GROW through what you GO through

Surviving the pressure of online placements amidst global pandemic

written by someone who had plentiful of rejection emails during job hunt and has spent days and nights of hopelessness, anxiety and fear before her first meaningful breakthrough.

Disclaimer: All the names of events and the organizations associated with them mentioned here are fictional and may differ from their originality.

With the increasing Covid-19 numbers, the placement season for the class of 2022 (like 2021) around different colleges is likely to be held in virtual/online mode. Are you wondering why I’m talking about this?

The pandemic around the globe has taken a toll on everyone, especially for the upcoming and the recent graduates hunting for jobs, it’s becoming challenging to apply for even internship roles. While on campus placement matters are no different, hundreds sit for the same role with a few vacancies, filtered based on high school, intermediate, and UG scores, somehow, the probability of you getting selected goes down (like me, with a somewhat lower percentage in one of the eligibility criteria).

As soon as the final year of undergraduate approaches, we find EACH one of us taking it all in a different manner. I found it happening amongst me, my friends, and my acquaintances last year around this time post the lockdown that took place due to the first wave of coronavirus. I am a 4th-year B.Tech (CSE) student, so one can understand the cut-throat competition; B.Tech numbers are huge and the CSE branch covers the most of it. By June 2020, our placements started.

The first 3 applications had me disappointed, with the people I knew in college, getting into the interview rounds, a few of them even got the offer, whereas I wasn’t able to make up to the eligibility criteria.

This continued for the rest of the 7 months of placements with around 15+ such rejections.

Then, what?

I was quite selective with the job roles offered by various companies from the beginning. Lately, when I got used to the eligibility pattern, I started having doubts if I am doing it all correctly, with only a handful of good job applications (where I was clearly eligible to sit for the online test) and a preset eclectic mentality. On top of it, the pandemic was also the cause for the distortion.

One MAJOR Setback 💔

Hope keeps us moving. The same could be dangerous, if it grew too much and then shattered.

In the second quarter of the year 2020, I was amongst a team of people, stepping into the finale of India’s top-notch hackathon. By that time, I have already known some people who have performed exceptionally well in different such national level hacks and were able to grab PPOs. I was counting on it, working hard with the other members, for the company that owned our hackathon prototype with all my heart. The exact job role I looked forward to which did exist there, lured me. The decent salary was a plus point indeed. Later, we went on grabbing the title, and I approached them for the interviews (which were promised by the highest official of the company to the winners). Indeed, my work left a mark which I confirmed from their responses. Yet, 3 months of on and off indirect responses; which includes asking me to wait 2 months since they were busy with their internal work, once it’s over, they will definitely schedule an interview; it went from one close “Yes” to appear for the interviews, which turned into a definite “No” from the talent acquisition team, reasoning “no vacancies” for all technical job roles. Hurtful at that moment, for I was kept waiting for 4 months till December. Later I learned that such circumstances are prevalent in the corporate world. Next, HR came up with another job role which I went on calling off. I was confident with my skills, so as my team leader and the officials who looked after that project, yet there was SOMETHING that didn’t get me through. Though they hope that was preserved for 4 months was finally broken down, I made sure that I am not compromising with the job role.

It was December 2020 that marked the end of the first phase of placements. 0 offers by then with 4 on-campus rejections (getting rejected in the last round is definitely painful). Off-campus scenarios were no different; my inbox was blowing up with tens of rejection emails every week.

Trust me, there were days when the first coding assessment round went exceptionally well, sometimes the leaderboard was even public to watch the rankings. I used to see myself in the top 30s amongst hundreds and then the interview calls were made to somewhere around 30–40 students. Strangely, I was not one of them.

The vicious cycle of applying and rejection went on.

The #placed trend all around📱

While December came to an end with lots of success stories on Linkedin and #placed stories on Whatsapp and Instagram, the feeling of self-doubt heightened in me. I was very happy for my friends; almost all of them were placed, but it constantly reminded me of my failed attempts.

