Smooth transition

To those young, energetic, and dynamic rookies who are ready to venture into the corporate world, P B Kotur offers some tips for a smooth transition from the campuses .

A million students graduate from Universities every year. Some graduates are placed well in the professional world while others may have to strive longer to start their career. The gap in the skill requirements between the Industry and Universities is wide and these young graduates struggle to equip themselves to cross the boundaries.

The resources and effort required to produce and churn out skilled talent within the universities is inadequate and industries have to invest hugely in providing the essential skills to cope up with different streams of work. This is a huge effort and task for industries while they expect Universities to produce talent that match with their needs.

A job in a company is only an opportunity and it is up to us, to make a remarkable career out of it. When young, energetic and dynamic rookies are ready to hit the corporate world, they need to know whether they are equipped with the right skills. If not, what should be done to acquire those skills which would ensure a better career ahead? Here are a couple of points for such young minds who are eagerly waiting to onboard the corporate world, which could rightly be called the 10 commandments for a successful Campus-To-Corporate transition.

Sound technical knowledge

Amongst the various subjects that students learn, one must select those topics which he/she likes the most, and master them. Reading, re-reading, and revising all concepts and cases that come under these subjects is an important milestone in preparing for a corporate job. Students must be confident to answer any question that may be asked on these subjects. Also, they must have their own assessments on these topics. In a scale of 1 to 10; 1 being the lowest and 10 being the highest, the student who is seriously looking for an opportunity in the industry must be 8 and above in self evaluation. No industry would expect one to be good in all subjects because the demands are specific and unique to each customer and each project.

Self understanding

Students need to know where they would do better and where they would not. One should assess his/her skills and competencies critically and objectively which will surely help in a big way. Knowing areas of strength and areas of improvement will help building the required confidence. With a right approach and focus, one should aim at minimizing the areas of improvement. Having three key strength areas and presenting them appropriately in conversations would accelerate the chance to get ‘noticed’.

Communication

Communication is a key to success in all spheres of life. In any industry, communication is one of the essential skills. A simple and clear conversational capability will boost the candidate’s success.

Customers or co-workers at the workplace want to hear and interact with us and do not intent to ignore us. One should not be under the impression that knowing technology is more than sufficient to grow in the corporate world.

It is communication that helps every individual along with technology and other special skills to progress. Start becoming a good communicator – communicate well and aptly. Excellent and thoughtful communication brings everyone success, happiness and pride.

Open mindedness

Corporate life is much different.  We have to work with people coming from different backgrounds, qualifications, experiences and perspectives.
Each person has his/her own opinion about everything, we should not get carried away by any opinions. Evaluating what is right and what is not helps us understand people better. Most importantly, in the eyes of the customers, we should always be open to fulfill their needs on time.

Flexibility

Corporates demand more and more from every employee. Sometimes, expectations are much beyond the order to create customer delight.

We cannot afford to be rigid. A company works as a single entity to make its customers happy. Accepting every opportunity and working on it on time bring due rewards. Be proactive and not reactive.

Hard and smart working

Many people think that smart working is better than hard working. They also think that the hard working people will continue to do hard work but are never rewarded. This is only a myth. All success stories are built on strong hard working principles. Hard working is smart working.

Enthusiasm

Youngsters come with high energy, passion and willingness to know new things. Having an interest in learning new things and becoming a subject matter expert (SME) creates an amicable environment to clear major selection hurdles. Reading new books, interacting and chatting with different set of people and learning from their experiences and getting acquainted with the business insights will help them grow faster and quicker in a corporate world.

The more you learn, the more you will earn. The word LEARN itself contains the word EARN in it. Be enthusiastic and alert; keep yourself abreast in changing technologies, business scenarios, customer demands and organizational environment. Building new skills and competences means building your bank balance.

Collaborativeness

Collaboration is working together for a common goal. In the workplace, we ought to work with different groups with specific goals and objectives.  An employee from Team X is expected to work with the members of Team Y. That employee should be more than happy to be part of this collaboration. Contributing to the winning strategy of the team and implementing it is a rewarding experience. Collaboration is an attitude, not an authority. So, be a good team player – mingle with other associates, converse, connect, share and succeed.

Customer orientation

For any business to succeed, serving its customers should be the paramount objective.  We should understand the customers before and should aim at customer satisfaction. Understanding the customer means understanding their requirements and working towards fulfilling the same on time and in a cost effective manner. We need to listen to the customers carefully and patiently, jot down their needs, analyze them, design, develop and deliver an appropriate solution as per the cost and time agreement. If you lose your customers, you lose business.

Aligning quickly

Once we join the Corporate World, we need to carefully observe the people, process, and the system around us and learn the insights on how quickly one can imbibe the best practices of working there.

Managers, Peers and the Leaders have many expectations and we should understand them right and align seamlessly to their expectations. We ought to be in line with corporate expectations and ignorance is definitely not bliss.