Understand the job profile of latest vacancy advertised by RRB CEN 03/2014 issued on 11th Oct. 2014

Ministry of Railway has advertised large many posts in various categories such as ministerial, teachers, Staff and Welfare inspectors, Catering Inspectors and other miscellaneous group for which the selection process will be conducted by the RRB. All these posts are not connected with Railway transport directly,  but  there will not be any job dissatisfaction with the job profile. With prevailing un-employment situation and clamor for Govt. job, no one is generally interested in the job profile. One should always remember that joining Indian Railways is going to be a lifelong association and there are many talented candidates for whom the  job profile does matter. Knowledge of job profile does help in peeping into your future in Railways and if it is to your liking, then open full throttle to prepare for the examination. Knowing the job profile will also help you to avoid any future regrets. There are many who will be doing a mental exercise or talking to those working in Railways to understand the job profile, and that way also important for you as well. An effort is made to share the knowledge about the job profile and future that lies for you if you join there. Keep following aspects in mind

1. Every RRB serves one or more than one Railway or its Divisions, therefore, you cannot guess the place of posting on choice. But you will be posted in any of the division for which the concerned RRB serves.
2. Choose only one  RRB carefully. The RRB where the vacancies are more, may offer better chance of selection. But remember, it will be impossible to get a  transfer later on.
3. There are two different dates for two specific groups which may entail you to appear in both the examination. This is my understanding of the advertisement but you should confirm this from reliable sources before filling up the form.
4. One should note that the candidates who have undergone Radial Keratotomy will not be considered for A1, A2, A3, and B1 medical classification therefore, is careful before applying.
5. You will get a fixed salary with limited raise every year. Salary will consist of Basic Pay + Grade Pay + DA (which 107% of basic as on date). You will be entitled for House Rent Allowance ( A fixed percentage of basic depending on the city)  and  conveyance allowance. You and your family member is entitled for free medical  facility and privilege pass ( One set for first 5 years and three sets for rest of your group C service for travel by train in AC class anywhere in India). Silver lining is the outcome of 7th pay commission where you can expect the pay revision giving benefit of about 30-35% increase and revised basic adding to allowances.
6. Promotion aspects are limited to the vacancies in the higher grade. For Non-selection promotion, you don’t have to appear in any examination and you get promoted based on your service record. For selection posts, you have to pass the examination. You can get a big raise when promoted to Group B cadre either through Limited departmental Competitive Examination on the basis of option  or as per seniority.

Junior Stenographer

There are 376 for Hindi and 599 for English Stenographer. Railways have advertised such a large vacancies of stenographer after a very long time. As the designation implies, you will be attached to a Junior or Senior Scale officer in the initial and to higher grade officer later on. The job profile includes taking dictations, preparation of draft letter and noting as per directive of officer, to attend telephones calls, maintaining confidential files, safe custody of classified and confidential documents, confidential records, records of movement of files, fixing official engagements, official meetings, tour programme of the officer, etc.  The posting is stable and not involving transfer till you get an opportunity of promotion to group B.

The promotional avenue exists to get promotion in different grades of stenographers and later to the post of Private Secretary through selection. In case you are graduate, you may qualify for appearing in group B through LDCE for promotion to the post of Assistant Personal Officer.  The job is about 8×5 hours per week working and not very strenuous except the boredom of waiting for boss  call. But it is also a fact, that Railway officers are busy for a considerably period in meetings, inspection tours etc. leaving enough of spare time for you. This time can be gainfully used for acquiring higher education or preparing for departmental competitive examination.

Chief Law Assistant/Law Assistant

This is a group C post and the minimum educational qualification of Law Graduate make you eligible for appearing through UPSC for group A post. In case you are interested for a Govt. job and unable to make it through UPSC, this is a good opportunity one should not miss.

