They are resourceful, have good communication skills and they are making money. Meet the new crop of recruiters.
Students of Delhi University and other institutions are making good use of the admission rush and their summer vacations.
Private universities and institutes have hired them for their marketing campaigns inside the university campus. Their job is to sport attractive t-shirts sponsored by their respective institutes and convince and extract details from first-timers.
The pay is between Rs 200-650 per day, which translates into a cool Rs 3,000 to Rs 10,000 for 15 days.
“The campaign has just started and we are getting a decent response. At the end of it all, I will have pocketed around Rs 8,000," said Japneet Kaur, a student of College of Vocational Studies. Kaur has been employed by Avalon Aviation Academy.
Eighteen-year old Anubhav Auditto, who has completed his 1st year at NIIT and is working for Sharda University, said, "I am getting a handsome sum and at the end of the season my total earning would be around Rs 5,000."
The students will be campaigning till June 15, the last day of sale of forms at DU and may continue beyond that.
{{/usCountry}}The students will be campaigning till June 15, the last day of sale of forms at DU and may continue beyond that.
{{/usCountry}}When quizzed, admission seekers gave mixed reactions about such campaigns.
"I think it is a good way of introducing new options to students who haven't scored well," said 17-year old Prateek Aggarwal, who has secured 67 per cent in Class XII. Others like Simran Malhotra, 18, called them "nothing more than nuisance".
Institutes launch these campaigns with database collection as their major objective.
"I think we'll be able to collect about 10,000 names by the end of this admission season. Our estimates suggest a conversion rate of about 10-20 per cent," said Manoj Sharma, Business Development Officer, Delhi Institute of Computer Science (DICS).
"While recruiting these students, we look for basic communication skills. At the end of the day, it is all about extracting information about courses freshers are interested in and creating a data base," said Ashok Dariyani, Vice-President of the Sharda Group.