Final result declared by OPSC. 500 candidates ready to enter secretariat. After making competition with 2Lakh aspirants, they are filtered out based on their performance. It's obvious that some of them may be in different job sectors and some are Freshers. Many of them are in pipeline to crack other jobs whose final Result to be published in near future. So it's really confusing for some people whether to join this job or not. What are the positive and negative sides of this job ? Being an employee in this organisation I want to share some of the experience.
Good Sides:
Permanent Establishment- you have to work in State Secretariat in Bhubaneswar except I&PR, Tourism, E&IT, Culture Departments outside Secretariat and vigilance Office in Cuttack. Still then it's not like area transfer in each 3-4 year intervals across the state. So you can make a future plan for your family.
GA Quarter:
In this job you can avail Govt. Quarter in different areas of Bhubaneswar as per your choice.
No Contractual: This job is excluded from Contractual Rules 2013. So you can draw a good salary.
Office culture: It's the apex office of the state. Honble CM and Ministers have their office chamber in this building. So 24 hour security is being provided to the premises. Hence you will work in a safe environment where public entrance is restricted. Also no direct link with public. So you can work in peace.
Promotion: Once entered in this cadre one can get promotion up to rank of Special Secretary based on seniority.
ASO-Section Officer- Desk Officer-Under Secretary- Deputy Secretary- Joint Secretary - Additional Secretary - Special Secretary
Negative Aspects:
Nomenclature: Although Officer term is assigned to this post (which was previously known as Junior Assistant), one should not expect individual chambers in office. They have to work in open space with your colleagues as like corporate office.
Seniority: Sanction strength of ASO is 1510. Already 950 ASOs (811+139) are appointed in last two recruitments and recently 500 are to be joined. So the fresh 500 ASOs will be in the lower part of the gradation list. To get promotion to the rank of Section Officer, minimum 8yrs Service is required. As sanction strength of SO is 700 and our seniors are already in max number of seats, many of new ASOs joined in 2016 may not get promotion after their 8 years also. Then fresh 500 ASOs have to work for minimum 15-20 years without any promotion.
Quarter : GA quarters in Bhubaneswar are being allotted to Secretariat staff along with HoD, Police personnel and other office. So the ASOs working in Secretariat are still not being eligible to get their favourite quarter after this 3year Service also. Many of them have to be satisfied with F-Type quarters (although they deserve E-type). So fresh 500 ASOs may not get even a F-type quarter upto 5-6 years.
Better Job: ASO is a group-B (Non-Gazetted) post with full salary. But it is seen that students from diverse qualification and job sector have joined as ASO. If you want a better career, you can opt for OCS Exam or UPSC Examinations.
* It's just an assumption. One have to choose their life/career as per their own perception.
