St. Mira's College For Girls, Pune

Webinar on Post COVID Job Scenario and Interview Skills

On 26th June 2020, students of St. Mira’s college were offered an opportunity to address one of the major roadblocks that they were facing in their career due to COVID-19, through a webinar on “Post COVID Job Scenario and Interview Skills”

The webinar was conducted in collaboration with PIBM (Pune Institute of Business Management), by Mr. Parijat Pushp, Talent acquisition head - Mahindra insurance Brokers limited), and Mr. Ramanpreet (Chairman –PIBM) The aim of the webinar was equipping students with modern ways of presenting themselves and their resume for interviews. Mr. Pushp and Mr. Ramanpreet gave several insights on changing requirements in today’s scenario. The students were guided on the pathways to achieve the right kind of value addition to their profile.

They also highlighted the need of being aware of current affairs, knowing the game changers and encouraged the students to enhance their knowledge through reading. They emphasized the importance of JD in an interview process and knowledge of company details.

This informative session imparted wisdom which enabled the students to evaluate their understanding of interview skills and improving their strategy for job interviews. The webinar was successful in educating the students on the formation of a strong base in the career of their choice. More than 250 students of all streams of TY and PG courses attended the session through the Zoom platform for two hours. This interactive session was helpful to students to chart their career path, not only in ways to move forward with a strong focus on their career but also gave them the motivation to look at challenging times like these with positivity.

Placement Cell Hierarchy

Objectives

• To place the students in their areas of interest in organizations/institutes.
• To develop a bridge between the College and Industry.
• To guide the students in development of soft skills.
• To increase awareness amongst students about placements.
• To create more opportunities and skill sets with the help of credit courses.

The Placement Cell of St. Mira’s College has been actively involved in bringing about a match between the requirements of various companies and the students’ interests, their abilities and potentials.

The success of the Placement Cell lies in placing the right candidates, in the right jobs, at the right time.

The first half of the academic year had many orientations, on-campus and off-campus placement drives.

Guest Lectures and Orientations

• The Teach for India Fellowship Program is an opportunity for the youth to serve as full-time teachers to children from low-income communities in some of the nation’s most under-resourced schools. The placement cell in collaboration with the Department of English had organized an orientation on 7th August 2017for the students across all streams.
• Edwise Overseas Education Consultants providessolutions for all international study needs. An orientation was organized on 12th September 2017 for the students across all streams where students of BA, BCom and BBA participated. 3 students, 1 from BCom and 2 from BA got an opportunity to participate in the Deakin interactive week to acquirea full scholarship for higher education at Deakin University, Australia. One of the students got selected for the 2nd round to be conducted in Delhi in June 2018.
• The Naandi Foundation – Mahindra Pride School Skilling Project was introduced in St. Mira’s College for BBA, BCA, and B.Sc. (CS) students. Students participated in a soft skill training program with them.

Placement and Internship Drive

• Intelligence Plus Pvt. Ltd. is an educational institute which offers internship programs and placement to graduates and undergraduates. Two of our SYBA and four of our BBA students got selected for the internship.
• Just Being Centre provides mindfulness-based therapies. It offers internship programs and placement to graduates and undergraduates. Four of our students got selected for the internship out of which one student was offered a full-time job post completion of the TYBA examination.
• Centre for Mental Health Services in collaboration with Teach for India, provides training and internship programs to graduate and undergraduate students. 12 SYBA students and 4 TYBA students got selected for the same.
• Aninternship program was introduced for BA(History) and B.SC.(CS) students by the company Tick-links.
• Placement drives of L&T Infotech,Mphasis,Deloitte, Cognizant,Syntel,and Adweb Software were conducted on-campus and off-campus.

Education Abroad and Beyond by the Placement Cell of St. Mira’s College for Girls

The Placement Cell of St. Mira’s College for Girls, in collaboration with Inspirus Education, conducted a webinar on “Education Abroad and Beyond” on Wednesday the 9th of February 2022, from 4 pm to 5 pm, for all second-year and third-year students. The webinar was hosted by Mr. Abhinav Gogoi, the Vice president - Business Development and outreach at Inspirus Education and an Education and Career Consultant.

