Epdi irundha naan, ipdi aiten…

The final year of your college is all about one thing.

“Getting placed”.

Trust me. Been there. “Not done that!”

In the last two years of my college, and even two years now after passing out of college, one common conversation I come across is how to prepare for this interview? What should I prepare?

A little too late, don’t you think!!!

Of course, I am not criticizing but merely stating the inability of the applicants to grasp what it actually takes to get hired to do the job that they love doing.

Ha, you’re doing it again! No, I am merely stating the facts, again!

The thing is, the definition of talent has completely changed from its traditional way and the skillsets needed have been rewritten. The world as we know today has grown significantly in the past 25 years and thanks to the Internet, most of the jobs have either been redefined or newly created. So, it’s high time we modify the reskilling/upskilling process too.

If you are someone who is already doing something you love, I am pretty sure you would have better things to do than read this blog post. So, edatha gaali pannu.

So let’s get right into what you can do to get your dream job. But before that, this can be applied by anyone who wants to land the dream job, not just college aspirants.

1. Start now, Start today:

Never start thinking about your career in the final year. Invest the thought right from today. When you start off early, you have enough time to think, mull over, reiterate, take a detour, alter the course, and still come back to make the decision on time. The other key advantage of starting early is you can easily multitask with your current education/job, your career plan, and your other external activities. By allotting the right time for each, you neither have to compromise nor compensate.

2. Prefer multiple experiences over one long-term:

Whether you are planning on landing a Developer job or a Management/Non-tech job, do multiple stints to understand how each company/business stream perceives the market. When you are in college, the knowledge you are exposed to is very minimal on the business front. You will be completely unaware of the whole framework on how the whole org functions and how important it is to co-exist and achieve coherence. Multiple perspectives of how multiple companies do things and working with most of the players of the same domain really helps, not just in getting the job but in becoming the best in it.

3. Join a community and volunteer:

Based on your interests, find the right community, and start engaging. Make an effort, learn, and teach. The more you give, the more you get. It not always your vibe that makes your tribe, sometimes it’s the other way round too. Host a lot of sessions, meet, and conversations, and share your insights with each other. Remember, it's not about your growth, it is about the domain’s growth as well that will get you there.

4. Have a separate profile for your work:

More often than not, we use the same email address, social media accounts to follow content around fun & education. Turns out, it never leads you towards your growth. Have a separate Twitter account and follow your inspirations, leaders, and influencers. Have a separate youtube profile to follow your dream YouTubers. With the advancement of ML and AI, there is a lot of suggestions you get that can easily get you distracted. Once you cut the noise, the music is too good to let go. If preferred, have a separate mail address and sync everything you learn, every platform you are using with it. This way it becomes the hub of all your knowledge.

5. Invest less time but consistently:

If you are someone from Gen Y, Gen Z, and the Millenials group, I understand how hard is it to set time, follow it, and adhere to the schedule. Hence, as a way to reach middle ground always undercommit. Start off with the lowest time you will ever dedicate for something but do not miss it. Consistency is key. As time passes, increase the timeframe. What you will start to observe is despite the linear growth of time, the knowledge you accumulate will have a compounding effect.

6. Read more books:

Again, I know reading is not everyone’s preferred hobby/habit. However, when you are going for a real-time job, the most crucial skillset you need is communication. Everything evolves from ideas and if you cannot articulate them in a consumable format, boy you are in big trouble. Read a lot of books, develop your vocabulary. Respect does not come with the ability to understand or create complex processes, it comes with the ability to break down complex terms in simple sentences. A genre I would recommend is Biography/Autobiography.

7. Write a journal:

One of the most underrated things in this world is writing and maintaining a journal. By writing one, you get to stop, turn back, retrospect your day, and plan for tomorrow. Remember, nobody else is as invested as you in your dream and you need to track your history. If not now, one day you will rediscover the most important moments in your life and this might be one of your biggest achievements. Every day spend 10 minutes on this and the result will speak for itself.

If you are already doing some of this, good. Start the rest. If you are someone who is going to start only now, great. Better now than never. But if you are someone who thinks I can start a bit later from now, I feel you will be okay with postponing your success too.

The thing is this will not suit everyone or every job out there. Of course, there will be differences in how it will work for you. I have taken the feedback from many of the people out there and structured it to these seven steps to start with. There is more to it as well but that demands you to do these on a consistent level. Once you have achieved this, pave your way forward. Do a KT session with your network on topics that you think you can help. Knowledge is the most invaluable thing you can give someone.

If you have suggestions on what kinds of content you’d like to read, please post it in the comments. Illa na idhe maavu dan! I want to make this more relatable and hence, request your constructive criticism.

Bye, for now!