I’m not sure how often this happens, but in 2016, a guy at Thapar University bagged an internship and full-time job with 3 active backlogs in his final year.
To acknowledge the role of luck, that company didn’t mention any filtering criteria for applications, and he decided to give it a shot.
That guy was me.
The unexpected thing, however, was one of my batchmates got so angry over this episode that he went out to complain to the faculty in-charge of placements.
Others did not take such a drastic step, but nevertheless, there were no “Congratulations” on the WhatsApp class group.
I understand, man, I get the feeling.
Take notes in class, complete your assignments, score good marks – and everything is sorted. Then “How can this 5 pointer get placed before us? How can he get placed at all?”
You see, even is a subject has no real-world application, there’s a high in scoring good marks.
Even if you don’t learn any skills at your institute or internship, there’s a high that comes from its brand name.
Even if you have no idea about the job profile, there’s an excitement that comes from bagging a good package in the final year of college.
You can keep ‘cracking’ these hurdles one after the the other, but are you really separating the vanity metrics from real substance?
“Can you give me the past year papers? I want to crack my internal exam?”
“Can you tell me which are the popular clubs to join in college? I want to build my resume?”
“Can you take my mock interview and tell me what all to say? I want to crack that placement process.”
How far will that take you?
Sometime or the other, reality catches up, and it doesn’t take too long for that ‘dream placement’ to become a nightmare.
Man, ignore those short term pills for ‘cracking’ exams, GDs, and Personal Interviews. Tell me what are the real habits you’re forming.
Are you reading good non-fiction books? Are you working on one or two modern day hard skills? How many journal entries did you make last month for better clarity of thought? If you want to work in the corporate, are looking up a plethora of case studies?
Even if just for 1 hour – but are you doing this everyday apart from your formal curriculum?
Sharpen your intellect, and cut through the noise. Separate vanity metrics from the real substance. Unlike the company that hired me, be ruthless in this filtering process.
Rely not just on your resume bullet points, but on the daily habits that you build to invest in yourself.
Rest of the stuff will fall in place.