graduation because of the rapid competition after graduation as a fresher.

Its always good to have extra knowledge apart from academics to distinguish from other graduates. But this should be done as soon as possible because time is crucial. Most of the candidates while in the final days of college life seriously think about projects,exams and of course placements. If they get placed in companies while studying in college its good. But a amateur thinking of  getting a job only after certification in some technology or language will elapse the time completely.

Mostly the results would come after a month of the final exams and at that time very less companies hire and many candidates won't be serious enough to participate in interviews. Only after results they judge themselves and try for job. They get exposure about the heavy competition as off campuses are always packed with mass crowds. Confidences will lose as frustration grows. At that time the training institutes attract with discounts and advertisements with a list of 100 companies. Many get attracted towards this colorful banners and they are hopeless. At least by this time analyzing should be done about the training institutes.

The course time span is also a crucial thing because the training elapses more than 6-8 months then the hiring company opportunities will decrease exponentially. Also candidates can't rely completely on the training institutes as they list as many hiring companies but not everyone will turn up for recruiting. Although a skill is learned now its now difficult to penetrate inside a company. Another crucial part is that candidates can't attend interviews when learning in the training institutes.

The course content will be lengthy as if contents are not properly revised it becomes difficult to complete it with the given span of time. So the chance of attending interviews for some companies is wasted. In turn candidates indirectly pave way for those who don't pursue training courses by not giving a competition. Although candidates gain expertise in particular in field, they lose the courage slowly. After certain months companies will start focus on the next batch of graduated candidates. This condition will be more miserable and finally many start realizing.

Things can be realized at the beginning stage itself. Focused planning after coming out of college is a mandatory one to the candidates. Also every stuffs are dumped in internet. Self study using the advanced technology will reduce the financial aspects and make candidates to grow in a professional path.

My views on approaching and having recruitment business with companies

Recruitment is a must to any company that grow from a small size start up organization. But unfortunately budding from a small team companies can't afford great money for recruitment purpose nor big companies can't spend bulk amount as they will however try to be little constrained in financial part. So any organisation or firm involved in recruitment related solutions to any companies by understanding their problems will have a successful  business.

Before approaching to any company we should be prepared enough to tell the maximum solutions we can propose to any recruitment related issues. Many college tie up is necessary and there should be institutes ready to do any event involved with enthusiastic candidate crowd. These data's and contacts are marketing tactics to be followed and they can be improved only with good business relationship with the institutes or colleges. Colleges tie up in various location is always a great strength.

Along with college contacts, software products or technologically advanced solutions to some recruitment related problems will also make easy to talk with the companies as remedy for the pain points faced on recruiting will make them realize about our value.

The above given points are the preparations to approach companies. Now analyzing companies with the need basis of candidates will be the starting process. Analyzing involves company fake or not, company size, the annual candidates hiring target, requirement on trained(specific skill set) candidates, bonds for years, requirements on specific locations and interview process of the company.

Also meeting the right person in the company who will be capable to take decisions on the issues should be tracked. Meeting the companies with the contacts built will give easy penetration. All possible methods of convincing the HR people who are responsible for recruitment should be handled with a long term business perspective. Tracking the companies about the vacancies is also relatively equal because only when there is need the service will be required.

Meanwhile the college contacts and candidates interaction should be handled in parallel. The learning's i learnt regarding this business ultimately is the service and relationship we keep hold with everyone will give success .    

B.E Fresher candidates mentality after finishing their graduation

More than 6,00,000 engineering graduates pass out every year. Some of them get job through on campus placements provided by their colleges and many search jobs coming outside the college. I just want to put my views on the candidates who don't get placed in companies while studying in college.

The projects and exams will get over by june month. Until that time all of them will be busy in completing project and preparing for semester exams. They won't feel the heat of not getting placed in a MNC or any firm. The results of the final semester will be announced after one month. The seriousness of getting a job will be felt by them only after this period.


Graduates then step into metropolitan cities were there are more opportunities from various parts of India. Now really the competition is really great when compared to competition they face in their colleges because of the bulky count of job seekers. Everyone will compete and try to express their best in interviews. Once the job posting is published, the anxious graduates register and gather in great numbers. The frustrated job seekers crowd will be in thousands for a vacancy of 5-10 positions. Some two months will pass by searching for job in this manner.


After this they focus themselves to get knowledge on any of the technology through training institutes and expect for jobs after they complete the course. The training will continue for couple of months and within this span of time they loose the opportunity of attending on any other interviews because the training will get disrupted. Also they pay a great money to the training institutes and so they don't want to get distracted. Finally they expect to get placements with the training institutes.

Not every training institutes provide 100% placements. The time when they complete the course it will be 6 to 8 months after their degree completion. The situation grows more pathetic as companies hiring will be limited at this duration and candidates will be searching towards the course they learned in training institute. This will narrow down the opportunities. In the meanwhile they have to improve the communication skills also which many don't concentrate.


After 10 months most of the hiring companies will stop hiring and start its focus for the next batch of graduates to hire. Now the competition will grow more worse and ultimately feel inferior.

