What are off-campus placements?

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Off-campus placements are mass recruitment drives organised by established companies or recruitment job aggregators, to bring a large number of opportunities and deserving undergraduates to the same table. Beyond restrictions placed on job role, students are free to pursue as many fresher job opportunities they like; companies can also gauge how many and which candidates work for them the best, without any off-hand commitment to provide placements.

How do you begin preparing for off-campus placements?

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Preparing for a placement drive requires a candidate to have the right documentation and preparation. A decently done fresher resume and supporting certificates are a good start. Next, is bringing yourself up to the task – preparing with aptitude tests, general self-awareness, company and domain-specific knowledge. And then there is the interview.

In brief, this is how you should prepare: i) Writing a fresher resume ii) Preparing your application documents iii) Preparing for a written test/aptitude test iv) Company and domain-specific knowledge for the placement interview

Where can you find off-campus placements?

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Searching for off-campus placement opportunities is a tricky matter; they are organised by companies and third-party aggregators and the news is released on their own channels or to their own subscribers. How does a common student get in? Here are a few hacks you may take up

Scout your list of favourite companies and shortlist them on the basis of those which conduct off-campus drives. You can frequent their career portals and apply to entry-level jobs there

What’s the difference between off-campus placements and campus placements?

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Location – that’s the first difference. Off-campus placements occur at a third party location, usually a central one and chosen by the organisers to get maximum applicants. Campus placements occur within the campus premises.

Organisers – that’s the second one. A campus placement program is officially organised by the college/campus authorities, in a bid to get their students an opportunity to work in their chosen industries ahead of their formal graduation. An off-campus placement occurs beyond the campus, often organised by a third-party or the company’s recruitment cell.

Applicants – The off-campus placements are open to all students who meet the criteria raised, while campus placements are usually restricted or give preference to students from that college or university.

Ease to close opportunities – Closing opportunities in off-campus placement drives is said to be tougher than during on-campus placements. Why? You’re in a larger pool of candidates for one and companies do not need to temper their requirements by meeting a minimum number of placements, as happens in reality, in certain campuses.

Benefits of Off-Campus Placements

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Here are some benefits that make off-campus placements an important way to land a job in case you missed out at your campus placements due to any reason.

 Find a world of different opportunities: Off-campus placements give access to more and a diverse set of job opportunities for freshers. Unlike on-campus placements where you are restricted to companies who have a tie-up with the college, off-campus placements allow you to even reach out to companies that do not visit your campus.

 Sense of accomplishment: You will feel a greater sense of accomplishment for successfully securing a job on your own in today’s world of stiff competition. During on-campus placements, you compete with other students of your college only. However, in off-campus placements, your competition is with a much larger number of candidates that may even include some experienced professionals. Beating such a large pool of candidates and securing a spot at a company is a surreal feeling.

 Greater exposure: Finding a job on your own, as a fresher will give a lot more exposure to the job market than any of your friends who are solely relying on campus placements. You not only do more research about companies, study salary trends and prepare for mock interviews, but during this time, you also keep yourself updated with the industry trends, which in turn gives you a greater exposure and knowledge.