Abhinav Jain, who is from the national capital, Delhi, finally cleared the UPSC Civil Services Exam this year after almost giving up hope of ever cracking it. This was his fourth attempt, and would have been his last, if he wouldn’t have landed a spot on the final list. However, his patience and approach towards the exam worked well this time, as he not only cleared it but emerged among the top 20 candidates in CSE 2021.
Today, Indian Masterminds presents the success story of Abhinav Jain who switched from the private sector to the public sector to pursue a bigger purpose in life and how.
PRIVATE JOB
Abhinav was born and brought up in Delhi where he completed his initial schooling. After passing out of school, he started preparing for the IIT JEE exam and managed to get into the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur. He completed his graduation and immediately started working in the private sector, initially with ITC Ltd. and then three years with Oyo Rooms.
Abhinav’s father is an engineer and is currently having a business, whereas, his elder brother works in the private sector and twin brother is a civil servant and is working as an IRS officer.
It was while working in Oyo that Abinav developed interest towards public service. While speaking to Indian Masterminds, he said “We tied with Government of India under the Skill India programme where the partner hotel staff were being provided with certificates. During the implementation of the project, one of the staff who was with the partner hotel came up to me and said that ‘I have changed his life’. That was the moment wherein I thought of a larger purpose in my life.”
After that, Abhinav was sure of what he wanted for his future and in 2017, he quit his job to prepare solely for the UPSC exam.
MISSING BY JUST ONE MARK
Abhinav sat for the exam for the first time in 2017 and reached the interview stage in this debut attempt. He missed the final list by just five marks. In 2018 again, he gave the exam for the second time and failed to clear the prelims.
He moved on and sat for the exam again in 2019. This year he managed to make it to the interview stage again and missed the final list by just one mark. This was the closest he reached to clearing the exam, but at the same time, it was devastating to miss the cut-off with such a narrow margin.
He said, “It was a very tough time as it was very difficult to figure out where I was lacking, as I was performing in all spheres according to my level but still wasn’t being able to clear the exam. I hence took a break from the exam and did not appear in 2020.”
RISING UP
He got married in the same year and was having double thoughts about sitting for the exam again in 2021. However, his parents and his wife supported him to appear for the exam again and putting in all his efforts, he appeared and cleared the exam with flying colours.
He managed to clear all the stages and made it to the final list with an All India Rank of 14.
TIPS FOR ASPIRANTS
Abhinav says, “UPSC is not just about the time when you are writing the exam, it tests you day in and day out. It tests if a person is following the routine and is keeping up with the race or not.”
He adds that one should never shy away from doing hard work and people should make struggle their best friend. It should not appear as a long battle, but it should be an everyday hustle for the aspirants where they are putting in their best efforts.
Abhinav will now join the training at LBSNAA in August this year and will start his journey into the Indian Administrative Service (IAS).
