In many graduate, defense aspirants, there many who are working and pursuing their dream of joining defense as an officer parallelly. After certain time and few rejections they unfortunately start doubting on their efforts and get dilemma of weather to leave the job or continue. they often think if it right to work on two tracks parallelly or should they only concentrate on defense leaving the job.
I often see many aspirants saying that they do not get time to prepare for SSB due to their day job. and often they loose interest in their job and many of them want to leave it.
This kind of self doubt phase has crushed me and many of my friends too.
One line answer to end this dilemma is that DO NOT LEAVE THE JOB, It is a foolish decision to leave job giving SSB preparation as a reason and infact if you do not have a job, please get one.
In this blog we will see more about why it is not a wise decision to leave the job to prepare for SSB full-time and also we will see some tips along the way.
What ssb is lookin for in a candidate?
Mature candidate with clear sense of his/her roles and responsibilities; roles and responsibility as a student, as a son/daughter, as a citizen and as a employee that is it.
Basically Selection board needs a fit and average candidate with fair general awareness and good attitude nothing more than that. They need a person who can take responsibilities and complete them efficiently. what about OLQs? as a candidate do not worry about all that. just keep in mind if you know all your roles and responsibilities correctly, you are taking care of all of them and if you are fairly fit, no one is there to stop you from getting recommended from SSB.
now the question arises in you if it is fairly simple then why so many candidates get rejected in SSB?
As many candidates started showing interest towards joining defense as an officer. So in late 90s SSB started conducting screening to test only candidates with traces of OLQs. facts apart this screening sometimes not sometimes conducted properly as there will be huge number of candidates reported and only few testing facilities so it is most likely that many talented candidates get rejected in the screening process and so SSB selection seems unpredictable and most of the time we will not even know why was a candidate screened out or conferenced out.
and the ratio of candidates giving the exams to requirement is so low that it is highly impossible for all the deserving candidates make into forces despite all the handwork they put in. to give small number comparison
candidates taking entrance: 10,00,000 around
candidates clearing entrance (10% ) : 1,00,000
candidates reporting at one center at one batch: 200
screen in max : 30 (some centers does even more)
recommendation is 1or 2 on top of the many get rejected in medical tests and many get merit out during merit listing during joining.
**facts were mentioned not to discourage aspirants but to make them aware about the reality.
but due to demand in the market all the coaching academies and others(so called experts) say that if you have it in you no one can stop you from joining forces and candidates are falling for that.
Defense is surely a better place to be but the approach which candidates and coaching academies are following not quite correct. We all know the SSB is personality test and candidate should work on developing his/her personality. but I see most of them are working on polishing their responses for questions/tasks at SSB.
If the test is of personality candidates should work on personality and personality expands by taking extra challenges and responsibilities.
Eventually what happens is a graduate reaches 26+ years of age with no significant working experience or skills, all he or she will have is how to write TAT, PPDT, SD and what not.
In parallel I know candidates getting frustrated about their work and saying "what am I doing here?" all those self doubts and negative thoughts are common. It is what it is- you will have to work and try for defense as a side gig.
add on to it, by having job, you will become financially independent from parents trust me this will give you whole another level of confidence.
Now we know that it is not a wise decision, to leave job to prepare for SSB full time,
how can we better manage work and SSB preparation/entrance preparation?
If you are working you will spend at around 8-9 hours a day at workplace that leaves you with 15-16 hours in hand; and if you cut 10 hours in sleep and other routine activities you will have good 5 to 6 hours for preparation, self development and fitness. weekends and holidays are add-on to that.
Now question comes- how can we better utilize that time?
This is when concept of time management and timely decision making comes into picture. Below are some wage tips to initiate your thought process.
1) Prepare a Routine and follow it religiously:
Have a routine set up and follow it religiously. Routine should have all the works you should finish, all the readings you want to accomplish and don't forget the entertainment. I know it is hard to follow the routine, It will be tough for few days but no other options, trust your plan and stick to the routine.
2)Make use of weekends and public holidays:
At all workplaces in general will have off in the weekend(Saturday and Sundays), close to 25 holidays and enough paid leaves. Make sure to utilize them efficiently and get most of the studies done in them.
3)Balance both:
You are preparing for something aside does not mean ignore work. you will have to balance both; sometimes office work demands some extra work from you then dedicate some time to finish work responsibly and vice versa sometimes you will have to ignore some unnecessary team meetings and calls,
4)Use office environment as an opportunity to learn team work, improve presentation skills. volunteer for challenges:
Think office as a place to learn soft skills apart from technical skills you learn. Take additional responsibilities and challenges to showcase and in turn learn skills such as public speaking, presentation skills etc. this will increase your power of expression.
5) Join various clubs and initiatives:
Take part in various initiatives such as CSR activities and there will be lot of clubs in the office try to join them which ever interests you this will not only help you to open up your horizon of thoughts but also gives you an opportunity to network with others.
If you are in a toxic work environment and spending 12+ hours at work that is a different story.
Sometimes what happens is young graduates end up in toxic corporate environment filled with dirty politics or they will be forced to work for 12+ hours trying to meet unrealistic targets and deadlines, then that is a different case all together.
One has to leave such tiring job and find themselves a different job, such toxic environments are not suitable for anyone even if your employers are paying you shit load of money.
Bottom Line:
bottom line is that it is not a wise decision to leave your day job giving reason of SSB preparation. In fact if you do not have a job please find one for yourself because having a job will give new dimension to your life and it teaches you many values and soft-skills as well.
