With over 18 million employees, government sector still accounts for over half of the total

employees in the organized sector in India. And for millions of graduates and diploma holders
in non-metros, a public sector job is still a passport to financial security, social status and
general well being. Hence, despite impossible success rates like 1 in 10,000 for Special Class
Railway Apprentices Examination, lakhs of people every year sit for hundreds of examinations
conducted by a host of agencies for that elusive government job.

Recruitments in the government sector happen at four levels. The central government recruits
through the Union Public Service Commission and the state governments through their own
public service commissions. The public sector undertakings and autonomous institutions recruit
either individually or through centralized recruitment boards on an all India basis.

And recruitments in the public sector are diverse. From gardner to advisor, government
recruits for various job profiles and at all levels of responsibilities. The entry requirements,
selection process, catchment area, and eligibility requirements are amazingly diverse.

To help you navigate the job market better, we present an analysis of most of the jobs
announced in the public sector during the last financial year (2008-2009). Grouped into 14
different sectors, from agriculture to service engineering, over 1.7 lakh employment
opportunities that are available for an aspiring youth have been examined. While the detailed
eligibility requirements and examination processes are impossible to list out, a broad overview
of qualifications, tips for examination and other relevant details have been incorporated.

The primary objective is to provide you a pen picture of the number, nature, selection process
and prospects of available government jobs across sectors. This is in a bid to enable you to
make sound decisions about your career in what would turn out to be a lifetime pursuit for
most of you.

Research Methodology

Mapping Employment News and select national dailies for the past year, we created a database
of all the listing of jobs of Central, State Governments, Public Sector Undertakings,
autonomous bodies, Universities, and other general recruitment bodies and mid-level career
promotion opportunities including those on deputation. We gathered detailed data on position,
age, qualifications required, selection process, nature of recruitment and organisations. We
grouped the 170,778 jobs, so identified into 14 broad categories that include specialists and
others. Only recruitment by armed forces has been excluded as the exact number of vacancies
is not available.

Health Sector

Medical officers were the most recruited among the several job titles in this sector primarily at
the government hospitals, public sector corporations and other organisations. The health sector
openings accounted for 4 percent of all jobs across all the sectors. The opening for
Nurse/Nursing officers/Sisters - the second largest among job-titles require a BSc in Nursing or
diploma in general nursing and midwifery and for higher level, in addition to the said
qualification, two-three years of work experience is considered mandatory.

However, for some positions in a smaller organisation, you may have passed class tenth exam
with an added qualification in Nursing. The All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi
recruited more than 360 Sisters (Grade II) last year. For the post of medical officers in their
specialised area, a degree in related medicine field is essential.
For insurance medical officers, who were recruited in large numbers by the Employee State
Insurance Corporation, in addition to a medical qualification, it is obligatory that one should
have completed compulsory rotating internship and also be registered under the Medical
Council of India. These officers are posted in hospitals/dispensaries of E.S.I. Corporation after
clearing the selection test.

The other promising job opportunity in the health sector is at teaching and research positions.
Last year 430 assistant professors were recruited in different medical colleges and hospitals in
the country.

While Lady Hardinge Medical College & Smt S.K Hospital recruited over 150 faculty members of
which 68 were for assistant professorship, the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education &
Research, Chandigarh filled in 200 faculty positions. Railway Recruitment Board selected 229
Health & Malaria Inspectors which required the candidates to have a degree in science,
preferably with chemistry as the main subject.

The other noteworthy openings here are at the level of Pharmacists, Medical Superintendents,
Radiologists, Anaesthetists and Subject Specialists.

Science & Technology

When Aarti Srivastava, a polymer scientist, started looking for a job in her field, she attempted
a balanced approach to both teaching and research. Her PhD supervisor at Banaras Hindu
University told her she would be competitive for faculty positions, but her post-doc advisor
suggested that her research outcome would be more suitable to a career in research. She thus
chose a public sector oil company’s Research & Development centre where she now relishes
the challenge of developing real-world products. In the past one year such openings have been
advertised at different levels in different functional areas. Of the 2,627 job positions in this
sector, nearly half were that of scientists at different levels.

While public sector enterprises such as Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited, Indian Oil
Limited, Uranium Corporation of India Limited, Hindustan Organic Chemicals Limited and the
like recruited several S&T personnel last year, the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research
and its laboratories also employed many senior/principal scientists. The number of chief
scientists recruited were relatively less. The strategic sector has also recruited hundreds of
scientists, for instance the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) recruited
500 scientists ‘B’ last year. Interestingly, a majority of those employed at DRDO were
graduates from the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs). For such positions the Recruitment
and Assessment Centre conducts a Scientist Entry Test (SET) usually advertised on their website
and Employment News.

