The Career Development and Guidance Centre of Punjab Engineering College (Deemed University) Chandigarh, in collaboration with CATFIT, organized a 3-Day Interactive Workshop (15-17th October 2018) on Mental Training, Pre and Post Interview Psychology, Stress and Anxiety Management, Negative peer pressure handling, Personal Counselling and many more topics relevant to the recruitment process both on and off campus.
The Workshop was headed by Lt. Col Rakesh Krishnan, Founder of CATFIT organization, Veteran of Indian Special Forces, Former Commander of Elite National Security Guard (NSG Black Cat Commandos) and currently the Fitness and Mental Coach to many International players.
Around 550 students from various branches of the college attended this highly informative session each day as per the slots for students from different years.
Lt. Col Rakesh Krishnan began the session with his speech on "Mindset- the Edge", where he talked about how our mindset can either make us or break us. He explained that a "fixed mindset" assumes that our character, intelligence, and creative ability are static and cannot change in any meaningful way. A "growth mindset," on the other hand, thrives on challenge and sees failure not as evidence of unintelligence but as a heartening springboard for growth and for stretching our existing abilities.
He encouraged the students to adopt the latter and gave practical tips to change one's mindset to maximize their chances of success.
Capt. Yashika Hatwal Tyagi was the next speaker. A Silver Medallist from Officer's Training Academy who participated in Operation Rhino and Operation Vijay, and also a Mentor and Career Counsellor, she elucidated the power of optimism through her inspiring life story.
She drew upon her experiences in the Scouts and Guides, and NCC, as a part of which she carried out various social campaigns and participated in various parades. As a college student, she represented India as student ambassador to Canada under a cross cultural exchange program called Indo-Canada Youth Exchange Program.
After completing her graduation, when the Indian army was accepting female applicants, for the first time, she was among the only 25 selected candidates out of thousands of applications.
She gave a very important message when she said, "It's better to choose the hard right than to go for the easy wrong". After hanging her boots, she successfully raised and executed the model of ECHS, a ministry of defence project wherein she worked towards providing effective healthcare delivery to the veterans of Defence Services staying in remote corners of counter-insurgency infested areas of Jorhat, Assam and Srinagar, JandK.
As she finished her speech, the entire hall was up on its feet and for the next 30 seconds, the entire hall was reverberating with the claps.
The session continued with Mr. Arpan Dixit, Business Head- Fitness and Marketing, CATFIT. The major topic of his discussion was Pre, During and Post interview psychology, in which he spoke about the preparation, communication and presentation skills. The session was very interactive. Around 300-350 students attended the session. He covered the entire spectrum from making an impactful and well balanced CV in the pre-interview stage to the etiquette for carrying oneself during the interview with confidence. He emphasised the importance of soft skills - tone of voice, non-verbal cues, the choice of words and vocabulary to be used - and how it can impact the interview. He conducted a short mock interview of two volunteers from the audience to demonstrate the art of interviewing in practice.
Overall, the session was very interactive, fruitful and very relevant to the current scenario of placements and internships. It reflected PEC's commitment to investing in human capital and preparing its students for the employment scenario.
