A campus is the perfect hunting ground for the Tata Group, says Rahul Gangal, who joined TAS in 2002 and is involved in campus recruitment

When I was asked to pen down a few lines on my experiences at campus recruitments, I recalled my days as a student at the Indian Institute of Foreign Trade, New Delhi. I thought of all the great times and experiences, the long winding roads, the sprawling lawns, and the wooded path leading up to the building, which resembled a United Nations Block. It also reminded me of the camaraderie I shared with my batch mates, and the optimism with which we viewed the world.

I graduated in 2002 and of the four companies that came to our campus, I chose to join TAS.

Today as an ambassador of TAS, I visit seven campuses to influence, educate and prepare students for the future, and to discuss avenues of growth and horizons that could throw up challenges for the Tata Group.

It is a busy time in the campus. Students are busy attending lectures or interacting with their peers. Examinations present their own challenges, weighing students down with the realisation that the best scores will garner the best job placements.

I spend a lot of time at the campuses. My responsibility is to ensure that there is a steady pool of good people coming in every year. The Tata Group believes that the infusion of talented youth keeps the company abreast with the best in the world. The young management graduates are enthusiastic, and possess the ability and willingness to learn. TAS tries to rope in the right ingredients to ensure management talent that will assume leadership positions someday.

Campus recruitment is an integral part of the Tata Group’s strategy to delve effectively into the minds and hearts of the youth. Although campus life is hectic and students are in a perpetual time crunch with courses that extract a lot of commitment and placements taking up a lot of their time, such recruitment offers a glimpse into the strength and spirit of a students’ character.

During the placement season, companies get a fair idea of students’ capabilities. They get familiar with students’ career preferences and are able to gauge their suitability for certain job profiles. The placement sessions create a setting where individuality, ambition and ability find
common ground as the objective is to provide students and companies with a perfect fit.

TAS brings together large numbers of senior Group managers, managing directors and Group directors for campus recruitments. Students often question the rationale for doing so. As a student, I too was puzzled about the presence of so many senior executives on the campus.

But after having worked with the Group for five years, I have begun to understand why this is so. It is because we look at placements not just as a means of expanding the workforce, but also as an opportunity to add to the Tata family.

It is this ability to look at people, not merely as assets, but as part of the large Group that differentiates us from the rest of the industry. Students, on their part, join TAS for the quality of the work and the diversity that the Group offers.

It is, therefore, a moment of organisational pride when we stand up and say, “We invest in people.” It is an even bigger moment of pride when we say, “We do it even when someone has still not joined the family.”

Uploaded on July 12, 2007