Catalyst 2013 – A Report
One of the greatest anxieties that plague the mind of a modern youth undergoing the final year of education is placement into a good job – a feverish tension whether one can achieve the job of his dreams. While traditionally the process of recruitment is facilitated by a placement cell, our institute follows a different approach. Every year, once the year’s semesters come to a close, the alumni conduct a training program called CATALYST (Corporate Aptitude Training – an Arena to Leverage Your Skills and Talents) for the freshly graduating students. The main aim of this training program is to groom students to transition from the learning phase to the earning phase in their career. An auxiliary aim is to provide interview opportunities to students from various companies based on leads obtained by the alumni. This is an important event on the alumni calendar as this is one of the avenues where the alumni interact directly with the university students.
Every CATALYST has mainly three phases. The pre-CATALYST phase consists of meeting up with the office bearers in the institute and teachers. In parallel, students in the passing out batches are contacted and preparatory material is shared with them. The leads generation process gets underway as the working alumni tap into their professional networks and find out potential opportunities that fit the profiles of the students of passing-out batches. This is one of the areas where there is scope for participation of alumni – to tap onto their networks and get more opportunities for their freshly graduating brothers. As the days for the main event get closer, students are provided assistance to prepare their CVs in a proper manner.
The main CATALYST event consists of a 2-day boot camp that aims to provide a smooth transition to the way of the world. Being in a sheltered environment, it is sometimes becomes difficult when dealing with the world. This training camp provides the students with some insight into the work culture and how to present oneself at interviews.
Then comes the post-CATALYST phase that mainly coordinates the written test and interviews of companies and provides guidance to students who are yet to be placed. This goes on till all the students are placed.
This year too was no different. The event was inaugurated on 20 April by Bhagawan’s blessings at the Sai Vishram Hotels (formerly e-Inn). A special mention must be made about the Sai Vishram management for continuously hosting the university students and their cooperation in smooth conduct of the event over the past couple of years. The training to students commenced on the forenoon with professional corporate trainers Mr. Murali and Mr. Ramanathan handling sessions on Showing Zing in Life and Passion at Work, and Human Performance Model (SWOT) respectively. These sessions went on for whole day in two batches followed by an appraisal to students on the various leads available to them.
The second day (21 April) consisted of one-on-one interactions with the students that included mock interviews and feedback, followed by company presentations, alumni-focused group sessions, an open house and closing remarks. This brought CATALYST 2013 to a close.
For a university that has no formal placement cell, this is impressive and keeps getting better year by year. New companies are coming forward on their own every year with excellent profiles to offer to our students. Students too are better prepared with more exposure to current trends. The unseen guiding force can be seen in the way things are shaping up. This is a purely voluntary effort on the part of the alumni. A small nucleus of alumni is managing this activity efficiently every year. Everything is unusual about the process – right from the way it is organized to the way the leads are generated. For an outsider, it seems a very dangerous exercise – where a lot depends on things falling into place at the right time and no dedicated personnel for coordinating the exercise. But we ‘insiders’ have been inside too long to know that no incident is coincidental and we marvel the work of the Master every moment in the process.
