St Xavier’s students attend campus interview onThursday. Picture by Manik Bose

Ranchi, Sept. 18: Global services provider Wipro has creamed off some of the best students of St Xavier’s College for its business process outsourcing (BPO) wing in Calcutta.

Officials of Wipro BPO handpicked 65 of the total 250 candidates from the college during the last lap of campus placement today. It had earlier selected 25 students from Marwari and Ranchi colleges.

Final-year graduate and postgraduate students were eligible for the recruitment drive, which was organised by Wipro in association with Aricent Infotech (P) Ltd. Indrajeet Chatterjee, the campus relationship manager of Wipro BPO, Calcutta, said the company had selected students with excellent communication skills in English.

And it goes without saying that bagging jobs with Wipro wasn’t easy. The 250 candidates, including students from streams such as BCA, commerce, office management and secretarial practice, had to undergo a string of tests — all part of the BPO’s rigorous selection procedure.

Passage reading, voice assessment and a technical test preceded the final interview. The selected 65 will have to undergo a year’s training too. But all this doesn’t sound bad at all considering the Rs 1.8-lakh annual package the company is offering to freshers.

Chatterjee said after the aptitude tests around 120 students had been shortlisted for the interview. “Besides keeping in mind their verbal and written skills, we also had to see whether the students were keen to work on night shifts,” he said.

Chatterjee added that the company had earlier selected 20 students from Marwari College and five from Ranchi College. “All those selected have the tenacity to handle odd hours a BPO job demands.”

Ashish Kumar, who is pursuing a vocational course in office management at St Xavier’s, said he was elated to have made it to the Wipro list. “This is my first job and am glad to get such a big break. I am sure it will enhance my career prospects,” he said.

For Ayesha Iqbal, a final-year student of functional English, it was a dream come true. “The recruiters were impressed by my communication skills during the personal interview. I will live my dream,” she said.

R.C. Kunal, the operation head of Aricent Infotech, said the company was happy to provide a platform to students who have a knack for BPO jobs. “We hope to help them on a regular basis,” he added.