Top 10 Tips and Tricks to Crack Internships and Placements
As soon as the festive season hits the air, brands come up with numerous offers for us to buy their products. Only if those brands could come up with training offers in our ‘placement season’, containing all the necessary tools to blow away loads of anxiety and fear in our minds and make ourselves ready to bag the super dream packages, lives would have been much simpler, right?
Don’t panic, here are all the necessary tips and tricks that you need to follow to help you excel in your internships and placements. So start rolling your eye-balls here and jotting down the next few but very important points. Don’t forget to check the bonus tip at the end!
Tips that you need to follow before your placement season:-
- Remember the ‘P’ and ‘C’ of B-tech.
What is a software engineer’s best friend? His PC, right? The only difference being that here, P stands for ‘projects’ and C is for ‘competitive coding’.
Don’t let go of the opportunities you will come across, to improve your coding skills. Learn by taking courses and practice by participating in coding competitions. Practice at least 15–20 questions daily, alternating the languages so that you don’t lose touch with any.
During online classes, you have the privilege of bunking lectures (only the boring ones). Leverage them and create as many projects as you can and learn a wide range of new tactics.
2. Work on your skills.
Neither your college nor your stream matters as much as your skills do. For many students, entering college holds no difference with the song- “Just chill, chill, just chill.” But not taking four years of your engineering for granted, you need to focus on improving your coding and development skills. Start with the easier coding languages and up your level once you command over them. Change your game to figure out what’s best for you. Also, making projects would require you to be good at writing, speaking, video editing, graphics designing, etc. So learn them!
3. Academics ought not to be neglected.
‘Good grades’ is a matter of concern since appearing for certain companies, requires you to clear their CGPA criteria.
A relieving fact is that college does not require you to study for long hours a day. You just need to pay attention in the classes and take notes. That’s all! Now even if you start preparing a week before exams, your notes will help you well (I mean by preparing from them, not coping XD).
4. Build your resume
A good resume summarises your personal and professional experiences, skills, and educational history. It is extremely important in applying for internships and jobs. Start by making a rough record of your skills and experiences and work towards improving them in these ways-
Participating in ‘hackathons’-Create projects that solve community problems. You would be closer to winning hackathons, which would add a boost to your resume.
Rated coder- Knowing that you are a four-five star coder on coding platforms like ‘Hackerrank’ and ‘Hackerearth’, the interviewer would need nothing else to count you in!
Clubs and communities- Yes, they are important. No company wants to have a ‘bookworm’ as an employee. Being a part of a variety of clubs gives a sense of you being not just into coding but an interesting person to have in the company.
5. Prepare well for the interview questions.
Practice the questions and theoretical concepts that you are likely to be asked. There are greater chances of you being asked about the projects or achievements you have mentioned in your resume. So you must have a sound knowledge of each of them.
6. Maintain your LinkedIn profile.
LinkedIn allows us to build and grow a vast network of people with similar interests and helps us get internship opportunities. Also, if you wish to apply for off-campus placements, then having an updated LinkedIn profile is a must, since it makes you a genuine user and allows you to get established people’s referrals easily. It does keep a check on the accountability of your profile.
Tips that will help you during your placement season:-
7. Take over, with your soft skills.
Consider this conversation of a Candidate (C) with his Interviewer (I)-
“I: Prove your worth to me.
C: Worth, in which unit, Sir, experience, skills, or money?
I: Go with money.
C: Which year should I assume?
I: I don’t see this question as important.
C: If I’m a Hungarian in 1945, then with the value of a car, I get only a pizza. So, the significance of any monetary value that is assigned to me would be different.
I: Ok, assume the year is 2007.
C: What place should I assume?
I: How does that matter now?
C: Because Zimbabwe is Hungary now.
I: Where are you getting with this? How will I know the economy of each country, each day?
C: This is my worth, sir. You send me to a client. He might start with the questions. But two minutes later, it’s me who is the anchor.
I: You’re hired. Start this afternoon.”
A candidate like this always stands out in the eyes of the interviewer. Who would want to waste the opportunity of not having such a smart person in his company? Have firm conviction in your words to pull the tables towards you. Bring fluency in your English speaking ability. Practice daily until it becomes nearly as easy to speak as your mother tongue.
8. The art of conducting yourself.
Have you heard Priyanka Chopra’s mantra “Fake it till you make it”? More often it so happens that we lose ourselves to be controlled by our nervousness. We make our best attempts in showing that we lack a good personality. Don’t let this happen. The formula is as simple as clichéd it might sound-If you feel confident, it will be seen. Wear a formal and tidy outfit, be ready for the interview before time, make eye-to-eye contact (until it becomes intimidating), and keep a positive smile on your face.
9. ‘TELL ME ABOUT YOURSELF.’
You are 90 per cent likely to be asked this question in your interview. A good idea would be to write a well-structured introduction and practice speaking it beforehand. It will automatically peak your confidence. Remember to start in descending order of your life events (the recent the event, the first it should come up). Your introduction must become a backup so that the interviewer gets evidence for all those skills mentioned in your resume. So make it interesting enough to listen to.
10. “Do you have any questions for us?”
People dumbly answer “No”, to this at the end of the interview. Don’t be one of them. Ask questions about their company, about the job you would be offered or about the challenges that the company runs into. Show that you are not just any other replaceable candidate and are keen on knowing about their company.
Bonus tip- You would have to face rejection a lot many times. Don’t lose hope. Maybe the company that you had dreamt of working with all this while is not the best for you. Maybe you are destined to be working with another set of positive and influential colleagues, somewhere else. Whatever happens, remember that it is for your good. Believe in yourself.
