Career option in these competitive days is very critical to any student in his pursuit of a job.Irrespective of the branch, circuit or noncircuit, the students are opting either to become a software engineer or to go abroad for further studies with a view to settle there permanently. This craze for IT Jobs is to be carefully examined. The students are opting for software jobs as they get lucrative packages and thousands of jobs are available in this sector due to sudden spurt of software companies,National and Multinational.Though there are several thousands of jobs available in other sectors, these students are restricting themselves only to IT Sector because of their non-awareness of the availability of jobs in other areas. There are 300 sectors and 2,980 sub-sectors offering lakhs of jobs to the prospective candidates. Nearly 148 departments in both Central and State government open up hierarchy of jobs to youngsters with excellent pay, perks, power and security. There are 232 public corporations of the Central government and large number of state government public corporations offering thousands of highly paid jobs.
Nearly 7,50,000 entrepreneurs in India are providing employment in their companies/Industries for core or non-core, to the tune of 40 crore Indians. Since childhood some students exhibit their entrepreneur interest and work out a road map to be job givers but not job seekers, job creators but not job takers, history makers but not history readers, performers but not watchers. The defence Services, Army, Navy, Air Force, recruit thousands of candidates into their permanent/ short service/ emergency /junior / non-commission cadres and ranks.The students are to be familiarised at Inter or UG level with the complete picture of jobs available in government, semi-government and private sector. They should be made aware of the distinction between Central and State government jobs, government and private sector jobs, All India and state services, state service and local government service, civil and non–civil jobs, Gazetted and Non-Gazetted, Military and Para military, Public sector and Private sector corporations, Public limited and Private limited company jobs, Class I to Class IV jobs, Officers, Award and Sub-staff in Banks, Nationalised and Private Bank jobs, jobs in Commercial, Schedule and Cooperative banks, desk and field jobs, jobs in policy making and policy implementing, jobs to aid, assist and advise and jobs to enforce, Military and Police, Secretariat and district jobs, superior and subordinate service jobs etc.,
The prospective candidates should also be sensitised with the rules of reservation available for different social categories, disadvantaged groups, and differently-abled sections. Because of the lack of this information, many deserving students are not taking advantage of the Constitutional guarantees. The candidate should be made aware of the names of the bodies or organisations like Union Public Service Commission, State Public Service Commissions,RRB and SSB etc. that conduct competitive examinations to select suitable candidates. The competitive examinations to select the candidates have different examination formats in terms of number of written tests, inputs of written test, optional papers, total marks, viva voce etc. They should be made aware of the pyramidical organisation hierarchy of jobs in both government and private sectors.
The awareness of eligibility conditions in terms of educational qualifications, percentage of marks, age, physical standards is a must for correct career option. The jobs vary in terms of geographical jurisdiction, pay, perks, cadre, category, class, promotions, accountability,transfers, career growth, retirement age, superannuation benefits like PF, Pension, Gratuity, Insurance, Medical facilities,voluntary/ compulsory retirement provisions and benefits, pre and post entry training. Many new sectors are emerging with thousands of jobs namely Hospitality, Travel and Tourism, Domestic and International, Medical Tourism, Event Management, Hospital and HotelManagement, Public relations, Aviation,Animation and Graphics, Fashion, Media Print and Electronic, Rural Management, Photography and Video, Insurance, TV & Film Making, Fitness and Beauty, Foreign Languages, Publishing, Packaging, Translators and Interpreters,Horticulture, Pissiculture, Floriculture, Dairy, Poultry, Modelling, Anchors, RJ/DJ, Biotech, Genetics, Pharmacy, Shipping, Stock Broking,Investment analysts, Personnel officers, Export management, Mutual funds, Medical Transcription, BPO, Sports and Physical Education, Non Government Organisations etc.
These sectors are fast expanding with thousands of job profiles demanding critical managerial skills and officer like qualities.A structured seminar to the students at UG Level presenting before them a vast panorama of jobs available in all sectors with all the above details will greatly benefit the youngsters in choosing their career options. If not there is a danger of some brilliant students landing in odd jobs. It is not good for the students of engineering branches to blindly opt for an IT Career just because they offer immediate higher package. In fact, such brilliant students with excellent academic score and rank in the entrance test shall aspire for all India services or defence services to prove their worth and for the betterment of the country. Some software professionals later get disappointed as they have been doing only routine work having no challenge or thrill in their job. With the software slow down they had a great shock and began to understand the insecurity of their jobs with no guarantee for tomorrow, extended hours of work, continuous tension to fulfill the targets and prove the performance. Being a team member, an IT Engineer always suffers and pays for the negligence and non performance of other team members. Bench sitting is another headache in the software jobs.
