What do you advice to the first job seekers? Prof. Jose P D: I would advice them not to see their first job as their last job. In another word first job is just a stepping stone. In that prospective the main criteria should be whats the role, whats the kind of experience you are getting, how does it add value to your future career. So rather than seeing it as a last step you should see that as a first step in your career. How did you get your first job? Prof. Jose P D: I did my graduation in science, did my post graduation in forestry, then did my PHd and then joined IIM Bangalore. One thing that personally goes with me is that my prospective was not to worry so much about the salaries and positions that we get. It should be in terms of the learning opportunities that you have. It worked for me as I came from a different generation. Now the students have lots of pressure. They want to do well, they want to do well on the first day, and they want to be working for a very well known company and so on. Those were not the criteria we applied that time. What kind of proactive approach students can adopt now days? Prof. Jose P D: First thing to handle the pressure is that you should not take decisions because your friends have done it. You should be more focused on your own capabilities. Are you passionate about what you want to do? If you are passionate about what you want to do and you are doing that just because your parents have asked you to do or your friends are doing that or joining a particular company, that would be the wrong way to choose the career. Whats your passion? Prof. Jose P D: My passion is teaching and I also love environment and related issues :) How do you feel that online placement platform like rangrut.com which is putting employers and institutes together, is it really helpful in the current placement scenario? Prof. Jose P D: I think that this is the best way to go in the future. Practically if you look at it the face to face time between the employer and the student will be going to be relatively premium. There are large numbers of schools and the requirements are very large. For example the IT sector, they would hire in mass every year. Its really impossible to implement the conventional way or face to face meetings or long interviews. Here I think that the online platform can play a big role. In other way they provide students of smaller cities and schools to reach the employers very effectively. So the future belongs to this. Source: Rangrut.com