Manifesto for the Position of Chemical Engineering Branch Councilor
[email protected]
Srijith R|CH12B091 Indian Institute of Technology, Madras
+91-9176467000
Room No. 143, Narmada Hostel
Vision
To ensure 100% placements Identify and Liaise with various new Companies from start-ups to majors early on and provide much more visibility. Provide dedicated support to the students during the crucial stages of the placement process. Provide full support to University Applicants Equip, empower and mentor junior batches for Internships by helping them to build a very strong profile
Initiatives to increase number of Core companies:
Companies to be called in a pre-decided priority order: o Order based on lists from other IITs, NITs, pre-done market research, repute, etc. o Will give more time to follow up with companies having a higher priority A more efficient status storing software: o In conjunction with the AAS, Trello will be used for all departments, instead of sheets o Timestamp for editing of each cell is recorded – will ensure PCs don’t slack off o Will ensure easy communication across departments, and transparency within departments Effective usage of LinkedIn: o A LinkedIn account for the Branch Councilor. Professors and seniors will be added o Professors will be requested to add their PhD students, from whose first and second contacts, alumni working in core companies will be identified and contacted
Identification and Contacting Companies Placements: Follow up with II year internship companies, and pitch to them for placements Industrial lectures – Can be used to pitch to the speaker for placements Personal id of HRs who are interested in off campus placements, will be collected and shared International placements – Singapore, Malaysia, Middle East will be contacted Internships: Professors will be approached for company contacts through the BoP Internships will be pitched for, along with placements during the summer calling process itself Companies that come for placements will be approached for internships Ensuring Proper Preparation (Placements/Internships)
A “Prep-calendar” will be prepared, with information about the various material to be given in summer. The first draft of a new, extended bluebook – prepared from feedback, online sources, AmbitionBox, is ready for day 1 and day 2 companies. Will be extended to core companies after PC selection Core Preparation: o Sample questions from the feedback collected from seniors o Subject-wise quizzes will be prepared o GATE papers/material will be collected and shared for practice Coding Preparation: o CS branch councilor, and dual degree students will conduct an informal introductory session on coding, just to initiate preparation. o More material and tests will be provided during summer. o The newly formed coding club has also agreed to pitch in whenever necessary
Analytics and Case Preparation: o A database of guesstimates, with their solutions and case studies will be provided. o An initial collection has already been prepared in conjunction with other departments Finance Preparation: o An updatable database containing articles on current market trending topics will be given. Useful for finance interviews. o Articles from the last few months are already compiled and ready to be updated HR/Verbal preparation: o “Five words each day” during summer will be mailed, along with usage and context. o Mock GDs will be conducted for first-timers separately, as they need guidance at a more basic level. A mentor buddy program, mapping pre final years to the final years, will be used effectively to impart knowledge on different profiles, along with the expected job description – Analytics, Finance, etc. A department level internship drive will be conducted, for core and non-core internships
Supporting University Applicants
The initiation of the preparation of an application guideline book from various sources. First draft is already ready. Awaiting addition of department specific information soon. Connecting with Alumini who are Professors in various Universities to conduct webinars for explaining selection process to the aspiring students. Arrange SOP Review – analogous to Resume reviews – currently unstructured. Push for a common understanding amongst students who are applying for multiple universities Department Application Drive will be conducted.
