Civil Services Aspirants Club of St. Thomas College organized a career guidance session on ‘Civil Services as a career option’. Mr. V. S. Singh, a professional faculty of a UPSC coaching academy was the guest speaker of the session. Dr. Sheeja Varkey, Convenor of Civil Services Aspirants Club welcomed the attendees.

Mr. V.S. Singh urged to the students to join civil services not for the sake of appeal of the power it bestows rather for the upliftment and empowerment of the marginalized sections of the society. He asserted that UPSC exam involves a rigorous selection process wherein only a handful of aspirants are selected from lakhs every year. Each examinee is closely monitored through the three stages of the exam, which not only emphasize current affairs & trending issues but also focus on candidate’s knowledge of government schemes & national policies. While the prelims test the general aptitude, mains evaluate the in-depth knowledge of the candidates. He suggested students not to mug up the current affairs & rather discuss it with other people, adopt a test-based approach, choose optional subject wisely, brush up their writing skills and follow the 80/20 rule. For acing the interview, he recommended them to inculcate traits of mental alertness, moral integrity, social assimilation, socio-economic awareness, leadership and balanced approach towards critical problems.

He assured the aspirants that there are no shortcuts, no good way or bad way but one’s one way to prepare for civil services. Only unflinching zeal, tenacity & ability to perform under pressure can enable them to crack one of the toughest exams of India.

Lastly, he forewarned the aspirants that civil services are not the haven for the indolent & status-quoist but for the dedicated workaholic & a reformer who wants to replace red tape with flexibility & initiative.

The program was conducted by Dr. Sheeja Varkey and vote of thanks was proposed by Ms. Gurpreet Kaur Gill of B.B.A third semester.