The S&T sector has wide range of opportunities for personnel in all critical areas like health,
education, basic science, power, protection technologies and so on. In the past few years, an
increasing number of posts have been devoted specifically to research and teaching positions in
academia. Research Associates, Research Fellows & Assistants, Junior and Senior Research
Fellows were very much encouraged to render their services in various projects. Academic
institutes such as central and state universities, National Institutes of Technology, IITs and like
regularly recruit candidates at the above positions who are later employed as faculty members.
The projects were seen to be largely sponsored by department of science and technology,
biotechnology, atomic energy, space ministry of environment and forests and health & family
welfare.

Banking Sector - Money Matters

Amrendra Nath Sinha, a probationary officer at the Indian Overseas Bank reflects on the need
for a much wider-ranging of knowledge than was required, say a decade ago. The range of
products and services which banks can offer is so extensive following the deregulation of the
sector. In the previous year (2008-09), banking sector recruited the maximum number of
personnel at various levels ranging from management trainees to assistant managers and
agriculture officers to marketing & recovery officers (rural).

However, the two most demanding job positions offered at the entry level are at the Clerical
Grade and as Probationary Officers (PO). These positions draw a dominant pay-scale of Rs.
4,410-13,210 and Rs. 10,000-18,240 respectively. With stiff competition coming from private
sector and foreign banks in India, most of the nationalised banks enable a greater adaptation of
life-long learning to the present and future qualification needs. In the present context of an
increasingly complex finance sector, the qualifying criteria for vacancies were found to be
postgraduation with relevant specialization at the middle and senior level positions. Knowledge
of computers is an add on. The usual openings were for chartered accountants, cost
accountants, management, agriculture and commerce graduates. The other job openings in the
sector include investment officers, insurance advisors, foreign exchange manager, systems
manager, financial analysts, corporate credit personnel and so on. In the coming years, it
appears that the development of vocational or professional qualifications would be a priority
for the Indian banking sector.

Within banking, employers look for people with following skills: numeracy and mathematics,
relationship management that makes you understand client needs; industry and product
knowledge; interpersonal skills; knowledge of information and communication technology; and
languages and cultural awareness.

In our analysis, among the top recruiters, the State Bank of India emerged as the largest
recruiter with over 27,200 vacancies in the last year - the largest share being taken by Clerical
Grade followed by Probationary Officers (PO). The other large recruiter was Union Bank of
India. The entry level eligibility criteria for the former is 12th pass with 60 per cent marks
while for the POs it is graduation with stipulated percentage that varies from bank to bank.
The selection for POs is through preliminary and main examination followed by group discussion
and interviews (also see page 24 for details on Bank PO exam).

The 2-hour preliminary exam is objective comprising English language; test of reasoning;
general awareness including computer knowledge; and quantitative aptitude including data
interpretation. The 3-hour main examination also has a descriptive section on English. A similar
exam pattern is adopted for clerical grade but the emphasis is on numerical aptitude,
reasoning and language skills. Recruitment details are available on respective websites of
banks, Employment News, job portals (look for reputed ones) and national dailies.

Education - teaching for a new India

Faculty openings in academic institutions are best suited for motivated self-starters who have
gone through both the rigours and exciting facet of a higher degree, usually a PhD, while post-
doctoral experience is an added advantage. The highest rewards are given to those who are
able to identify and explore original problems in their fields. With the Sixth Pay Commission in
place, the education sector is particularly seen to attract many people.

The attraction is also due to the relatively flexible structure of the profession. There were
close to 8,000 teaching jobs advertised last year in the public- funded universities and
organisations, research institutions, schools, municipal corporations, and public service
commissions. Out of these, nearly 50 percent were at the entry level as lecturers and assistant
professors. In view of several academic institutions being set up by the government and private
sector in the country, many teaching and research responsibilities are imminent. In order to
equip oneself for a faculty position, one needs to pass the National Eligibility Test (NET)
conducted by the University Grants Commission (UGC).

The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) conducts the UGC/CSIR-NET for natural
sciences. The prerequisite to appear for this test is a postgraduate degree in the respective
subject. The test is conducted by the UGC twice a year usually in June and December. There
are two papers of which the first tests your teaching and research aptitude, while the second
paper is designed to test your knowledge in the subject. Employees State Insurance
Corporation and Uttarakhand Public Service Commission recruited about 1,500 assistant
professors/lecturers. Banaras Hindu University also recruited nearly 500 faculty in last year.
Major recruiters also include different ministries, Railways and defence services.

