For many young graduates in India, the first step into professional life has become a paradox. Roles advertised as “entry level” policy jobs now demand prior work experience, sometimes a year or more. This mismatch has created an experience paradox—a barrier that denies opportunities to those the system claims to welcome. The impact is strongest in public policy, urban governance, and research, where institutions want early career talent but expect them to “hit the ground running.”
Institutions today work under tighter timelines and scrutiny. Ministries and research organisations fear that hiring fresh graduates for policy jobs will require training and supervision they cannot spare. As a result, onboarding—once a normal part of hiring—has faded from the process. Another problem is the narrow idea of “experience.” Internships, research projects, and field surveys do teach relevant skills, but many employers dismiss them as informal exposure. Graduates emerge with useful learning but no credentials that count in the job market.
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Risk aversion limits early career hiring
The gap shows up in data. Fewer than 20% of graduates aged 21–25 have post-qualification work experience in the first six months after completing their degree, according to the National Statistical Office (NSO). This creates a labour-market mismatch where jobs demand experience long before candidates have any realistic way to acquire it.
Hiring decisions in public institutions are shaped by incentives. Project heads must meet tight deadlines, and any delay caused by a learning curve reflects directly on them. To avoid scrutiny from auditors or funders, many prefer candidates with previous experience—even for policy jobs that should be designed for fresh talent.
This defensive approach narrows the candidate pool. Instead of developing new professionals, institutions recycle the same experienced applicants. Unless incentives reward managers for mentoring and capacity-building, the pressure to hire “job-ready” candidates will continue to shut out new graduates.
This leads naturally to a second structural gap. India lacks formal, reliable pathways for young professionals to enter public policy and governance.
No structured entry routes to policy jobs
Other countries treat early career recruitment as a long-term investment. The UK’s Civil Service Fast Stream and Singapore’s Management Associate Programme hire graduates for policy jobs, rotate them across departments, and train them systematically. These programmes recognise that job-readiness develops over time, not before recruitment.
India offers no comparable routes. Instead, ministries and think tanks rely on short project-based contracts that leave little room for structured learning. Creating formal analyst or fellowship tracks—even within existing missions—would ease pressure on hiring teams and give graduates a clear, credible pathway into public-sector careers.
Combined with better incentives for managers, such pathways would address not only the experience paradox but also the deeper challenge of building sustainable state capacity.
Consequences for graduates—and for institutions
The current system has human and institutional costs. Graduates get discouraged and shift to unrelated employment simply to gain any kind of experience. Those unable to afford unpaid internships are locked out completely, widening inequality.
Institutions lose something equally valuable: fresh ideas. Young professionals ask different questions and challenge old assumptions. When hiring norms push institutions toward “safe” candidates with similar backgrounds, innovation suffers. Policy research becomes predictable, and public projects risk losing the dynamism that new talent brings.
Reforms that can break the paradox
A practical set of reforms can ease the experience trap without compromising quality.
Recognise structured internships and academic projects as valid experience: Ministries and research bodies should count structured internships, fieldwork, and capstone projects in the experience requirement.
Publish transparent, skill-focused job descriptions: Clear definitions of required skills and openness to strong candidates without formal experience can reduce self-exclusion.
Create formal early career tracks: Analyst programmes, fellowship routes, and rotational trainee roles can institutionalise learning rather than leaving it to chance.
Expand paid internships, especially beyond metros: This widens access and diversifies the talent pipeline.
The experience paradox is not just a hiring flaw; it is a structural weakness in India’s talent pipeline. At a time when the country needs more evidence-based policy, data-driven governance, and capable administrators, excluding new graduates is self-defeating. Small changes—recognising internships, improving transparency, rewarding mentorship, and creating entry pathways—can transform early-career hiring and strengthen India’s long-term institutional capacity.
A system that welcomes young professionals instead of filtering them out will build a more capable, innovative, and future-ready workforce—one that can contribute meaningfully to India’s development trajectory.
Sudipta P Kashyap is an independent economist based in Bangalore.