When we were looking for campus placements as graduating student of a B-School, it was the employers’ market. The employers were few and far between. We would all line up and listen to them tell us that they were looking for people who would stay with them for a lifetime. The pre-placement talks were a great opportunity to get noticed by the employer by asking sharp insightful questions. During one such talk, one of my classmates did the unthinkable. He asked the potential employer why the salary offered was so low. That executive adjusted his tie and threw a condescending look at us and said, “We offer careers and not jobs.” That was then.How that even qualified as an answer to my friend’s question still beats me. But that line hit home. That phrase seems to have been tattooed in the hearts of several people of my vintage. Many of them have now become employers.
The age of perfect information (for students)
When some pesky student asks an uncomfortable question, the employers still try to drop the famous line, “We offer careers and not jobs.” That line fails to turn the student teary eyed like it did to me. Today the students live in an age of perfect information. The students already have access to employees’ comments, CEO approval ratings, salary and benefits information and even possible interview questions the company is known to have asked in the past. The students live in an age of perfect information. If anything at all, the employers are the ones who may not know enough about the students they are going to meet.What are “Digital Career Fairs” <read about them>
It is all about the 1%
I am told that 62 richest billionaires own as much wealth as the poorer half of the world’s population. And 1% of the population owns as much wealth as the other 99%. When growth slows down in this world, the poor are hit hard… very hard. When the global economy booms, the rich get a chance to mop up whatever little the other 99% are holding on to.That is how it is for campus placements. The top 1% students (who usually are found in the top 2-3 colleges) get jobs that pay way more than others. They work for the most aspirational employers who in turn woo them with astronomical salaries and perks that get tongues wagging in the media. Everyone is tracking the highest salary offered on campus. The next day several top executives will nudge their peers and say, “Did you read about the highest salary offered on campus this year? If I got that salary today, I will give up everything and start all over again.”For most tier 2 and tier 3 institutions, campus placement is not what they look forward to. There are very few employers to choose from. So it is always the employers who have an upper hand. It is not unusual to renege on offers made, leaving the students stranded.
That’s not the only source of pressure
While no rule can be generalized, we live in an age of helicopter parenting. That is unfortunate for the students who do not get a chance to make their own decisions. There are instances when a student decided to start their own venture but lied to their parents about taking up a job with a well-known organization.Several students take loans to pay for higher education. That tempts many to choose an employer based on a short term consideration that allows them to settle a loan earlier. Finding a job based on culture fit then seems to be a luxury that is soon forgotten.But more than any other pressure is the peer pressure and the desire to conform to expectations of batch-mates that clouds the judgement of students. There is an undefined pecking order that is established by a few opinion leaders and influential seniors. Not being selected by an employer from that list leads many people to question their self-worth. Sub-optimal choices lead to students leaving their campus placements within a few months of joining.
Career is a journey through life
Career is defined as a journey through life. The decision to join an employer based on an offer made during campus placement is an opportunity to take the first step of the journey. Self-awareness may be that often overlooked factor that helps people make the right choice. Could the institutions help build that capability, please?————-Join me on Twitter @AbhijitBhaduriA slightly modified version of this article appeared in TJ Insite Aug 2016 & in Times of India Jobs section <click to see>Download the cartoon for your use <click here>