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These companies attract the top talent and skills, not only because they offer the best compensations and resources, but also due to their superior work conditions and facilities, benefits like insurance, travel and meals, as well as robust HR practices. “Employees are attracted not just to the brand and money, but also to the culture, sustainability and stability that these companies offer,” says Neeti Sharma, President and Co-founder, TeamLease EdTech. The sharp learning curve and growth trajectory, as well as job satisfaction are also among the biggest pulls. “Apart from compensation and benefits, the three things that are important for an applicant are flexibility at work, career advancement and upskilling,” says Ruchee Anand, Senior Director, Talent and Learning Solutions, LinkedIn.
Given the evident allure of these companies, the competition to get in is stiff, be it as freshers looking for a kickstart to their careers, mid-level employees seeking lateral entry into the top league, or even senior staffers eyeing the hallowed establishments. So, it often takes a multi-pronged strategy, involving academic heft, core expertise and skills, behavioural agility, and networking, to get into these companies.
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“It’s a combination of research, skills, personal qualities and networking that play a big role in snagging a job in these top companies,” agrees Chandigarh-based Sanjeev Bansal, who landed a job with Deloitte last year thanks to this combination.
Sanjeev Bansal, 33, Chandigarh
Deputy Manager, Deloitte
Working since: 2022
Past work experience: 7 years
Qualification: M.Tech, UPES, Dehradun
Strategy to secure job
- Searched various job portals
- Applied for job through Deloitte website
- Active long-term networking on LinkedIn to connect with prominent people in the fi eld
- Found a senior connection in Deloitte
- Shortlisted and called for Interview
- Interviews with manager, partner, HR
- Process took 3-4 months
- Got the job!
WHAT DO THE TOP COMPANIES WANT?
To devise a good strategy for joining a top workplace, it’s important to understand what the company looks for in an applicant. “Besides seeking a good fit in terms of skills, they want the candidate’s alignment with the goals and vision of the company,” says Sharma.
They want an employee who is adept in core skills, that is, has expertise in his field or area of specialisation, and is willing to learn and build on his existing strengths. As important are the softer skills, or behavioural attributes, such as good communication skills, being a team player, problem-solving and leadership qualities, and ease of adjustment and adaptation to people, work and culture of the organisation. “Skills are very important, and our data shows that about 50% of recruiters in India are using a skill-first approach to hiring, while globally it is 42-45%,” says LinkedIn’s Anand. The requirements vary with companies, and also depend on whether they are hiring a fresher, a mid-level employee or a senior person. For freshers, 60% of weightage is assigned to qualification and institute of learning, while mid- and senior-level people are assessed on their skills and work experience, not education.
What companies look for at different career stages
So when Major Prajakta Desai applied to Amazon, it was the skills acquired during her 11-year service in the Army that came in useful, not her science graduate degree. “Amazon looks for the same leadership principles and officer-like qualities that I had imbibed in the armed forces, such as having a customer-centric outlook, being action-oriented and trustworthy,” says Desai, who is a Team Manager, Seller Partner Support, in Amazon, and came in via the company’s Military Veterans Employment Program. For IBM, it’s the work experience that counts. “If it’s a senior position, we look for people who have had a similar experience or have dealt with similar problems in another company, so that the ramp-up time is less,” says Pooja Singh, Associate Director, Enterprise Enablement, Kyndryl, a recent spin-off of IBM. “In case of freshers, we prefer second tier colleges because people are more adjusting and willing to adapt,” she adds.
IS THE STRATEGY DIFFERENT FOR TOP COMPANIES?
There is a slight difference when it comes to preparation for joining a top-rung company compared with a smaller organisation. For one, the process of application and screening takes much longer, usually ranging from two to four months, compared with a smaller firm, where the duration is less than a month. “There are more rounds of interviews and greater diversity of interviewers when it comes to top companies,” says Devashish Chakravarty, Career Coach, Mentor and Author of Yoursortinghat.com. This implies that you will need to put in more effort in conducting research on the interviewers while preparing for the interviews.
