You too may realise your dream to become a CBI officer

CBI, the acronym of "Central Bureau of Investigation", spontaneously evokes in mind, an organization with a large retinue of the highly qualified and rigidly trained investigating officers of the highest echelons. As a leadoff investigating agency of the country, operating under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, the CBI stands for high level of investigation into the various cases of corruption, scams and breaching of established rules of the country.

How to start career as an officer in the CBI

The CBI is a very prestigious and highly reliable organization of the government of India. Its high success rate of investigating the various high profile cases with perfect transparency and impartiality makes it the highly-sought after organization by the aspirants for seeking the employment and starting their careers. The career in CBI is very promising yet very hard and challenging. Here are given the baby steps which aspirants may take to realize their dream to start their career in the CBI -

l Group A officers

l Group B officers, and

l Group C officers.

Recruitment process of group a post of the CBI

There are mainly two routes to join as the Group A post officers in the CBI -

l Through promotion by seniority in the hierarchy.

l And through Civil Services Examinations of the UPSC.

The post of sub-inspector is the entry level post in the CBI. This is the most popular route to become the CBI officer. But this route calls for great patience and high level of dedication to the job. With the desirable experiences gained over the years or qualifying the Limited Departmental Examinations, a sub-inspector can climb up to the Group A officers in the CBI.

If an aspirant does not want to wait for longer time to gain the required experiences and pass the Limited Departmental Examination, there is also another route to become a Group A officer.

To join CBI as a Group A officer through this route, the aspirant requires to become an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer. As per the government provisions, the IPS officers are transferred to the State Police Cadres for the appointment as the Group A officers in the various investigating agencies like those of CBI, RAW and IB.

For becoming the IPS officer the aspirants must take the Civil Services Examinations, conducted by the Union Public Service Commission. The Civil Services Examination consists of 3 stages of prelims, mains and personal interview. This is the most prestigious and the toughest examination in the country.

Recruitment process of the Group B and Group C officers in the CBI

In fact, all the Group B and Group C officers' posts like those of sub-inspectors, constables, Lower Division Clerks in CBI are recruited directly through Combined Graduate Level Examinations (CGL) conducted by the Staff Selection Commission.

All about Combined Graduate Level (CGL) examination

Staff Selection Commission - Combined Graduate Level Examination, often referred to as SSC CGL, is conducted by the Staff Selection Commission to select the staff for the recruitment to the various Group B and Group C posts in ministries, departments and organizations of the Government of India.

The minimum eligibility for applying for the combined level graduate examinations is a bachelor's degree from a recognized university. The age requirement varies between 20 to 30 years.

The combined graduate level examination consists of the following stages –

Tier I: Preliminary

The Tier I examination consists of a written multiple-choice questions from the following four sections for a total of 200 marks -

l General Intelligence and Reasoning

l General Awareness

l Quantitative Aptitude

l English Comprehension

Tier II: Mains Exam

This tier test, also called as the Mains Exam, has also the maximum marks of 200 and consists of objective multiple-choice exam of the following four sections-

l Quantitative Ability

l Statistics

l General Studies (Finance & Economics)

l English Language & Comprehension

Tier III exam: Descriptive Paper

This is a descriptive test of 100 marks. In this pen-and-paper "offline" exam, questions are related to essay writing, letter writing, passage and application writing.

Tier IV exam: Data entry skill test / computer proficiency test

This is Computer Skill Test level of examination. After qualifying all these tests along with medical and personal interview, the successful candidates are recruited as the sub-inspectors in the CBI. This forms what we may call the stepping stone of the high-profile career in the premier investigation agency of the country.

Deputation posting

The officers and inspectors of police are also appointed on the deputation from the police force of the various states and Union Territories. For such kind of opportunities, notifications are issued time to time on the website of the CBI and in the gazettes of the Government of India.