Career Launch
Campus placement was a system. Nobody hands you the next one.
For three years somebody else scheduled the drives and shortlisted the companies. After graduating, that structure disappears and many job seekers replace it with refreshing job portals. This session gives them a working system: where roles actually surface, how to reach them, and what to do every week.
Explore this page6 sections
The page where most people look is not the only place roles surface.
Job portals are the most crowded channel and, for many freshers, the least productive one — yet they are where a great many freshers spend their entire search. Referrals, direct outreach, communities, alumni and company career pages often get an application noticed in ways a portal submission does not, and are used far less.
The mix of employers is also shifting. TeamLease EdTech's survey of 1,097 employers for the second half of 2026 found fresher hiring intent highest in retail, e-commerce and technology start-ups, manufacturing and FMCG, with IT at 76%, down from 81%. A target list built only from IT-services names is narrower than the market.
The other half of the problem is rhythm. A search without a weekly structure becomes a mood — busy on the bad days, absent on the worse ones.
Where roles actually come from
39 topics across 7 areas. Seven channels, and what each is actually good for.
ReferralsOften the strongest channel, and one freshers under-use.6 topics
Not “please refer me”. A referral becomes possible when somebody knows what you can do and there is a specific open role.
- Who already knows your work
- Seniors from your college
- People you met at events
- Former internship colleagues
- Friends of friends in the industry
- How to ask, and when
Direct OutreachApproaching a company that has not advertised.5 topics
Some smaller companies hire without posting a role. A specific, researched message to the person who would manage you can achieve what many portal applications do not.
- Identify companies doing work you want
- Find the person who runs that team
- Say specifically why them
- Attach evidence, not a plea
- Follow up once
Company Career PagesWhere roles appear before or instead of the portals.6 topics
- Building a target list of thirty companies
- Checking on a schedule
- Setting alerts
- Applying early
- Why applying on the employer's own site is often cleaner than a third-party repost
- Employer-run fresher drives and qualifier tests, announced on the company's own careers site — check the official source before registering, and never pay to apply
CommunitiesWhere practitioners talk, roles get mentioned first.5 topics
- Technical and professional communities
- Local meetups
- Online groups and forums
- Open-source and volunteer projects
- Being useful before needing something
Job PortalsUse them, but know what they are.6 topics
Highest volume and heaviest competition. Worth a fixed, short slot each week rather than the whole week.
- Which portals matter for your role
- Keyword and alert setup
- Why applying early matters
- How to spot a stale posting
- How to spot a fake or fee-charging posting
- When to stop
Recruitment ConsultanciesUseful for some roles, irrelevant for others.5 topics
- What consultants actually do
- Which roles they fill
- How to be worth their time
- What to be cautious about
- Never pay for a job
A Weekly SystemThe part that decides whether any of it works.6 topics
A search collapses without structure. A modest weekly rhythm, sustained, beats bursts of activity followed by silence.
- Target list maintained
- A fixed number of quality applications, not volume
- Two conversations a week
- One piece of evidence built or improved
- A record of what was sent and when
- A weekly review of what is converting
Track it, or it does not exist
- Company and role
- Where it came from
- Date applied
- Contact, if any
- Follow-up date
- Outcome
- What you would change
- A spreadsheet is enough. Not tracking is why month three feels identical to month one.
What good looks like in a week
- Five to eight well-targeted applications rather than fifty generic ones
- Two conversations with people doing the work
- One follow-up on something outstanding
- One improvement to the resume, portfolio or a skill
- Thirty minutes on portals, not the whole week
How the session runs
A recruiter and somebody who found their own role off-campus each describe how it actually happened, channel by channel. Participants then build their own target list of companies, identify who they already know inside or adjacent to them, and draft one direct outreach message that gets reviewed in the room. Everyone leaves with a weekly plan they can hold to.
What your students leave with
- A target list of companies rather than a portal habit
- An understanding of which channels actually convert
- One direct outreach message, written and reviewed
- A map of the people they already know who could help
- A weekly structure for the search
- A way of tracking it that makes progress visible
Scheduled sessions
Nothing scheduled yet
Sessions are arranged with a college once a date is agreed. Ask us and we will find the right person for it.
A student rather than a college? See what is coming up, or ask your placement team to host this.
Start a conversation
Ask for this session
Tell us who you are and what you have in mind. A person reads it and writes back, usually within two working days.
- Tell us what you need
A topic or a question is enough to start.
- A person replies
Usually within two working days.
- Agree the next step
We work out the details together.
Campus placement was a system. This session replaces it with one you run yourself.
Tell us who your students are and what stage they are at. Sessions are free for participants.