The objective of this webinar was to throw light on the plethora of opportunities that are available for the students to pursue their studies abroad. Mr. Abhinav started the webinar by debunking a few myths on education abroad. He then gave an overview of the exams undertaken and the factors considered in the admission process. Mr. Abhinav kept the students involved in the conversation by sharing his expertise and experience. 98 students from the second and third-year actively participated in the webinar. Each and every query posed by students was addressed. The webinar was brought to an end with a vote of thanks. It was coordinated by Swatee Sarwate

PROFESSIONAL ETHICS AT WORK-PLACE

The Placement Cell and Code of Conduct Committee of St. Mira’s College for Girls organized a webinar on “Professional Ethics at Workplace” on January 19, 2022, from 2:00 p.m. to 3: 00 p.m. The webinar was hosted by Ms. Pooja Kashid – HR Consultant at AllScripts, public speaking coach, Employee Engagement expert and a Design Thinking Expert.

The Webinar intended to train the final year Student on how to follow work ethics in the professional world. Ms. Kashid demonstrated the same by acronym of the word “ETHICS” such as E for Executive Presence which aimed in explaining Dressing Etiquette followed by T for Techniques, H for Honesty, I for Integrity, C for Collaboration and lastly S for Speak Freely. Based on the Acronyms, Ms. Kashid elucidated on professional etiquette at the enterprise.

Around 70 Students and faculty members from various departments attended the webinar with great enthusiasm and zeal. Ms. Kashid made the webinar very lively and engaging for the participants. The attendees were engrossed in the webinar and made it quite interactive. Ms. Kashid also elucidated the topic by amplifying various case studies, scenarios about how we should tackle various situations with sheer confidence.

All in all, the webinar was quite thought-provoking, interesting and well organized by Mrs. Swatee Sarwate and Ms. Komal Tujare and the entire management team. The webinar was an eye opener for many of the participants who will soon step into the professional world.

Employability Skills Programme 2021-22

Resume writing

On 8th September 2021 the programme Employability Skills 2021-22 was inaugurated with a session on “Resume writing” by Mr. Thomas Kuriakose, a Corporate Trainer, who explained the AIDA technique of writing an effective resume, difference between CV and a resume, do’s-don’ts, types of Resume.

Interview Skills

On 9th September 2021, Mr. Thomas Kuriakose at the “Interview Skills” session stated several tips to be followed while preparing for an interview, importance of good body language, attire, star technique of answering questions, etc.

Entrepreneurship: Opportunities and Challenges

Third session was on “Entrepreneurship: Opportunities & Challenges” by Ms. Shivani Sinha on 16th September 2021. Ms. Sinha provided inputs on the concept entrepreneur with examples, developing entrepreneurial qualities and how to make use of them for a better career, opportunities for women and motivated the learners to establish start-ups and overcome challenges faced.

Creativity and Innovation

Session 4 was on “Creativity and Innovation” by Ms. Mousami Nilakhe a Corporate Trainer on 17th September 2021. The concept of creativity and innovation was explained and their types, how innovation and creativity helps in creating a market and competing with other competitors.

Health And Hygiene

Session 5: “Health And Hygiene” by Dr. Aparna Chikodikar, a physician on 30th September 2021 from 1.30pm to 2.30pm. Dr. Aparna provided inputs on the importance of intimate Hygiene, Physical and Mental Health.

Government Financial Schemes for Entrepreneurs

Session 6: “Government Financial Schemes for Entrepreneurs” followed by a Team Activity explained by Asst. Prof. Shanthi Fernandes on 1st October 2021. Mrs. Shanthi, an in-house faculty, explained the schemes by the government for young/ new entrepreneurs, with the outline and formalities of the various financial services.

Digital Literacy & Effective Use of Social Media

Session 7: “Digital Literacy & Effective Use of Social Media” by Ms. Shweta Chawla of Cyber Solutions on 4th October 2021. Ms. Chawla demonstrated the use of secured sites; data searching methods; social media application on PCs and Cell Phones, detecting secured websites, etc.

Cyber Security

Session 8: “Cyber Security” by Ms. Shweta Chawla on 8th October 2021 where she illustrated about cyber bullying, trolling and other cybercrimes with cyber safety tips

Learners also participated in a team activity. The programme ended with a short valedictory ceremony. The Employability Skills Programme was coordinated by Asst. Prof. Jyoti Chintan and Asst. Prof. Shanthi Fernandes.

Soft Skill Session on "HOW TO CRACK APTITUDE"

The Soft-skills session, “How to crack Aptitude” was organized by the Placement Cell and Life Skills Committee of St. Mira’s College, for Final Year Students to guide them how aptitude problems can be solved. 102 students across all streams participated for the same.

