Mentoring for Civil services Examinations by serving Civil servants.

CIVIL SERVICES MENTORS (CSM)

1.               What is CSM (Civil Services Mentors)?

CSM is an informal initiative by some of the serving Civil servants to motivate and mentor those who aspire to become civil servants. Currently there are 50 of them, and they are from different civil services like IRS, IFoS, IFS, IPS and IAS. This mentoring is free of cost, and a pro-bono initiative.

2.               How is the mentoring done?

The mentoring is done virtually, through social networking application (Telegram).  There is collective mentoring where a group of mentors interact with a group of aspirants, few days in a week, normally from 9.30 to 10.30pm. Then there is personal mentoring, where there is one to one personal mentoring done at mutually convenient timings, and mode between the mentor and the aspirant, usually thru emails/texts/voice call etc. Personal meetings will be a rarity.

3.               How can the aspirants join this mentorship programme?

Aspirants can join this mentorship programme by texting relevant details* about them in the ‘Telegram Application’, to any of the chief mentors as given below. There are 5 classes as of now, Prelims 2015, Prelims 2014 (freshers), Prelims 2014 (repeaters), Prelims 2014 (repeaters), and Mains 2014. We plan to start a class for interview once the mains results are out.

The class	Chief mentor	Contacts
Prelims 2015	Balamurgan, IRS, 1997	09480609409
Prelims 2014 (Fresh)	Sachin Shinde, IAS, 2008	09436633848
Prelims 2014  (Repeat) Section: 1	Manivannan, P., IAS, 1998	09663369333
Prelims 2014 (repeat ) Section: 2	Dr. P C Jaffer, IAS, 2003	09448355577
Mains 2014	Alex Paul Menon, IAS, 2006	09424207722

*Relevant details to be sent by the aspirants (only as a text in telegram messenger application):

a.   Full name, along with Facebook profile name, if any.

b.   Age, sex, and the city/town residing in the last 6 months.

c.   Percentage marks in 12th, and Graduation.

d.   Why you want to join civil services, and why you want mentoring? (100 words only.)

e.   Which group you want to opt? (One aspirant can opt for only one group at a time.)

In case the aspirant is selected for mentoring, she/he will be intimated by return message in next 72 hours. If there is no intimation, then it’s assumed that the said aspirant is not considered for mentoring, and the details will be deleted. She/he can re-apply afresh after 6 months. The decision of the chief mentor is final; no further questions will be entertained. During selection, we give more importance to discipline and character, than intelligence.

4. What about mentoring for interview?

Mentoring for interview will be done only for those who get the interview call. Once they get the interview call, they may send text message in telegram to: Mr. Gyanendra Tripathi, IAS, 1998 (09435067666) or to Manivannan, P., IAS, 1998 (09663369333). For this group, there will be virtual mock interviews conducted my panels having senior civil servants as members.

5. Any other points?

The idea behind this mentoring is that, each aspirant has the potential to clear the CSE, provided she/he realizes the potential. So, the mentors provide clarity, and thus motivate the aspirants to realize their full potential. There will be absolutely no spoon feeding or coaching in this programme.

Though, we aim to mentor the aspirants in such a way that there is 100% success, let no aspirant think that joining this programme will ensure success. 

The list of mentors is attached with this post!