Another differentiator is the use of Applicant Tracking System (ATS) software that most top companies use to sift out candidates during the resume stage. The smaller organisations typically don’t deploy this screening method to filter out applicants, and it is done manually in these companies. “The difference also lies in the passion and commitment with which an applicant approaches the preparation,” says Anand. This would entail a greater depth of research about the role one is applying for, the company and its people, and more work and awareness about oneself while preparing for the interactions.
Giriraj Katoch, 35, Hyderabad
Associate Manager, Accenture
Working since: 2015
Past work experience: 2 years
Qualification: B.E., Pune University
Strategy to secure job
- Searched various job sites
- Applied to company through a referral
- Called for interview
- Interview with HR staff, onsite technical interaction, manager
- Process took 1-2 months
- Got the job!
Maj. Prajakta Desai,
35, Mumbai
Team Manager, Amazon
Working since: 2021
Past work experience: 11 years (Army)
Qualification: B.Sc, Mumbai University
Strategy to secure job
- Knew she wanted a job in Amazon
- Heard about a vacancy from her network
- Sent resume under Amazon’s Military Veterans
- Employment Program (launched in 2019)
- Amazon reverted within a week
- 5 rounds of interviews in one month
- Got the job!
HOW TO GET INTO THE TOP COMPANIES
The first step, of course, is to shortlist the companies or company you want to join and determine whether the advertised post and job description match your skills. If you are a fresher, your best chance is through the tie-ups of these companies with college campuses. “The bulk of freshers from top institutes will get in through these established channels, and those who are not, know that these companies also invite candidates from other campuses and will need to check whether they are part of such colleges,” says Chakravarty.
Networking, company portals &placement agencies: As for mid- and senior-level candidates, they can keep a watch on company websites where jobs are advertised, approach placement agencies, or find a way in through networking and word-of-mouth information about vacancies in the company. “Often it is a combination of all these options that helps you get a foot in the doorway,” says 33-year-old Bansal, who applied through the company portal and found a connection in Deloitte to push forward his case. Agrees Singh. “The early stage hires are through campus placements and hiring camps in offices, while at the senior level it’s mostly through a combination of word of mouth and company advertisements,” she says.
Networking works best: Most companies prefer hiring people through internal networks because it not only shortens the entire process to a dialogue and scanning, but also cuts the cost. Moreover, at senior level, advertising is typically not resorted to because people are poached from other organisations. “For any vacancy being advertised in the open domain for mid and senior levels, the applicants have shot up, and the chances of being shortlisted and getting a job are remote,” says Chakravarty. “Networking beats all other options and the main leverage still lies in the people you know in the company,” he adds. For Hyderabad-based Giriraj Katoch, it was a referral that helped him get a foothold in Accenture eight years ago. “I had a friend working in the company at the time who referred my name and forwarded my resume to the HR,” says the 35-year-old computer engineer. “Referrals form the first layer of database that recruiters end up using because it means dealing with a known person compared to a completely unknown candidate,” says Sharma.
Research: Whether you’ve got a shot at applying through networking or an advertised post, the next big step is to start in-depth research about the company. Find out about its latest projects, problems, work culture, processes, leaders, goals and also the people who you are likely to work with or interviewed by. This will help you immensely during the interviews, as it will reflect not only your sincerity about getting a job in that particular organisation, but also your willingness to fit into the role and environ of the company. To do this, you can scour the company website, join the LinkedIn community, or resort to secondary means of talking to the current and former employees in the organisation.
Use LinkedIn: Whether you are networking or researching, one of the best facilitating communities is LinkedIn because of its tools that help research top companies, connect with leaders and employees of these companies, and get the desired jobs. “It is one of the best platforms to network, build contacts online and physically by attending workshops and events, and making connections that can help you get the jobs. One should always be networking whether one is looking for a job or not,” says Bansal.
