How to run campus hiring

Plan the season before you contact colleges

Start with the joining side. How many trainees does each department need, in which month, at which location? A plant in Chakan might need twelve diploma engineers for production and four graduates for quality, all joining in July. Fix the role titles, the training plan for the first three months, the pay, and whether trainees join as permanent employees on probation or on fixed-term contracts. Placement cells fix their calendars well ahead, so write to them early in the academic year with your dates and numbers.

Choosing the right colleges

Pick colleges for fit, not for their brand alone. The right college for a production trainee is often a polytechnic forty kilometres from the plant, not a famous institute in another state, because local trainees stay longer and settle faster.

• Courses that match your roles, such as mechanical diploma for production or B.Com for accounts
• Distance from your workplace and whether students are willing to relocate
• How past hires from that college performed and how long they stayed
• A responsive placement cell that shares student lists and results on time
• Pooled campus drives in smaller towns, where several colleges send students to one venue

Running the drive day

A drive day needs a fixed schedule that the placement cell shares with students in advance. In a worked example for a college in Nashik: 9:30 am pre-placement talk for 30 minutes, 10:15 am aptitude test for 45 minutes, 11:30 am results, noon group discussion, 2 pm technical and HR interviews, and results announced by 5:30 pm. Of 120 students who attend, 40 clear the test, 22 reach the final interview and 15 get offers. Announcing results the same day is the single strongest signal of a well-run company.

• Carry printed test papers or confirm computer lab access a day before
• Bring enough interviewers to finish by evening, usually one panel for every eight to ten students
• Use one scoring sheet across all panels so decisions are consistent
• Collect each selected student's contact details and preferred email before you leave

From campus offer to joining

Months can pass between the drive and joining day. State the conditions in the offer: passing the final examination, the latest date to submit mark sheets, and the joining month. Keep students engaged with a monthly message, a plant or office visit, and short pre-reading. Some companies offer an internship during the final semester, which also works as an extended assessment; treat interns under the rules that apply to them and see the intern rights page. Plan joining as a batch so induction and training run once.

Step by step

1. Fix numbers, roles and the joining month. Collect trainee needs from each department, agree pay and employment terms, and set a joining month that follows final exam results.
2. Shortlist colleges and write to placement cells. Pick colleges by course fit, distance and past results. Send the placement cell your roles, eligibility, pay and preferred dates early in the academic year.
3. Publish the requisition and share the link. In ZeniaHR, publish the requisition to your careers page and give the placement cell the link, so students apply through the multi-step application form before the drive.
4. Run the talk and the test. Keep the pre-placement talk to thirty minutes, covering the work, training, pay and location honestly. Run the aptitude or technical test and share results within the hour.
5. Interview and decide the same day. Use common scoring sheets across panels and hold a short calibration before announcing results, so every panel applies the same bar.
6. Send offers with clear conditions. Send written offers within two days, stating the joining month and exam conditions. In ZeniaHR, students accept or decline the offer on an online page.
7. Stay in touch until results. Send a monthly update, invite students for a visit and ask them to share results as soon as they are out.
8. Onboard the batch together. Import joiners in bulk and run induction as one batch. In ZeniaHR, set up a classroom training program for trainees in Learning, enrol the whole batch and mark each trainee complete as they finish.

Frequently asked questions