Organizations, with a strong culture and deep domain knowledge, prefer building internal talent as home grown leaders sustain the fabric of the organizational and drive performance in a manner that co-relates with the culture. BD is one such company and therefore we also have a preference to hire people early on in their career and groom them for success. This is not to say that expanding our talent base by hiring unique and new skills at senior levels is discouraged, but grooming young talent is deeply engrained in our organization and is supported by structured programs like early career experience.

We hire fresh graduates from BPharm and BSc courses for our sales trainee program. This year, we are scaling the program in a significant manner and we hope that in next the two years the campus hires will contribute to more than 50 percent of our front end sales force hires. We look for those behaviors among the campus hires which at a later stage can develop into the competencies required of our leaders.

We look for resourcefulness which develops into strong business acumen. We look for logical prowess which evolves into strategic thinking; we look for ability to get things done and for strong inter personal skills which subsequently can evolve into execution and leadership skills. Above all, we look for young men and women for whom the means is as good as the end i.e. those who can adhere to high ethical standards.

After all, the above said traits are not something that can be identified just in an hour long interview. So we look for the overall profile of the students both in the academic as well as non-academic fields. Their interests beyond studies, extra-curricular achievements, engagement in community events, and membership of various bodies in colleges tell us about the person. It's also important for us that students really corroborate what they have written in their profiles about these activities by real evidence such as stage performances, level certificates, and endorsements. The one other thing that really differentiates a young graduate is real experience of working as an intern or as a trainee. The learning agility of such students is much higher as they already know what to expect at the work place and are able to adapt faster.

As young India moves into the workplace, companies like BD are ready to leverage the potential of this new workforce. It's therefore imperative for this workforce to equip itself with real life skills and use the vital years at the campus for developing themselves into a composite individual who can contribute to the growth of an organization and in the process build a robust career.