Engineering

Today’s engineers and technologists continue to revolutionize the way we live. At the risk of
being simplistic, in general, an engineer’s position stresses theory, analysis, and design while a
technologist’s job incorporates applications of the same. Last year saw more than 10,500 jobs
in engineering domain, not to speak of technicians who are dealt separately in the section on
service engineering. Job-titles in demand were Junior Telecom Officers (JTO), Graduate
Engineer Trainees (GET) and Junior Engineers. Public Sector Units (PSU) in particular
aggressively looked for fresh engineers to be appointed as executive trainees in the pre-revised
dominant pay scale of Rs. 12,000-17,500. Some of the big recruiters were Bharat Heavy
Electricals Limited, Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited, Damodar Valley Corporation, and
National Thermal Power Corporation. The GETs were recruited in different disciplines, for
instance NTPC sought 160 trainees in Electrical, 220 in Mechanical, 60 in Civil and 90 in Control
& Instrumentation engineering. To be selected, candidates have to write a test comprising a
little over 120 multiple-choice questions of the relevant subject discipline and all those short-
listed appear for GD and Personal Interview before the respective company’s Central Selection
Board. Application and selection formalities are now increasingly being done online. The
recruitment information is available on the websites of these PSUs. Other openings in this
domain were: Section Engineers, largely recruited by Railway Recruitment Boards; Scientific
officers or Scientists (by Ministry of Communications & IT) and Assistant Engineers, (by state
power corporations) as also Network and Design Engineers; Architects and Mining Supervisors in
government or government-supported establishments.

Finance & Accounts - bean counters

The option in finance involves development of theoretical and practical approaches to financial
management, security analysis, and portfolio management as also the analytical study of
money markets, real estate, insurance, options & futures and financial institutions. However,
the moment we grouped accounts in the category all job-titles with large vacancies
overshadowed the vacancies in finance sector.

In finance, several banks like UCO Bank, Canara Bank, Andhra Bank and Dena Bank recruited
Chartered Accountants in two figures. Similarly the public sector organizations like Food
Corporation of India, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited and National Highways
Authority of India recruited finance managers, deputy managers, and financial analysts in
nearly same quantum. In accounts category, maximum vacancies were found to be as
accountants/accounts officers both at senior and junior level followed by account assistants,
trainees, and auditors.

The other promising thing to note here is the openings in insurance in this sector. Jobs in
insurance involve working for the betterment of individuals and businesses by managing risk,
anticipating potential risk problems and protecting from catastrophic losses. Last year Life
Insurance Corporation (LIC) recruited 30 actuarial administrative officers that required a pass
in papers of Actuarial Society of India (IAL/ASI) apart from a basic degree. Largest recruiters
for accountants were LIC, Food Corporation of India, and Railway Recruitment Board in the
pre-revised dominant pay-band of Rs. 5,000-8,000 and Rs. 7,500-12,000. Employees Provident
Fund recruited nearly 100 audit personnel last year. Skill-sets in demand for accountants in
particular are financial statements preparation, general ledger accounting, ad-hoc reporting
and inter-company reconciliation.

Administration - the glue that binds

Administrative jobs are classified under Central and State. While central government jobs are
branched into All India Services and Central Services, a similar categorisation is seen at the
state level. Most of the jobs in this group were small in number but at higher ranks from
directors to heads of government undertaking and from joint secretary to secretary level.
Vacancies in larger numbers were listed by Railway Recruitment Board (RRB), insurance firms
and government. For higher echelons, aspirants need to write Civil Services Exam conducted by
UPSC at the central level or a similar exam conducted by the State Public Service Commissions.
Last year, various insurance corporations, scientific research organisations, and government
departments listed more than 600 vacancies at Administrative Officer’s level in the dominant
pay scale of Rs. 8,000–13,500/Rs. 11,110-20,910. RRB recruited close to 750 Assistant Station
Masters and Depot Material Superintendents. Ministry of Home Affairs employed over 50
Intelligence Officers at its Narcotics Control Bureau. The eligibility at entry level for above jobs
is a graduation degree and selection is done through written test, GD and interview.
Recruitments happened in Ministry of Finance, Defence, ESIC, Department of Animal Husbandry
and Food Safety & Standards Authority of India.