Resources
Placement Preparation o Used Books to be collected from Seniors, Indexing of Books to be taken up for dept. library. o Use of online coding tests like Codechef o Training in coding - Online material from websites like geeksfor geeks, career cup, glassdoor Projects o Modular feedback on BTPs offered by various Professors last year will be taken from the Final Years o A booklet will be made on the same. Junior Batches o Interactive Session for the incoming freshers’ batch to inform them of the various opportunities, various resources available o An interactive session on what could be done in the holidays for the current freshers’ batch
Other Salient Points
Mailing list to be prepared with all the students sitting for placements, across all departments Feedback will be collected from seniors who are placed each day. The questions will be shared with the group profile-wise/company-wise Assigning PCs to three or four seniors in the later stage of placements, so that PC can handle all the companies the senior sits for – moral support, and pushing resumes Mock GDs will be conducted during the placement process, atleast in the later stages, when the number of students unplaced are less. TRANSPARENCY: o Mails can be sent to the Branch Councilor regarding any queries, reply guaranteed by 12 hours o The Trello database will be converted to excel sheets and shared with the batch on a regular basis o A GBM will be conducted in the odd semester, and one more will be conducted after placements
Proposed Time Line MARCH
Meeting and Selection of PCs Contacting seniors for Books Collection. Indexing of Library is on. Feedback collection from seniors Meeting Professors, seniors and obtain Internship contacts. PCs Contact professors for obtaining data for application guideline book. Feed Back Collection and kick-off of Mentor - Buddy mapping. Commence Google group for University Applicants
APRIL
Finalize a prioritized list of companies which can be contacted for placements for the current year. Preparation of prep calendar in conjunction with other departments Commencement of Placement drive, Application Drive Preparation of a dedicated PPT for Company Visits Obtaining Modular feedback on various BTPs offered by various Professors from the Final Year Students and preparation of Booklet. Meeting the first years, a session on what they could do in the holidays New PC training sessions with the support of Previous PCs and BC Arrange for coding classes by CS/EE branch councilor
MAY – JULY
Contacting Companies to start as per the prioritized list Contact Companies of foreign countries like Malaysia, Singapore & Middle East Company Visits by PCs, with the prepared PPT about the branch, and the placement brochure Collection and sharing of Online Book Material for GRE, CAT and GATE. Mailing of Two puzzles/Coding questions/Guesstimates a day to cover the prescribed books throughout summer. Mailing 'Words for the day' for Vocabulary building Resource collection - Questions from geeksforgeeks, careercup, glassdoor for mock tests Provide Case Study cracking material Set up Google group for Students who need help in coding, keep sharing the coding material
AUGUST
Connect with Internship companies of II year Students for placements. Department Internship drive for Core Companies Resume Review by current seniors. Publishing the Updated Bluebook SOP Review by current seniors Publishing the Updated application guideline book Mock tests on different profiles will be conducted on Quizstar and Classmarker Webinar sessions IIT Alumni employed in universities.
SEPTEMBER – OCTOBER
Follow up Companies who had come for campus in the last few years Mock tests will continue Conduct Departmental first-timers Mock GD Conduct Departmental Mock GDs Organize Personal Interview sessions by S Mohan from Technical Communications Regular Check on websites like Internshala, update about any kind of internship opportunities
NOVEMBER
Obtain Students' preferences for Day wise Slotting of Companies Prepare Slotting metric for companies - based on no of companies, CTC, no of recruitments and students' preferences
DECEMBER
Obtain Students' preferences for Day wise Slotting of Companies Prepare Slotting metric for companies - based on no of companies, CTC, no of recruitments and students' preferences Daily feedback will be taken from people who get placed everyday, will be shared in the night, with the rest of the batch Mock GD Sessions for the students a day before the actual GD Daily Recruitment Statistics will be published during placement. Mapping placement coordinators with students sitting for placements, after Day 9
JANUARY – FEBRUARY (2016)
Off campus opportunities will be shared, from the database collected during summer Opportunities in PSUs, which can be applied for via GATE, will be shared All the feedback collected during placements will be made into a booklet, which will be used for bluebook updating, by the next BCs
Manifesto write-up
My vision would be to ensure a robust Placement process by meticulous planning, sincere preparation, precise execution and periodical reviews and achieve a cent percent placement in this current year. We will Identify and Liaise with various new Companies from start-ups to majors early on and provide much more visibility to our Process. A mechanism for dedicated counseling and fully support the students from the start till the crucial stages of the placement process will be put in place. Will work to equip, empower and mentor Junior batches for Internships through various activities and by facilitating various informational resources which will also help them to build a very strong profile. Will work as a team in close coordination with all our entire student community and generate the kind of momentum this year which could very well be sustained for years to come..