New practices like office companion, sometimes, result into broken families, divorces etc, damaging the various social fabric. All this is happening as the candidates are not aware of the consequences before hand. Many brilliant students are opting for higher study abroad especially in developed countries like USA, Canada, UK, Australia, Germany etc with a view to get a job and settle in those countries enjoying higher pay and quality of life.Due to global economic recession, of late, even those NRIs have realised that there are greater avenue of jobs in both government and private sectors with very attractive packages available in India. Leaving their roots for higher packages is no more an attractive point and MNCs in India are offering such challenging jobs to highly qualified experts.
Since the dawn of independence number of colleges and universities are increasing manifold. The Knowledge Commission appointed by Government of India vociferously advocating for more and more universities and colleges for the economic upliftment of disadvantaged groups. Shri Sam Pitroda, Chairman of the Knowledge Commission says that there shall be one university for every district. This results into lakhs of graduates/Post graduates, both professional and general, coming out of the portals of temples of learning. The distance education mode became very popular and lakhs of students are graduating from correspondence courses. The Right to Education will also further multiply the number of graduates/ post graduates aggravating problem of unemployment. Hence, some brilliant but vexed youngsters are going astray and being attracted by anti-social and anti-national activities joining and practicing terrorism and naxalism.
Many engineering graduates are being rejected for employment in IT companies on the plea that they lack employable skills especially communication skills and correct attitude. Good command of English language skills (listening, reading, speaking and writing) is absent in majority of the students as they hail from rural/ district areas with mother tongue as the medium of instruction. Naturally such students get frustrated and think that they are just useless and develop suicidal tendencies causing great embarrassment to parents and government.There are thousands of jobs which do not require such mastery over English. Many jobs in government, Media, entertainment sectors are offered to the candidates after being screened in a competitive examination in their mother tongue. Boys/girls having good proactive conversational skills in mother tongue,capable of commenting something on everything are proving themselves as excellent radio jockeys in FM Radio, Anchors in TVChannels drawing good pay and perks. It is in this context that all students must be aware of career options available in both government and private sectors. This kind of awareness will definitely address the present paradoxical situation of having lakhs of jobs and candidates but jobs not being filled up with appropriate suitable candidates. If the above details are known to the prospective candidates the craze for software jobs will be minimised, create interest in them to aspire for a job suitable to their mind set, attitude, aptitude, thuseliminating future disappointments hasty migration, and brain drain etc.Sector wise presentation of Job Scenario will make career option more clear and useful to all
job seekers.
Basically, jobs are of two types. 1). Govt Jobs 2). Private Jobs.
Govt jobs related to: Govt of India jobs, State Govt Jobs, Public sector and other Allied organisations.The jobs of the Central Govt related to the items mentioned in the Union list of the constitution.Eg:- Defence, Home, Income Tax, Customs and Excise, Railways, Post and Telegraphs, BSNL, Prasara Bharathi, etc.
The state Govt. Jobs related to the items mentioned in the state listof the Constitution. Eg:- Police, Agriculture,Primary & Secondary Education, Co-operation, Local Govts, Welfare, Medical Health etc.Candidates used to show a lot of interest in securing Govt. Jobs. But during the software boom, craze for Govt. jobs dipped because of the attractive salaries, perks and privileges, good promotion opportunities, recognition to merit and performance and accomplishment of given targets. Especially, after the emergence of software companies, the private jobs got a lot of recognition and importance. But there is no reservation policy in the recruitment of private jobs. The candidate has to get these private jobs on the basis of his mental ability and aptitude.
In the private jobs also, there are several cadres, levels, scales etc. In some companies, the employee gets pay package not only on the basis of his performance and skills but also on the basis of his commitment. In these private jobs, the job security is based upon his performance and skill sets alone. They follow a policy of hire and fire. These private companies spend thousands of Rupees on the pre and post entry training of the employee hence, they demand a bond from the employee for a minimum years of service they have to put in that company.Owing to Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation (LPG), the governments are gradually withdrawing their duties and entrusting work to private companies. Thus, the jobs in the private sector are increasing. The private sector is known for efficient functioning and profit making. Hence, this sector is expanding day by day.The multinational companies, with crores of rupees of investment, are entering into sectors like retail, entertainment, food, fashion, media, health, education etc. this is resulting in the increase of private jobs. Due to non-availability of employees with required skills sets, and getting work done is costly in certain developed countries, those countries are outsourcing their work to many Software Development BPO Companies. This is also a reason for growth of private jobs in our country.However, to get a private job, the candidate must not only get good percentage of marks but also should posses good soft skills like team building, communication, inter-personal relationship, honesty and integrity positive thinking etc. Unfortunately, these employable skills are absent in most of our youth. Hence,even after the completion of Degree and having failed in the campus placements, these students are making special efforts to equip themselves with those employable skills.
