Is There Campus Placements in US Universities?
The concept of Campus placements or on-campus recruitment for getting jobs is easily acquainted by international students like Indian. But in America, it is not the same. The placement process is similar and different in its ways. The fabric is the same but the design varies. So in this article, we will look at how Campus placements work in the United States.
Do American universities have campus placements? Are jobs offered by them directly?
The term placements would be wondered by any typical students studying in our universities as they are not much used to it.
Typically in Indian universities, the whole process of placements is handled by placement cells. Bringing the companies to the University is taken care of by them. It is commonly known as On-campus recruitment. The companies have different levels of screening. First, their GPA’s are taken into consideration. Then, a written test and filter further are conducted by them. Then, interviews such as Group discussion, HR, Technical, etc are conducted by them in several rounds. Once every process is completely fully the candidates selected are declared by them and the list is put up to the notice board for public viewing.
Whereas in American universities, pretty much the same in all, there is a body called Career Center which is similar to Training and Placement Cell in Indian universities. All the services related to student career are officially provided by this body. All the placement awareness, resume writing, industrial meets, career fairs, and interviews, etc. are done by them. Helping students to focus on getting jobs and preparing for interviews are typically taken care of by the career center.
Also in America, mass recruitment never happens like in India by conducting a general test. Also the drive of students matters for career opportunities. Companies would rather offer you for internships than jobs when they visit the universities and recruit through them. Before they hire you full time they would like to see your work and performance for a few weeks or month and then determine whether you fit in for their position. This is also a great chance for candidates to prove themselves as they do not want to miss out on an exciting offer.
What is the career fair?
Unlike in India where Companies interview strangers solely based on GPA and written test, here in the US, companies prefer to interact with prospective candidates. They like to advertise themselves and also like to hear from the candidates their interest and expertise.
Generally, top universities are tied up with top companies. Let’s say around 500 companies. The university career center organizes for the fair that is attended by students and company recruiters. The career fair can be a two or three-day event. The companies establish their recruitment booths where students can drop off their resumes and learn and understand more about the company and socialize with company representatives.
On the spot recruitment and internships may be offered on the same day if they are impressed with your resume and they see that you have a potential talent to work for and if not they may keep your resume for future reference and inform you later. But students must follow up with the company representatives or their recruitment team regarding their internships or job offers.
There may be Internal job portals by career centers. The extra money may need to be paid by you to avail of this service. But the upper hand is that as the company post about their jobs you will be able to apply for the post.
Jobs or internships may be circulated internally as some companies prefer to talk to students in person and then recruit. After talking, later on, campus interview may be scheduled recruitment for internship or job may be provided.
Overall if have to do a lot of your homework to get the right job out of this career fair.
Conclusion
As like in India and some other countries, here in America mass recruitment doesn’t occur. Continuous involvement with the career center might help you with internship or job. The key point is if you happen to get an internship from a company you are more likely to get the opportunity for the job too. Jobs in the USA are not guaranteed by attending reputed colleges and universities. So you have to be involved with your department’s career center as each school as its department of the career center and also as a whole.
And it is not always necessary that you have to apply through a career fair. Students can apply online too. Networks can be built through LinkedIn and be interviewed too. Also, it is a student’s responsibility to look for companies, learn about them, interact with recruiters/employers, build and grow the professional network, request for a scheduled interview and if selected, negotiate salary and then accept the offer.