I heard a lot of “Everyone has their own journey” and “You should not compare yourself with others”. Everything made sense yet it was easier said than done during THOSE days.

Linkedin made me anxious; happy posts around, but rarely people wrote about the struggle they went through to achieve their certain life goals. I used to search for such stories, maybe one or two I could get so that it could lighten the disappointments. I was never afraid of bad times, but the fear that one day this battery of patience will drain out and I won’t be able to stay put.

New Year, New Hope🤞✨

With every rejection, I started to document every experience. The questions asked, the answers I gave, how the interviewer reacted to those, mistakes followed by improvements needed, etc. Mock Interviews helped me a lot. It is true, that with the right vibes and people, things become easier. There was a hell of a lot of support, guidance, and faith from their side. I won’t be wrong if I say that they believed in me more than I believed in myself.

Post-January 1st, it was like a new day. Recruiters started to revert and I went till the final round of the interviews. I remember, post those final interviews, I thought that finally, the wait is likely to come to an end. I won’t have to wake up with the same feeling of disappointment tomorrow. Yet, despite giving my best shot, the final results never showed up. Ghosting would be an apt word to describe it. Thrice it happened, but somehow, I kept on moving.

24th February 2021, 4 interviews in a single day, was the day when I GOT PLACED in one of the Big 4 accounting firms of the world as a technology analyst. As I mentioned that I was very specific about the job role/description and this time that condition also got fulfilled, at least as a fresher.

In Hindi, there is a saying “jo hota hai, ache ke liye hi hota hai” which means “all that happens, actually happens for good”. Circumstances polished me.

I continue to work on myself, on my knowledge, skills, and most importantly, my mental health. While I look back at the past 7 months, I don’t find it dreadful anymore. Rather, it makes me happy about how far I have made it through. It makes me fearless; confident enough about what’s next. good or bad, I will be able to get through it eventually.

Anxiety⚠️⚠️⚠️ Breathe, you’ve got this!

Anxiety is something I carry along with me all the time and I am pretty much vocal about it. I feel it’s okay if one knows how to tackle it. Placements were the time when I was filled with it from head to toe. Being anxious for a long time made me tired and I felt like, No! this is not who I am. I aspire to be better than this. So, here’s a list of survival hacks that made me breathe through:

• Focusing on underlying issues and identifying weak points. If there is uncertainty in Plan A, look for other feasible options that can make up to Plan B.
• Preparing myself for different kinds of interviews. I remember applying at 50 random organizations and startups, got around 10–15 callbacks, just to prepare myself to face people of all kinds, knowing how to answer in each scenario.
• Organizing myself. Stress hinders your thought process when you have a lot of things on your plate to deal with. Don’t panic, everything will work out at its own pace. Take tasks one at a time. Break larger tasks into smaller sections and consider each of them as individual pieces, work on them bit by bit, piece by piece.
• A close companion always helps! Be it your friend or a family member, find the one who can hear you out and help you calm your nerves. Talk about the intricacies that disturb you, the weak points that refrain you from facing the interviewer. Instead of looking for ways to divert your mind and attention, find the one person you can confide in.

Being close to people who acknowledge your small wins, appreciates your hard work, and celebrates your achievements proved very important. Their vibe works as a fuel for your growth.

Wrapping up, before writing this, I had questions, if this story of mine will make any sense to the readers. After all, there’s nothing huge about it. But, as I said, placements treat everyone differently. One eventually gets through it but the journey might get exhausting at one point due to hurdles on the way. Hopelessness strike and fear of failure grow around. And just for those days, I wrote it down, to make that person, who’s going through the same, feel that he/she can get through this.

Situations can be more overwhelming and exhausting sitting within the four walls in this pandemic. Remember to chin up, and move forward, fall again, and repeat the process until you get it. This phase requires constant preparation and is highly stimulating, but all you have to do is keep trying with the correct strategy.

A good friend of mine, once said “It’s okay to have a setback. But SETBACK<<<COMEBACK. YOU WILL MAKE IT TO THE END!”