The jobs in the Central and State Governments can be divided into two types:
1. Gazetted
2. Non- Gazetted
The eligibility conditions like age and educational qualifications, selection process, the concerned competitive examination and the agency that selects differ for the above jobs.The Government jobs can also be divided into Civil Jobs and Non- civil jobs.
A typical Government Department and its job profile are listed below:
Administration (Policy making)
President - Governor
Prime Minister - Chief Minister (Political Posts)
Portfolio Minister - (Political Posts)
Principal Secretary - (Highest Official)
Secretary/ies
Additional Secretary/ies
Joint Secretary/ies
Deputy Secretary/ies
Section officer/s
Assistant Section Officer/s
Senior Assistant/s
Policy Implementing
Commissioner/Director/Chief Engineer
Joint Director/s
Deputy Director/s
Assistant Director/s
Section superintendent
Senior Assistants
Junior Assistants
District Level Officers
Collector & District Magistrate
D.E.O
Deputy Director of Social Welfare
District Social Welfare Officer
Deputy Director of Agriculture
District Co-operative Officer
Executive Engineer
Mandal Level
Tahsildar
Mandal Educational Officer
Mandal Welfare Officer
Mandal Agriculture Officer
Mandal Animal Husbandry Officer
In the Central government, there is Union Public Service Commission to conduct competitive examination and select eligible candidates for Gazetted and Non- Gazetted entry level posts.The selection for all India Services and allied services, IAS, IFS, IPS, IAAS is being done by
UPSC every year. There is State Public Service Commission to conduct the required competitive examinations and select eligible candidates for various Gazetted and Non-Gazetted entry level posts at the state level.In Andhra Pradesh, APPSC conducts Group- I, Group – II, Group – III, Group – IV examinations.Group – I Examination is for Gazetted jobs like Deputy Collector, District Education Officer, Deputy Labor Officer, Deputy Superintendent of Police, District Co- operative Officer, Municipal Commissioner, Commercial Tax Officer, District Panchayat Officer, Tahsildar etc.Group – II Examination is for Non- Gazetted jobs like Deputy Tahsildar, Assistant Commercial Tax Officer, Labour Inspector, Deputy InspectorSchools, Assistant Director Handlooms and Textiles, Motor Vehicles Inspector etc. Group – III Examination is for Jr Auditor Posts Group – IV Examination is for Jr Assistant Posts in all Departments.There are District Selection Committees for secondary grade B.Ed Teachers Selection.For posts of Attenders, Drivers, Watchmen etc.
the candidates sponsored by District Employment Exchange will be selected by the respective departmental head. Gazetted Employees are posted at subdivisional and Mandal level occupying high level posts. They are notified by way of special gazette notification by President or Governor.
They have stamping power and are eligible to withdraw money from the Government teasury.
Non- Civil jobs in the Governments:
At the Central level, all jobs related to defence department.These uniformed personnel can be divided into 3 categories.
1. Commissioned Officers
2. Jr Commissioned Officers
3. Non- Commissioned Officers
Commissioned Officers can be divided into 3 types
1. Permanent Commission
2. Short Service Commission
3. Emergency Commission
All these officers have Gazetted rank and belong to Class I cadre appointed by President of India by a Special Gazette notification as commissioned officers in the Defence Department.
There are 3 examinations for commissioned officers at the entry level.
1. Combined Defence Service Examination (CDS)
2. National Defence Academy Examination (NDA)
3. Technical Entry
The eligibility conditions, selection process,training etc. vary for different examinations.In the Central Government, there are jobs in the Para Military Forces:
1. Central Reserve Police Force
2. Indo Tibetan Border Police Force
3. Central Industrial Security Police Force
4. Railway Police Force etc.
There are Gazetted & Non- Gazetted jobs in these forces. The selection for the Para Military Forces is done by special notifications by the forces concerned.In addition to the above, there are investigating and Detective Agencies in the Central Government:
1. Intelligence Bureau (IB)
2. Research and Analysis Wing (RAW)
3. Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) etc.
The jobs in these organisations are also uniform jobs having different cadres and levels.