INITIATIVES TO INCREASE NUMBER OF CORE COMPANIES I intend to finalize the list of companies to be contacted with the help of my PCs. This will be followed by market research on each company, based on recruiter lists from other IITs, company’s repute and if the companies campus recruitment policy. A priority order of companies will then be prepared. Based on the above information, we will call companies which are worth calling. By this process we will have more time to follow up with good companies. A deal tracking software will be used for calling companies, instead of the usual google sheets. The software to be used is Trello, which provides us with a database to store information in. This database can make the placement process more transparent across departments as we can directly access the PoC of the company which we need to finalize. This will be useful for opening up other branch companies faster. In addition to this, the timestamp at which each cell is edited will be stored, and so the PCs will have more accountability. Through the first and second contacts of seniors and PhD students of professors, the alumni who are working in different core companies will be traced out through linkedin. They can be contacted for placements, instead of directly calling the HR. This will be more useful during the months of October, because, by that time, a considerable network can be formed. IDENTIFYING AND CALLING COMPANIES: Placements: Second years will have contacts with companies where they interned,. They can be contacted for leads to good core companies. Similarly, during the calling process some companies may be interested only in offcampus recruitments. We can obtain the companies’ HR contact and share the same for off campus opportunities. Ocean Engineering department had contacted few international companies in Singapore, Malaysia and Middle East and were able to make breakthroughs for good salary packages. Such companies can also be targeted, as it is proven to be feasible. Internships: Similarly, professors will be approached for internship contacts for apply off campus, for which the Board of Placement Member of our department will be very useful. I will concentrate on internship pitching during calling of companies during summer. The usual mail template will be changed to include internships also. The internship brochure can be attached with the placement brochure. I will meet the HRs of the companies which come for placements during December, and will pitch them for internships.
ENSURING PROPER PREPARATION: Timetable for conducting Mock Tests will be released before summer. This will be useful in creating seriousness among students, and give them an idea of what is to come.. Along with this, a prep calendar can also be given, which will be useful, for preparing for various tests.. New kind of bluebook, (attached) has just been created. This gives us information about the job description, tips for interviews and some sample questions, collected from online sources, etc. The First draft is ready for day 1 and day 2 companies. When PCs are selected, it can be extended to core companies as well. This information collection can be one of the tasks that the aspiring PCs from each branch would be expected do. As a new venture I have a compiled a database of guesstimates and case studies. It has a total 20-25 guesstimates with answers. The database contains cases studies too. This list can be expanded properly, after selection of PCs. It can be done as a part of their selection process too. During their selection PCs would be required to bring five guesstimates, with answers, and two case studies. This will increase the database considerably before summer. I have also compiled a database about trending topics in finance, and about the financial meltdown. This kind of information will be useful to the students fro their finance interviews Again, this is information collected from various sources, and can be expanded, as a part of the selection process. The mentor-buddy program can be used to pre-final years profile specific information. That is, information regarding finance, analytics, consulting profiles etc. If we have a structure like this mentor-buddy program, it can be useful for creating seriousness among the students. A department level internship drive will be conducted, for core companies as the previous year’s internship drive was conducted at an institute level, and individual attention to doubts could be given for such a session. Department specific doubts can be cleared, and the people required will also be less. SUPPORTING UNIVERSITY APPLICANTS: I have created an application guideline book, which gives us information about on how to write an SoP, how is your TOEFL/GRE score considered, How is CGPA considered, etc.. The information is collected from InsighT, IITB and other online sources. This first draft is a condensed form of all these sources. Other than this, an application drive will be conducted where the students who have got admits in various universities will conduct a session on SoP writing and tailoring SoPs to universities, etc. This is basically to provide cues to SoP writing, as this is a highly individualistic process. Students should come to a consensus on what universities they are going to apply for, and what professors that they are going to get recommendation from. If a couple of nine pointers apply to the same university, with the same professors’ recommendation, both will get rejected. Similarly, a nine pointer will not apply to a university to which an eight pointer applies. RESOURCES AND OTHER SALIENT POINTS Various resources are required for placement preparation, projects, passing of information to junior batches.. To ensure this, used books will be collected from seniors, indexed and kept in library. Modular feedback on BTPs offered by various Professors last year will be taken from the Final Years and a booklet will be prepared and provided. Interactive Session for the incoming freshers’ batch will be conducted by seniors to inform them about various opportunities, various resources available. Interactive session will be taken by seniors on what can be done during holidays. A Mailing list to be prepared with all the students sitting for placements, across all departments so that individual contacts can be avoided and the activity be done swifter. TRANSPARENCY I will ensure that the placement policy will be transparent by ensuring that a reply is mailed back within 12 hours. Two general body meetings will be conducted, one before placements and one after placements.