Office Support - the nuts & bolts

Nearly 8,000 job vacancies were listed in this category that include lower division clerks
(LDCs), stenographers, office assistants, draughtsman, private secretary, typist, library
attendant, telephone operator, receptionist and messenger and at a higher level job titles like
upper division clerks, section officers, and office superintendents among host of others. In all
there were 3,018 positions of clerks and 3,125 posts of office assistants which together account
for 78 percent of all positions in this category. Section Officers account for just over 2 percent
of all positions. A sizeable number of LDCs were also employed by Ministry of Shipping and
Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan. For entry in clerical grade, one needs to appear in a written
exam in two parts: first is an objective paper of 200 marks equally divided into sections on
reasoning ability and clerical aptitude; English language; numerical ability and general
awareness. Part two comprises a typewriting test.

Security - the men in uniform

After banking, maximum job openings were in security. The State Police, Industrial Security
Forces, Border Security Force/s and even Banks employed security personnel, although
majority were at the constable level in the dominant pay scale of Rs. 5,200-20,200.
Educational qualification for Constable-general duty is a pass in class 10/10+2. Other job-titles
in the sector included security and vigilance officer, assistant commandants, security
supervisors and coast guards. The sector had 35,632 jobs which accounted for 21 per cent of
total vacancies in the last one year. Total vacancies for post of constables was 34,459 or 97 per
cent of all security openings. CISF, Delhi Police and ITBP together accounted for 68 per cent of
the jobs or 22,340 men and 1,486 women constables. For selection, one needs to qualify
physical efficiency test and written test. For example at CISF, the former consists of events
like race, long and high jump which carry 25 marks and the latter consists of both objective
and descriptive test for 50 marks. The exam assesses candidates’ general awareness,
knowledge of elementary maths and ability to observe and distinguish patterns and basic
knowledge of language. Interview and special qualifications like creditable achievements in
sports, NCC, scouts/guides or any extra curricular activity have a weightage of 15 and 10 marks
respectively.

Non-technical Jobs - support staff

The job titles in this category include Store Keeper, Security Guard, Driver, Labourer, Peon,
Washerman, Gardener, Laboratory Assistant, Blacksmith, Sweepers among others. The total
number of vacancies in the last year was close to 5,000 or about 3 percent of total number of
vacancies. Apart from the major recruiters listed out, Indian Army, Indian Navy, Ordinance
Factory, Railway Recruitment Board, Sashastra Seema Bal and Military Engineering Services also
employed sizeable number of people. Candidates with educational qualification of class VIII at
the minimal level need to apply for the above listed job titles. While the prevalent age group
for such aspirants was observed to be 18-25 years, the dominant pre-revised pay scale was Rs.
2,550-3,200 and Rs. 3,050-4,590. Unskilled labourers, however, need to be literate up to class
V in order to be eligible. An additional qualification of an ex-serviceman is generally essential
for the job of security personnel in establishments such as CISF or Border Security Force. The
applications are aplenty for these positions as the hopefuls consider this as a safe and secured
option. The other advantage is the adherence to office timings which in case of most of the
private firms is highly ignored.

Specialists: Management, Social Science, Computers, and Law

The specialist category includes professionals from the field of Management, Social Sciences,
Law and Computers that excludes computer engineering. Management Trainees, in particular
those who graduated from Business schools in less than 1-3 years were the most in demand with
organisations like Steel Authority of India Limited, National Thermal Power Corporation,
Uranium Corporation of India, NHPC Limited formerly called as National Hydroelectric Power
Corporation Ltd and Syndicate Bank recruiting them in different functional areas like finance,
human resources and marketing. The Social Sciences had fewer positions that asked for
applications for the posts of regional officers in Ministry of Information & Broadcasting. The
Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) also asked for applications from those willing
to pursue PhD for 40 doctoral fellowships in the open category and 15 in the northeast
category. In computers, programmers/assistant programmers that have a diploma or degree in
computer applications were asked to apply for nearly 250 positions. Similarly job titles like
Administrative Officer and Manager-IT/Systems were advertised for in organisations like
Employees Provident Fund, Andhra Bank and Oriental Insurance Company Limited.In Law,
several banks like the Central Bank of India and Bank of Maharashtra looked for law officers in
the prevalent pay band of Rs. 14,300-18,300. The eligibility criteria for a law officer in banks is
a mandatory law degree with 60% marks and active practice at the Bar for 5 years or as law
officer in legal department in a commercial bank/financial institution. The High Court in
various states were on the look for Restorers in the pay-scale of Rs. 5,200-20,200 short-listed
through a two-hour written examination based on multiple-choice questions in language
comprehension, general awareness, mathematics and reasoning. Restorers or Junior Judicial
Assistants are selected after a two-stage exam comprising comprehension/essay writing, type-
writing and in interview.

