Saikat Das and I visited Jamshedpur on 09th May, Saturday which coincided with Convocation ceremony of current batch. I was happily surprised with Sunil Bansal’s invite for attending convocation ceremony. We reached around 11:30 am to Fr. Prabhu Hall where convocation ceremony was going on. Chief guest for convocation ceremony was Mr. Shubhendu Amitabh, Head corporate affairs and development. http://www.adityabirla.com/the_group/corp_affrs_devl_cell.htm The ceremony was attended by graduates, their families, staff and faculty members.
Kunal, current student addressed on behalf of students regarding his experiences of GMP at XL. During the whole session photography and video recording was on full swing. Nobody wanted to miss any shot. The ceremony ended with National Anthem. Students congratulated each other and extended round of photo session began. While all this was going on, saikat and I went for a stroll around the campus recalling our interview that was held in Centre for small enterprises. We returned after a while to Learning Centre where we congratulated graduates and accompanied Sandeep Vadnere and Sairam Iyer to GMP Hostel. I began asking Sairam with his experiences of ET 1000 ideas and topic soon shifted to current placements.
Because of recession, XL admins have allowed current batch to stay for more time till 31st may to give shape to ongoing placements. 2-3 months back, Placement committee was reorganized with different faces to give impetus to placement process of remaining people. It’s a war like situation and students are not leaving any stone unturned. Lot of interviews has happened in last few weeks and many more are planned. Placements have been made very flexible. Interviews are happening over telephone, video conference and in person. Students are travelling to company premises for interviews.
While we were talking with Sandeep and Sairam, Ranjit who is part of place com joined us. Students were looking relaxed perhaps it was because of convocation effect. There was humor and joy in air. Soon, Sunil Bansal joined us and we proceeded to join student Ambassador Committee members over lunch. Our meeting with Siva, Sai meera and Sunil Bansal, all student ambassadors started at 1:30 pm and to our disbelief it lasted for 4 hours.
Canteen: This was second time I had food in GMP Dining hall and food has been very good on both occasions. I got to know from Siva that they one of the students was overseeing Canteen operations .He has done tremendous job in quality control, menu preparation and because of his negotiation skills, he managed to cut down the mess bill by Rs 10,000 per person and also got waiver of fees during 3 weeks of international immersion. Current batch has suggested for a similar approach where we can achieve the same results by having one or two folks in charge of canteen coordination.
Exams: They informed us that XL admins are considering to reduce contact hours. Classes start at 8:30am and end at 7:30 pm with lunch and other breaks in between. Because of stringent deadlines, it has been very challenging for students to involve in lot of activities, and thus prioritization, time management skills are very important for the group. Exam pattern tend to vary from one prof to the other. Overall, GMP students are considered to be one difficult group to be taught. Profs and schedule for our batch is currently geting worked on.
Most important thing, if whole batch comes together on an issue, then things could be waived, altered, added or deleted from the program. Hence students play a very vital role in what they get.
Town Vists:Students were funded by XLRI to travel different cities in India to give presentations to companies and network with XL alumni with sole purpose to establishing GMP brand recognition among corporate and influencing them to recruit from GMP batch. Siva, Sai, Sunil strongly suggested continuing this initiative.
Initiatives: This batch was double the size of the previous one and started new initiatives and they have asked us to continue those to carry forward the legacy. They have suggested to form Clubs, groups within 1 month.
Newsletter: One newsletter was published but due to paucity of time and divided focus on other activities, this could not be continued on periodic basis. Batch has asked to publish achievements and activities in form of Newsletter on quarterly basis and share it through various channels to spread GMP happenings.
CEO Visit: Only one CEO visit could be organized. This was huge success. The CEO happened to come because of one of the current student’s initiative. They have asked to use XL contacts and our own contacts to continue this tradition and organize 3-4 CXO visits in coming year. This will help create awareness about batch which will ultimately help in placements.
Student Ambassador Club is writing a hand over document highlighting dos and don’ts, initiatives etc.
TV Room and Disc floor: There is a TV room which has become an IPL adda these days and part of Dining hall is converted into a Disc Floor from time to time.
Press and publicity: It’s very important to build linkage with Press (ET, Business Standard, Hindu Business line etc) for GMP brand creation. They have strongly asked to send feeds to press on a periodic basis. First one could start with “MBBS to MBA: New batch of GMP starts with five docs in batch.
Brochure team: there is a brochure team which decides content of placement brochure and get it published.
International Immersion: Those who have not been abroad should participate in it as it would be an enriching experience. 3 weeks program is devised by Host university. Projects and industry assignments are organized by host university. Overall it’s a nice break from hectic schedule.
2yr and 1yr Interaction
There have been fewer opportunities to interact with 2 yr program but some GMP students have participated in clubs such as MAXI, etc. There is an impression that XL has not tried to create platforms for students to interact on a formal basis. Both programs are separated on an extreme end of 180 degrees.
Bschool case competitions: Students could not participate because of academic schedule.
Outbound trip organized by Tata Adventure Foundation led by legendary Bechandri pal. Student did Water Rafting, Rock Climbing etc.
Not to miss in Jsr: A dozen of Tata factories and establishments are in JSR. One should not miss opportunity to visit them and experience the shop floor etc. This is especially true for students with IT background. Visits such as one to see Uranium mines should not be missed.
Generally students don’t take HR subjects and min 20 students are needed for a course to be conducted. Students believed subjects such as Strategic HRM is an excellent course.
Placement committee: Student s from placecom and student ambassador clubs have suggested to have dedicated and strong placement comm. GMP Dean suggests forming the placecom by Aug but this formation should be delayed till we get right mix of candidates to for placement com. Placement committee is majorly responsible for good or bad placements. It is a very intensive job and requires passion, dynaimism, good communication skills and selfless motivation and strong execution skills to achieve the desired for the whole group. Some of the mistakes such as approaching a company after it has finished recruitment, not targeting SME and startup etc needs to be avoided at all cost. Performance of Placements committee should be judged every 2 months and reelection of members can happen at time. Fresh faces can come into committee or performers can continue to be part of placecom. Placement database and other information will be handed over by outgoing place com to incoming placecom.
I would like to profusely thank Siva, Sunil Bansal, Sai Meera, Sandeep and Sairam for answering all the questions patiently and giving numerous suggestions. Special thanks to Siva for showing us the campus.
No comments:
Post a Comment