The job responsibility involves briefing Railway advocates for pleading cases in various courts, to attend court on the day of hearing/admission, compiling of railway comments on a case, to give legal opinion on various issues to railway officials, to follow the proceedings in the court, etc. Most of the court cases of Indian Railways are related to the Central Administrative Tribunal, Claim Tribunal, Consumer forum etc. The job helps in learning all aspects of Railway working. The knowledge bank helps CLA to do well in LDCE examination for promotion to group B posts just after completing the minimum waiting period of 5 years. The task is not very strenuous and working hours are set to that of the office hours. You acquire an opportunity to gain the higher knowledge through evening classes or correspondence class. The job offers opportunity of job satisfaction when you compile your figure of success percentage or  ratio getting  kudos from your boss. The posting is stable and not involving transfer till you get an opportunity of promotion to group B. 

Staff and Welfare Inspector

This is a group C post in the cadre of Personal Department of Indian Railways and 56 vacancies advertised for different Railways. The educational standards make you eligible to appear in UPSC examination group A post. But considering the tough competition of UPSC, and when you are interested for a Govt. job in Railways, than this is a good option for you.

The job responsibility involves looking into welfare aspects of Railway staff. Railway staff are located at various places and have different grievances of service matters. They find it difficult to  represent their cases being far away to the head office. It is the responsibility of Staff and Welfare inspectors to see into their grievances and settle inside the minimum possible time. The job profile provides opportunities of job satisfaction when you help the staff in resolving their grievance and bringing smiles to a fellow human being.

The posting is stable with not much (almost nil) transfer involved. You also have an opportunity to get promoted to group B officer ( Assistant Personal Officer post) as your basic qualification of graduation and diploma will help you in scoring better than others.

Catering Inspector

This is a post in the control of the commercial department. The catering inspector job involves ensuring  quality of food served in train and at stations, handling passenger complaints, quantity served and excess rates not charged etc. Job is challenging as catering service of Indian Railways had always been under strong criticism for various reasons giving you an opportunity to show your excellence ensuring best service to the passenger. This is the strong reason for job satisfaction. About 109 (60 grade II and 49 grade III) posts are advertised in two different grades. Minimum educational qualification prescribes preferable two years experience in reputed hotel for grade II and diploma in catering for grade III, but  has no relevance because this is a single stage examination and no way to account for additional preferred qualification. So apply with confidence if you have the minimum educational qualification. The posting is stable and not involving transfer till you get an opportunity of promotion to group B. 

Thither are many other posts like teachers, scientific supervisor, horticulture, publicity inspector, cook etc but few in numbers and difficult to provide job profile for each. If any one of you has any quarry the same may be posted here and will be replied.

How to prepare?

Now if you have decided to join Railways, plan it sincerely. You are left with about three months period and generally enough to prepare for it. The written examination is Multiple choice objective question paper consisting of 100-120 questions to  attend in 90 minutes, i.e. less than a minute for each question. Beside questions on technical subject, there are a variety of subjects like general awareness, arithmetic, general intelligence and reasoning, general science also. It is easy for you to prepare for the technical part for which you have applied but the cutting-edge lies in how you handle other subjects. Here are some hints for you to stick to:

1. The best books to prepare are what you have read in class VII and VIII for Arithmetic and for science include the books of class IX and X.
2. For general awareness, pick up any book which compiles important date, history, geography, awards, sports, first in India, monuments, languages, capital and cities. The list is unlimited but it is desirable to read two three times which will help in multiple choice. Keep a watch on the last three years of current events.
3. When you know the solution, it will not need more than 10 seconds to finish the solution. But it is observed that while attempting multiple choice questions, you answer wrongly due to wrong understanding of the question or options and not because you don’t know the answer. It happens very commonly.
4. It is important to attempt as many mock drills as possible to practice your mind to concentrate on the wordings of the question and  closeness of options to avoid wrong answer when you know the answer correctly.
5. Mock drill helps to learn the technique of the process of elimination for finding the right answer.
6. Practice for simple mental calculations like multiplication table, percentage, divisions, factors etc.
7. 11 Mock drill exercise on general awareness has already been posted for you to check your level and improve upon it. For General Science and arithmetic, it is under preparation and will find it  shortly on the site. The mock drill will also give you the progress of your performance, and make sure it shows an improving trend.