Being a highly coveted profession — and notoriously hard to get into — the Civil Services are the most sought career path for lakhs of young aspirants. To illustrate, in 2024 alone, over 13 lakh aspirants appeared in the Union Public Service Commission Civil Service Exam’s Preliminary round, but only about 14,000 qualified for the Main paper.
Of these, only a few thousand candidates make it to the Interview round, and only 600 clear it.
With such low chances of success, several candidates fail to clear the exam in one go and make multiple attempts to do so — dedicating years in preparation for the CSE.
However, a lot of candidates do not realise that Civil Services is not the only career option for candidates wanting a career in public administration, public policy, or governance.
EdexLive speaks to Jigyasu Agarwal, Political Consultant and Co-founder of “Rebounce”, a platform that helps ex-UPSC aspirants land careers in administration and governance, to understand these pathways better.
UPSC aspirants bent towards public administration
According to Agarwal, the biggest advantage ex-UPSC aspirants have in their arsenal is their knowledge of India’s administration and polity.
“Generally, ex-UPSC aspirants have a better aptitude towards jobs in the development sector over tech or finance, as they have spent a considerable amount of time studying civics and various aspects of India’s governance,” he explains.
Moreover, he says that former UPSC aspirants also have the right frame of mind and motivations for a career in public administration consultancy, as many of them want to join the Civil Service to serve the public.
As consultants, candidates get to advise local, state, or national governing bodies, Non-governmental organisations (NGOs), politicians, ministries and departments, and Civil Servants to conceive and implement various development projects, he adds.
Covering for lack of experience
However, most ex-UPSC candidates have spent so many years trying to crack the CSE, that they do not have substantial professional or field experience in public administration.
“The CSE requires full-time preparation, which makes it difficult for aspirants to find work or projects to do parallelly. When they eventually run out of attempts or decide to switch careers, a huge chunk of their 20s is gone, and cannot find fulfilling work due to their lack of experience,” Agarwal says.
Because of this, he says that ex-UPSC aspirants must settle for less fulfilling jobs that do not add to their experience.
To combat this, Agarwal who is an ex-UPSC aspirant himself, started Rebounce, which helps ex-UPSC aspirants find a direction to a career in public administration and work as consultants.
“At Rebounce, we aim to provide awareness about various career options and pathways to ex-UPSC aspirants and help them chalk out a clear direction for their careers. We also help them build their profiles so that they can transition seamlessly into public administration consultancy,” he explains.
Since October 2023, Agarwal helped around 1,000 former aspirants find careers in the development sector through Rebounce.
Low-risk factor
While consultants do not enjoy the same power or stature that Civil Servants do, they also enjoy more freedom, Agarwal explains.
“As a Civil Servant, most of your life is controlled by the government, and you are under a lot of scrutiny. You would not have this baggage as a consultant,” he explains.
Moreover, public administration consultancy also has fewer risks involved for candidates, he adds.
“UPSC is a high-reward, but high-risk career option. Candidates spend a good part of their 20s trying to crack it. It’s great if they get in, but they would find themselves in an unsure position if they don’t. They have nothing to show for the years they spent preparing for the Civil Service Exam,” he elaborates.
Instead, he advises candidates to limit their number of attempts to two or three and explore avenues to public service outside the UPSC.
“This is a calculated risk, which will ensure that you get to spend your 20s realising your true potential and build your career,” he says.
