There ARE Alternative of Government Jobs

by Som Vishwakarma
USA

January 27, 2006

There are so many Bihari youths who after graduating spend a significant amount of their time in searching for a government/public sector job. They travel across the length and breadth of the country to appear in the railway exam, the banking exam, the SAIL exam, the IPCL exam and so on and so forth. To appear for these exams, they book the railway tickets in advance and contact their relatives in the towns where the exams are being held. In case they don't have relatives in these cities they try to either stay in a hotel or even on a railway platform or bus stand. They also need to plan what and where they should eat and drink. The entire exercise becomes an event in itself.

Lot of youths also subscribe to newspapers like the ‘employment news’ that mostly print the job ads for government/public sector. The fat newspaper filled with job advertisements makes the youth’s heart beat with satisfaction. But the numbers of pages in these newspapers is a fallacy. Usually the number of jobs available in the government/public sector is few and far between. The government/public sectors issue two page advertisements for even 2 openings since the advertising budget comes from 'government money'. For a few vacancies, there are lakhs of applications. A railway clerk's job receives thousands of applications from M. Sc. and PhD candidates.

Also, lot of people brush up their general knowledge, logical reasoning, language, aptitude, math and all kinds of theoretical skill sets as they move from one exam to the another. They even go to coaching classes for specific exams like the banking exams.

Once the exam is over they come back to their hometown and start preparing for the next exam. Hopping around from one government /public sector exam to the other gives the youths an artificial feeling that they are trying hard to land a job. They feel 'busy'. Moreover, since they have recently passed out of college/school, studying for the ‘exams’ is a comfortable and familiar territory for them.

Our youths need to take a pause and re think about this whole exercise. Is the means becoming an end for them? Are they devoting a majority of their time on non-promising / far-fetched options and feeling artificially satisfied? Are they better served if they prepare and apply for a private sector job or start their own business instead?

The private sector jobs are available in plenty for hard working individuals. The private sector will do a better job in matching your skill set with the job requirements. They wouldn't care about your chemistry and biology knowledge when you are applying for say an accountant's job. Also, they wouldn't be interested in 'pairavis' that much since their focus is to get a task done and make money. Unlike the government jobs where most of the people will not even make it to the interview stage, the private sector will give a candidate a chance to understand the exact job requirements and evaluate their own skill sets. Based on this, an individual who fails in getting a private sector job in the first try can try updating their skill set and trying the next time with better preparation. So the process of applying for the private sector jobs can make your skill sets stronger and your confidence better. Another good option is to start ones own business. The business can be started on a smaller scale so that the seed capital needed is small.

It's time for all the unemployed Bihari youths to be bolder and get out of their comfort zone. They need to seriously consider moving out of the comforts of parent’s home/home town and to 'really' try and earn a lively-hood. Living in an unfamiliar town and trying to make ends meet with ones own earnings make one more self-sufficient and ones character stronger. Fortune favors the brave so stop being wimps, get up, get out and do something ‘real’!

Return to previous Page