The kids, Melinda and me all love camping. Nothing beats getting out out of wifi range, unplugging from all the distractions of the day and setting up the tent. Unfortunately, this year has been too busy for us to get out camping as much as we would have liked. Up until a few weeks ago we had not been out camping this summer at all. I have been travelling with work, the kids have been busy with various school schedules and Melinda is always running around working with some group or association.
A few weeks ago summer gave us one last weekend of sunshine before giving into autumn. With this, we took the opportunity to take advantage of the weekend and packed the tent and the kids into car on Friday night and headed to Upper Yarra Reservoir for 2 nights of camping.
Getting away even for 2 nights, was great for all of us. If you are wondering why I have put a picture of a tree in the gallery above, this is because this is the tree where both Melinda and I found Marissa on Sunday morning after breakfast. All weekend the kids were trying to climb this tree and on Sunday, Marissa finally figured it out. We were a bit panicked as Marissa was high up in the tree and had a fair way to get herself back down, but she was at the top of this tree and couldn’t have been happier. This is what I love about camping. Kids don’t need an ‘application’ or a tablet to enjoy themselves. This may be sound crazy but kids knew how to have fun before the infiltration of media devices came into our daily lives and the crazier thing is they still know how to fun without having to open an app, be online or be connected to some media device.
I am hoping next summer we get more opportunities to go camping and spend time offline and ‘off the grid’ so to speak so we can remember the simple things in life are often the best. No application or mobile device needed (although I shouldn’t speak I did check my email on Saturday from my phone).
Oracle is hiring. In our Bangalore offices we are looking for a bright student to join us for a 6 month internship working as a Data Scientist. What is a Data Scientist?? Have a look at our infographic below, if this opportunity sounds of interest email your resume to manognya.reddy@oracle.com .
One of the things that I think is important and I want our Campus Recruitment Team here at Oracle to be known for is outstanding customer service. When I say customer service, I mean both students and hiring managers should feel they have had a great experience in our campus hiring process. I think one of the keys to providing outstanding customer service is being able to provide as best as we can a personalised experience where the students who are interviewing with us feel like individuals in our process and not just part a ‘campus drive’.
In the campus world this can be challenging at times especially in countries where there is high volume hiring. It can be tricky to create a personal experience when you are hiring for a large number of open graduate roles at one time.
I think Campus Recruitment is one of the areas in the recruitment industry that is just waiting for a change.
We have all seen the proliferation of Social Media in Recruitment over the past 4-6 years. Every Recruiter has a LinkedIn account or uses Twitter or G+ or FB, etc… and some individuals and organisations do it really well. Even in Campus Hiring there is great Social Media initiatives where companies reach out to students and talk to them.
However one thing that has not really changed (and this is a generalisation) is the campus hiring interview process. Do these words inspire enthusiasm to you: “Group Interview, Assessment Centre, On-Campus Drive, Off-Campus Drive, etc...” I don’t know about you but to me these words don’t really sound very personal or individual to students. It almost conjures up images of a factory production line or those long queues you see where the person behind the counter says ‘take a number’.
Campus Recruitment has come a long way don’t get me wrong – companies can share data with and talk to students in so many different ways now it really has become a much more transparent and open process. There are some times such as at IIT’s in India where it really is a bit old school in terms of interviewing with students running from company to company interviewing on campus over the course of a few days but I want students talking to Oracle to have as great an experience as possible (the outcome of getting a job or not is separate to the customer experience).
As students, what are your thoughts? Do you feel like ‘just a number’ when you are interviewing or is there ways that companies can make the process more personalised. Let us know your thoughts.
If you are interviewing with Oracle and have questions, want to talk to us or want to know what it is like working here – email us and we will help where we can. If you can’t reach your local Recruiter in your region email me at david.talamelli@oracle.com and I will put you in touch with the appropriate person.