Suggestions regarding the features that can be applied in the home page of student 's account of Skillrack.com

Three practice perfect exams can be listed with the feature of displaying next exam after completion of the previous exam. Depending upon the successful completion of the previous exam, new exams can be added to the practice perfect exam section. The candidates can like or unlike the exam with the options provided. Each questions can also be given the same of action. After the response given by the candidates the news can displayed as news updates. The scores update can also be left scrolling in the news side.

The latest fresher placement updates can be displayed. A facility of student posting the off  campus placement drive details can be given. Access for group forming can be given to have latest updates in the activities among the group. Contests can be given to candidates regarding the exams and points can be awarded for champions. The points idea can be imposed on many activities such as on taking practice perfect exams, posting questions or exams, adding blog with some useful stuffs etc.

Advisory section can be added which will contain tips to attend interview for specific companies, to increase performance in the aptitude exams, regarding personality development and various useful stuffs regarding interview. A model resume can be attached which can be given download option. Some useful projects can be displayed which they can relate it to their final year projects. Suggesting books or links to improve the aptitude or communication skills. News regarding technology can be scrolled as updates like techcrunch.

Communication development exams can be added related with fun like matching meaning of the word, sentence formation, answering with the questions in the picture etc. Exercises like listening to the audio and answering questions can also be given.

Every actions of skillrack can be posted and the updates can be scrolled as news.

My learnings from consultancies involved in recruitment business

Consultants and consulting firms in the recruitment field which i came across gave me a ample learning of how to handle recruitment events for a hiring company. The software product what we have, can be used to schedule the exam and score them instantly got matured with them. We promoted as trial events and sold them at a very nominal rate and enough enhancements made the product more versatile. Not only the product got matured but also our business plans relating to the software product were scaled. My experience with variety of consulting firms is said below.

Initially our business targets are engineering college students and the hiring process around them. But we got an offer from a consulting enterprise to use our product for non-IT graduates. To scale the scoring software i handled the recruitment events which took place in north India. The journey was too far as more than working time the travel time was hectic. I went to some remote colleges and handled the operations. The valuable tips given by the consultants helped my company a lot. The hiring company was genuine in this case.

But the connection with this consulting firm gave our company a great learning. The case is that we are asked to score for a job fair were more 100 IT companies would hire candidates. The job fair was packed with a crowd of aspiring fresh engineering graduates. The listed companies are not great MNC's but in the level of small to mid size companies. Really their idea was good but the problem is that the hiring companies didn't turn up on the day of interview. However the hiring company get awesome publicity hunt but the consultancies are pathetic. The consultancies are aware that these companies won't participate and out of greediness they collected some amount from the candidates. So in this case they are answerable to the candidates and the whole process ended in a mess. Actually my company had an idea to do job fair genuinely but this lesson made us cautious.

Recruitment consultancies were not doing a great job but still my company want to have a detailed study on them. So we continued with an event for one of the consultants. The name of the consultancy really attracted us and i personally liked their business thinking in choosing the name. Getting commercials is really a tough task from these consultancies and the event went in a smooth manner. They didn't get great companies but managed to handle the hiring event.

My company also had contacts with some leading consulting firms which were established before 10 years. They are more popularized with forums and they do some pre screening with some brand name. But this also was not a great success instead many candidates easily criticize about the pathetic service. This criticism spread more viral. The charge for the pre screening is also not reasonable and if some comes with a better solution for this problem will have a great market.

The details above are about consulting firms and our contact regarding business. But we came across one consultant who gave a one man show. He has many contacts with colleges and companies. He just pictures logos of many companies in a banner and conducts recruitment event in a college with great crowd. It was a fun on that day but came to a conclusion that these consultants were not doing a great business as we thought in early stages. Every one are struggling  in the fresher recruitment and no one is successful as we imagined.

My experience in handling operations in BMS engineering college.

I handled operations for more than 8 months in my company. For operations i need to go for engineering colleges on behalf of hiring company to score the answer sheets with automated solution. I went to BMS engineering college in Bangalore for testing the assessment of the hiring event conducted by Mu Sigma business solutions(hiring company). The college was really good and located in the center of Bangalore.

Me and my CEO went to the event by taking all the necessary stuffs for scoring. We reached the college and at the time pre placement talk of the hiring company was going on. The session was organized in the indoor stadium. Nearly 600 candidates took part in the pre placement talk. The enthusiastic candidates asked many queries regarding the company and got clarified. The hiring company explained about the hiring process and  were ready to start the process. Nearly 480 candidates wished to continue the interview process. So the arrangements were made to get the candidates get seated for written test.


The indoor stadium was a basket ball and badminton ground. Candidates occupied the audience area and  chairs in the ground. Exam started and instructions regarding the answer sheets were given from my company side. The exam started and we asked for a separate room to set up my scoring stuffs. They allocated the placement cell room and we made the setup there. Later they gave the answer sheets and we want to score in two batches. Scoring was done successfully within short span of time and results are given to the hiring company. Our work is done and packed the stuffs to leave the place.

I had some learning's regarding some mistakes i did on the process and ensured that it should not repeat in future.