STATE LEVEL
At the state level also there are many uniform wearing jobs, like Police, Special Police, Armed Police. There are Gazetted and Non- Gazetted jobs in this category also. The Non- Gazetted entry level post, Police Constables are selected by DIGs or SPs of the area by way of special notification after conducting several rounds of physical and mental ability tests. There is direct recruitment for SI or Police. Hence, those who have the interest in wearing uniform and possess necessary physical and mental abilities, NCC cadets who have a spirit of service and
those who give importance for discipline can think of jobs in the departments of Defence and Police.
LOCAL GOVERNMENTS
The Municipalities, Municipal Corporations,Village Panchayats, Mandal Praja Parishads, Zilla Praja Parishad also have a large number of ordinary and technical jobs. Municipal Health Officer, Sanitary Inspector, Food Inspector,Municipal Engineer, Supervisor, Work Inspector, Revenue Inspector, Bill Collector, MandalDevelopment Officer, Mandal EducationalOfficer, Mandal Agriculture Officer, District Development Officer are some of the Gazetted and Non- Gazetted jobs available. For some higher jobs in these organisations, officers are taken on deputation from the departments but many jobs are filled up by direct recruitment.
PUBLIC CORPORATIONS
Central and State Governments started hundreds of corporations for a special purpose and they offer thousands of jobs. Food Corporation of India, Life Insurance Corporation, National Mineral Development Corporation, General Insurance Corporation, AP Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation, AP State Finance Corporation etc is some of the examples.
PUBLIC SECTOR INDUSTRIAL UNITS
BHEL, BEL, SAIL, and ISPAT NIGAM etc. these organisations offer good jobs with attractive packages and avenues for Career growth with no transfers. Hence, many educated people are being attracted to the jobs in these companies, especially in the companies that are recognised
as Navaratnas.
NATIONALISED & PRIVATE BANKS
Owing to the number of changes that are coming in finance sector and changes in the attitude of banks, the banking sector is fast expanding having branches in every town and big villages. They are adopting customer friendly policies with the latest Software Technologies competing with one another. Thus, they are providing very good jobs, especially Probationary Officers, Award Staff etc for graduates. The recruitment for those jobs is being done by the Banks concerned.
INSURANCE
Fast expanding sector, offering jobs to thousands of officers and assistants, notified by respective private and public companies, under the regulation of statutory body created by the Government of India.
UNIVERSITY JOBS
The universities established by Central and State Governments offer many teaching and nonteaching posts. In the teaching line, they offer posts like Assistant Professor, Associate Professor and Professors to be appointed either directly or indirectly, strictly following the norms
of the university. In the non-teaching line, there are posts like Junior/Senior Assistants, Section Superintendent, Assistant/Deputy/Joint Registrar/s, Registrar. And these jobs are filled up by a selection committee headed either by Vice Chancellor or Registrar, Director or Dean.
COOPERATIVE SECTOR
In Andhra Pradesh, there are thousands of Cooperative societies that are registered as per the provisions of Cooperative Act like Consumer co-operative Societies, Milk Producers Cooperative Societies, Housing Co-operative Societies, Handloom Weavers Co-Operative Societies. There are many jobs in these societies filled by the managements of the societies as per their norms.
AIDED SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES
There are thousands of teaching and nonteaching staff in these educational institutions like Secondary Grade Teacher, B.Ed Teacher,Junior Lecturer, Assistant Professor in a Degree college, Office Superintendent, Steno, Lab Technician etc. All these posts are being filled
up as per the rules and regulations prescribed by the Government.
PRIVATE SECTOR JOBS
If you look from the angle of number, the jobs in the private sector are more than the jobs in the Government sector. Nowadays, sectors like production, service, education, health, IT both Hard and Software, are completely in the private sector. Thousands of crores of investment is coming to this sector. Naturally, jobs with attractive salaries and incentives are being offered in this sector. There is excellent recognition for merit and performance. The only criteria for selection or promotion are skills and performance in this sector. Though the public sector organisations started with lot of ideology,some of them became centers for inefficiency and losses. Hence, they are being closed. The employees of Government as well as Public sector at one stage are migrating to private sector. These private sector organisations are highly professional, quality-oriented,determined to maintain standards and are ready to face global competition. These organisations are giving top priority for professional skills and also trying to enhance the employee competency. They are taking all possible steps to ensure work life balanced by providing for recreation, family welfare, showcasing of creative talents, transport, health and
superannuation benefits. Thus, they are striving for all round development of the employees and are contributing to the growth of national wealth.
(The author is Dean, SLC’S Institute of Engg & Technology, Hyderabad.)