Placement Lessons of a different kind…

10Feb07

You might be tempted to say that the placement season is all about getting good jobs and good salaries, I beg to differ. Was having this casual conversation with Gaurav Singhvi the other day and it was wonderful. Having gotten over the placements fever, we were able to put together the bigger picture.

I feel that placements are a very basic test of character. You watch people going through different moods within a matter of minutes. You watch strong characters crumble, you see non descript individuals rising up to the occasion and hitting a six. You see people living up to their reputation of fortitude and you see a rare few who after getting a job adopt a “could not have cared less” attitude towards others still in the struggle. Mind it, these are the people who project the most caring of attitudes under normal circumstances.

You also see rigmarole of emotions all around. People standing silently in huddles, people bursting with joy in masses, people who adopt a philosophical outlook all of a sudden and talk to themselves, people who wish to God that everything winds up real quick, people calling up homes after getting their offer letters with almost wet eyes, people looking sideways at the person who has landed a role they deeply coveted. You name a human emotion known and you get to see it in these few days.

At the end of the exercise, in spite of having your dream offer in your dream company, you feel like a spent force. For the sensitive types, it can be very taxing and you only realize it when the dust finally settles. Personally, I had a sense of relief coupled with a sense of emptiness and tremendous fatigue. Am still trying to come to terms with it.

Going back to the classes has a different feel now, people are more at ease and in some cases more open to learning. This raises an important question about one of the classical learning theories which states that people learn best when they have a threat attached to not learning. Though I have very fundamental doubts about this theory, I will leave it to the research oriented types to figure it out.

My take away from the whole process can be summed up in a single line

“Given the right situation, people will put on a one man matinee show of their emotions. Observing this show, is an unmatched learning experience”

Cheers Crusaders and thank you Gaurav for the valuable reflections.

Filed under: observations   |  3 Comments