The session was conducted by Prof Anupama Tadarmala (Associate Dean & DY academic Coordinator) on 16 September 2021 on a Virtual Platform.

It was indeed an engaging session which highlighted:

• Why aptitude is important for placement.
• What is required when solving aptitude problems?
• How to solve aptitude questions in a simple and easy way.

Guest Lecture on “ How to develop Maths Calculations? ”

A guest lecture on “How to develop Maths Calculations?” was jointly organized by the Placement Cell, St. Mira’s College for Girls, Pune, and IMS, Pune, on 17th August 2021 for all final year students. The session was conducted by Mr. Anirudh Murarka (Lead Quant Mentor - IMS Pune) on the virtual platform Zoom. Around 91 final-year students actively participated in the session. The objective of the guest lecture was to provide knowledge and insight on various aptitude tests for competitive exams. Techniques of oral calculations for squares and logical reasoning techniques were discussed. Students were encouraged to try solving calculations on their own. The speaker explained mathematical techniques to improve aptitude skills and problem-solving abilities. The session was very well received by the participants. A good insight on Logical Reasoning was the key point of the lecture.

Soft-skills Session -“How to Build Vocabulary”

The Soft-skills session -“How to Build Vocabulary” was jointly organized by the Placement Cell of St. Mira’s College for Girls, Pune and IMS, Pune for final year students to groom them for the corporate world. The webinar was attended by 78 participants across all streams. The session was conducted by Mr. Vikash Singh, verbal mentor, IMS Pune on 18th August 2021 on the Zoom platform. The webinar focused on various vocabulary-building concepts and ideas. The keynote address was given by Mr. Vikash Singh. He started his talk with the quote, “The limits of my language are the limits of my world.” He shared multiple ideas, techniques, and concepts to build the vocabulary. He discussed several techniques to increase vocabulary in a short time, like Root word learning, associations, and mnemonics, context or usage or sentences, taking quizzes and practices. He also suggested a book, “Word power made easy,” for the students to learn root words. The webinar involved an interactive learning session wherein students participated actively by asking questions and providing answers to questions asked by the speaker. Mr. Vikash Singh emphasized techniques in preparing for competitive exams and jobs. All the attendees grasped various techniques to build their vocabulary in the session

Soft Skill Session - “College to Corporate”

The Soft-skills session - ‘College to Corporate’ was organized by the Placement Cell and Life Skills Committee of St. Mira’s College for Final Year Students to groom them for the corporate world. 194 students across all streams participated in the same. The session was conducted by Dr S. Jayaraman (Director –ISB&M Bangalore) on 10th August 2021 on a virtual platform.

The engaging session highlighted:

• The requirements for the successful landing of a dream job.
• The dos and don’ts for stepping into the corporate world.
• The basic skills mandatory for any job profile: Communication, Interpersonal, Technical Skills
• The importance of one’s confidence and personality in the Corporate world.
• The changing scenario of the corporate world and the skills and mindset required for global world work culture.

PLACEMENT ORIENTATION PROGRAM 21-22

Online Placement Orientation Sessions were conducted for final year postgraduate and under-graduation students of St. Mira’s College for Girls, across all streams in July. The highlights of the sessions were:-

• Acclimatising the student community about the Placement Cell.
• The functioning of the Placement Cell through teacher representative and placement student representatives, where students liaison the activities.
• An array of placement opportunities/drives available on and off-campus.
• Yearlong placement activities focusing on enhancing their soft skills relating to resume drafting, aptitude tests, group discussion, goal setting, preparing for the interview to be conducted by industry experts having years of experience in the field.
• Internship opportunities available and how to opt for them.
• Registration with the placement cell using an online google form.
• A need assessment form is circulated with students to know the inclination of students for the same

Details of the Online Orientation session streamwise:

• T.Y. B.Sc. Computer Science Students: 1 July 2021
• T.Y. BBA(CA): 14th July 2021
• T.Y. BA: 16th July 2021
• T.Y. BBA: 14th July 2021
• T.Y. B.Com and M.Com: 31st July 2021

Overall, they were interactive sessions where all queries, raised by students, were answered. The sessions were especially informative for the current third-year students and will benefit them in the upcoming placement drives.

• Placement Cell Orientation - 2022-23
• Placement Drive by ‘Vartemis Consulting Services’

Mamta Chaudhary - B.SC.(CS) - 2016

Please contact : placements@stmirascollegepune.edu.in