What are the issues faced by companies with no proper planning for campus placement?
Campus recruitment drives are the most common mode by which a organisation connects with the prospective recruits, whom they hire on the basis of their performance in the initial screening tests. A typical campus recruitment drive involves choosing the right institutes, planning on the date and time, screening candidates based on their preliminary test scores, interviewing the shortlisted ones, onboarding those who fared well in the interview and finally, rolling out the offer letters to the selected candidates. It is evident that a recruitment process is a much complex process than it appears, and without a proper strategy, it is impossible for companies to hire the best candidates for the position.
There are numerous challenges faced by the companies when they do not have a concrete plan for their campus recruitment drive. This is because they have to deal with a large volume of student data compiled from different institutes before they can zero in on the ones they have to visit.
Listed below are the major issues that an organisation has to deal with.
Challenges that arise due to the lack of strategic planning
Research on the right colleges to visit: Choosing the right colleges to visit simplifies half the recruitment process. There are a number of colleges to recruit candidates for a particular profile, and it is impossible to include all of them for the talent hunt. Limiting it down to an exact number based on specific skill sets gives a clear picture of the total number of colleges a company needs to visit and the number of recruitment drives it has to conduct. Visiting too many colleges only increases the expenditure of the company and will not fetch the best candidates as there are high chances of top-performing candidates being recruited by other companies. At the same time, companies should not restrict themselves to only a few colleges, too. It is important to strike a balance between visiting regular colleges and new ones keeping the focus on recruiting the talented candidates.
Right time for campus drive: Different colleges have different timelines scheduled for campus recruitment drives. Some prefer to have them at the end of a semester, while others have mid-semester sessions. The hiring companies should decide upon the right time for conducting their recruitment drives and visit the colleges accordingly. Going too early or too late will not solve their purpose of recruiting the candidates most suitable for the profile. Since their competitors also plan their recruitment sessions as per the college schedule, the recruiting company should have it all chalked out to the exact date and time to get the best results out of the entire hiring process
Select the right region for the drive: In India, it is essential for companies to focus on the regions of recruitment for a particular type of job profile. For instance, companies in the southern parts of the country may prefer colleges in the south India only and end up hiring not-so-good candidates due to region bias. Same can be the case with companies situated in northern India. Restricting the campus drive to only select regions will not always fetch the right candidates for the hiring company. It is important to spread a wider net to recruit candidates with the desired skill sets and the drive to perform well in the job.
Lack of brand awareness: A company’s brand value is akin to the reputation of a person. It is an indispensable factor that determines the success of a business based on its recognition among customers. Similarly, in campus recruitment drives, the brand value of a company determines its success in recruiting the top talent of any college. Lack of brand name or brand recognition of a business inevitably leads to losing out on the best candidates who could have been the right fit for the position on offer.
Shortlisting and screening criteria: After deciding on the colleges to visit, the company should list out the criteria for shortlisting the candidates. It should either have a list of specific data points, such as the academic scores in each semester, desirable skills for the profile, and the extracurricular achievements of the prospective candidates or focus on screening students based on their resumes. Such a stringent selection process results in the shortlisting of the most appropriate candidates for the profile.
Right assessment and interview questions: Apart from sourcing and screening candidates, the HR must also invest some time in designing the assessment tests and interview questions for the drive. Although targeting the right colleges is important, it is the assessment tests and interview questions that help you shortlist the best talent from the college. Once you find the candidates with the desired skill sets, you can choose the best fit for the job profile without much difficulty.
Post-offer follow up with candidates: Rolling out the offers to the shortlisted candidates is not the final step in a campus recruitment process. The company has the responsibility of following up with the candidates to clarify their queries and keep track of their availability to join the firm. Lack of post-offer follow up with the recruited candidates is the reason why companies fail to have them onboard.
In Summary
The HR team undoubtedly faces many of the challenges discussed above while conducting campus recruitments. Proper planning and strategising is essential for organising a campus recruitment drive in a hassle-free manner. The reason why a company should have a sound campus recruitment strategy is discussed in detail in another blog. To know more, visit https://pod.ai