“We have a simple framework called ‘COMMIT’ that can summarise the strategising needed to secure your dream job,” explains Anand. Here C stands for company research into its working and leaders, and finding people in your network or alumni who may be working there; O for obtaining the skills in demand; M for maintaining authenticity and integrity; M for measuring intent to help align a candidate’s skills and aspirations with that of the company; I for indulging in curiosity and continue learning; and T for tenacity if you do not get the job in the first attempt.
Resume: While submitting your resume to a top company, remember that your first interface will be a technical tool. This tracking software (ATS) is built to throw out the resumes that do not match the role, position and job description advertised by the company. So make sure to use the right and adequate keywords that are an exact copy of the job and role description, so that you get a chance to be shortlisted for the interview. The companies publish these descriptions so that the candidates who tick eight out of 10 boxes can be moved to the next level. Also remember to keep your resume simple, with clean formatting and concise information that highlights your core skills, not personal information such as hobbies, addresses, or even references. Above all, make sure that the information you provide is correct and stands the scrutiny during the interview, and background checks and verification.
Interviews: This is the most crucial stage that requires extensive preparation because it will demonstrate that you did your homework, and will give you a chance to showcase your hard and soft skills. However, be ready for a longwinded cycle of interviews with various leaders and members of the organisation. “The most crucial task is to figure out who is going to interview you, and the most important person is the hiring manager,” says Chakravarty. He’s the person whose team you will join and to whom you will report after joining.
The other people would include the HR manager, CEO, and other stakeholders in the hierarchy. If you do not get information about these people on the company site, talk to the current or former employees to understand the interviewer’s expectations and the kind of questions he is likely to ask. You could also ask the HR personnel or recruiter to help you with the names of the interviewers. To be able to highlight both your expertise and behavioural skills, build a bank of your achievements, stories, events and situations, and present these in the STAR format (situation you encountered, the task you performed, the action you took to resolve the issue and the result of the action).
Upskill, reskill: As per a recent announcement by Wipro’s HR chief, the company will link its future salary hikes to upskilling, reskilling, learning of niche and Generative AI skills by its employees, and new hiring will not be at 30% hike any longer. This will probably be the way forward for most top companies since skilling is central to all recruitment now. “We are in a skill-first age and it’s always potential over pedigree. What matters is not your college, designation or previous company, but whether you have the required skills. If you want a job in the top companies, keep up with the skills that are in demand in these organisations, and LinkedIn Learning is a tool that offers courses to upgrade these skills,” says Anand.
Learn from rejections: You may not get into a top company in your first attempt. “If you fail to get in, don’t forget to go back to the HR personnel and get their feedback on where you lacked and what you need to do to be able to get in,” says Bansal. This will help you prepare better for your interviews with the next top company. Above all, never give up!
Leverage LinkedIn to land a job
Among the top professional networking websites, it helps facilitate research, establishing contacts, upskilling and getting jobs. Here’s how you too can do it.
Update profile, skills
Put up your name and recent photo. Use the headline to indicate that you are on the lookout for a job. For instance, write ‘Seeking fresh tech challenges’ for a job in IT, or ‘On a job hunt to save energy’ for a job in energy systems.
Post your work
To let the connections, recruiters and companies know you better, keep posting your latest work, achievements, experiences and engagements that highlight your hard and soft skills.
Research companies
Look up companies you are interested in joining and follow them. Like their posts, repost and fi nd out from its followers any common connections, alumni or acquaintances who work in the company. It will also keep you stay updated about the developments in the company.
Expand network
Through ‘Search’ function, look for prominent people in the industry or employees of the company you are interested in joining. Follow, like, comment, repost their posts, and message these people for establishing online contact.
Meet contacts
As a next step to establishing personal contact, meet the people from these companies at workshops, seminars and conferences, and exchange business cards. If they are familiar with your presence and work on LinkedIn, they will remember you when you apply for a job.
Look for recruiters
Many companies, recruiters and hiring staff use LinkedIn to employ people. Follow them and send them updated resumes. You can also use the ‘Jobs’ tool and ‘Jobs alert’ to seek out jobs that match your skills and experience.
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