Service Engineering

This category includes all such vacancies where a professional is likely to be involved in
fabricating, operating, testing and troubleshooting, and maintaining existing equipment or
systems. In other words, the job vacancies included anyone holding a qualification in
vocational training (say diploma from Industrial Training Institute or Polytechnic) who was
qualified to typically install, test, and maintain products in the field and was integral to the
manufacturing process. This sector accounted for nineteen percent of all job-vacancies in our
study. The maximum openings were for the job title Assistant Loco Pilot/Loco Pilots by the
Railway Recruitment Board.

The other job openings apart from the ones listed in the table in sizeable numbers were that of
fitters, mining sirdars in coalfields, technical officers, assistant workshop superitendents,
chargemen, crane operators, electricians, foremen and machinists. Railway Recruitment Board
in various zones collectively looked for nearly 10,200 people in this sector, while the Ministry
of Shipping/ Road Transport & Highways advertised for over 4,150 jobs in service engineering.
Delhi Metro Rail Corporation Ltd also announced close to 1,300 vacancies, of which 789 posts
were for Station Controller Train Operators. The Directorate General of Employment and
Training (DGET) which is the agency responsible for implementing vocational training
programme in the country has observed the need for skilled personnel for openings in both
manufacturing and services in India. The latest annual report of DGET (2007-08) states that in
order to sustain adequate supply of semi-skilled workers, and also for value creation through
dynamic vocational training policy and infrastructure, 6,906 Industrial Training Institutes
(ITI)/centres (1997 in government sector and remaining 4,909 in the private sector) are
functioning all over the country. These ITIs have a seating capacity of 9.53 lakh and they
impart training in 110 trades. The general educational qualification needed for applying to
positions such as foreman, fitter, chargeman or junior supervisor is a diploma in a relevant
discipline from an ITI or a similar institute. The positions such as assistant technicians,
craftsmen, laboratory assistants and junior attendants require 10/10+2 pass and relevant
experience depending on the nature of job and responsibilities. Recruitments also happened in
Public Sector Enterprises like Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited that recruited over 250
Operating Technicians and Eastern Coalfields Limited that emloyed Mining Sirdars. The
Department of Atomic Energy also advertised for more than 100 stipendiary trainees in
different areas, mainly for their Hyderabad Station.

Others: Music, Dance, Theatre, Arts; Hospitality; Media; Language; and Sports There were
fewer jobs in government and public sector organisations in disciplines like
Music/Dance/Theatre/Arts, Media, Hospitality, Language, and Sports. The job titles in Music et
al that were in demand last year included painters, photographers, instrument players, dancers
and vocalists. Organisations looking for such posts were Indian Railways, National School of
Drama, Kathak Kendra, Sangeet Natak Akademi, Banaras Hindu University and Ministry of
Shipping. In Hospitality, the National Aviation Company of India Ltd called for applications to
fill 547 posts of Trainee Cabin Crew at a pay package of Rs. 28,000 per month. Media jobs were
advertised the least last year. 21 Junior Proof Readers were advertised by Parliament of India,
while other organisations announced their requirement of Public Relation Officers and Sub-
Editors in this domain. In languages area, Rajbhasha Assistant and Hindi language translators
were the most sought after. One needed a Master’s degree in Hindi and about two years of
relevant experience for the above posts. Other job-titles too were linked to Hindi language as
there were openings such as Hindi officer, Hindi typists and official language officers. Largest
recruitment was through the RRB and Public Service Commission, Uttar Pradesh. Even banks
such as UCO, Andhra, Canara, Dena, Allahabad and Bank of Maharashtra called for applications
for official language officers. Indian Railways recruited the maximum number of sports
personnel in different disciplines like hockey, football, tennis, cricket, volleyball and
badminton. This category had one percent of total job vacancies in a span of one year. The
other job was that of Assistant Coach in institutes required a Bachelor’s degree in Physical
Education and a Diploma in Coaching from an institution like NIS Patiala.

Concluding remarks
With over 1.7 lakh jobs, the government and public sector still collectively account for about
half of the jobs that are available in the organised sector and hence are very much in demand,
especially in tier 2 and tier 3 cities.But what motivates individuals to opt for public service
varies. Prof. Purshottam Agarwal, Member UPSC when quizzed about civil services said,
“Services as a word is integrated into sheer conceptualization of a government job, which is
why it is termed as public service. In terms of diversity, challenges, and ability to make a
difference, no other job can match civil services.” On the other hand, it is iron clad security
that a government job offers, that motivates many aspirants, is the opinion of
J.Subhramaniam, Research Director, NTPC. Whether it is service orientation or security, a
public sector job offers scope for both.