My alarm clock went off and I hit the snooze button. It’s Monday morning. Finally, at 7:50 a.m., you stumble out of bed. Be prepared and arrive at the office by 9:30am to attend your weekly sales or updates meeting. It’s not that I actively hate my job, but it doesn’t give me any energy either. And you may feel stuck. I wish I had chosen a career that was more in line with my personal aspirations and dreams.
Recently, Deloitte’s 2024 Gen Z and Millennial Survey found that 86% of Gen Z and 96% of Millennials across 44 countries, including India, believe purpose is key to their “workplace satisfaction and happiness.” It turns out. With this in mind, there is a lot of interest in careers in public policy. These careers are no longer vague or reserved areas for gray hair and wisdom.
Here are four reasons why you should explore a career in public policy, shared by Reman Singh, Human Resources Director at the Council for Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW). Views are personal.
1. You want to make a meaningful difference: In terms of the purpose of your work, you have a strong sense of purpose and a desire to make an impact. Your passion may be protecting forest communities, building sustainable smart cities in India, reshaping public service delivery, or influencing international relations when it comes to climate change negotiations.
You want to be a part of change and an agent of change, in whatever form it takes. This can be done by research analysts, communicators, or your talent to bring multiple stakeholders on the same platform.
2. You like interdisciplinary problems: The causes and solutions to the most pressing problems on earth are neither linear nor straightforward. For example, if we want to clean the air in northern India during winters, we need to work with farmers, custom machinery employment centers, government officials, private biomass aggregators, and agricultural experts. And this is just for burning stubble.
There is also the combustion of construction sites, vehicle exhaust, and solid waste. Therefore, to be a good public policy expert, you need to think deeply, rigorously, and from multiple perspectives on problems, rather than applying band-aid solutions, in order to make real progress.
3. You want to be part of an intellectually driven group of people: Public policy is about challenging the status quo and making innovative, long-term policy shifts. India is rapidly occupying a leading role as a voice for the Global South on many issues such as inequality, human development, and sustainability.
For example, India’s National Green Hydrogen Mission, announced in January 2022, is the third largest such mission in the world. India aims to become energy self-sufficient by 2047 and achieve net zero by 2070. This will impact all current policies at any department or bureaucratic level.
4. I enjoy engaging with various stakeholders. Given that consultations and meetings are an important part of public policy, one might be interacting with farmers in Telangana on a Friday and presenting insights to the Additional Chief Secretary on Monday.
So as part of building a career in public policy, the rooms you’re in, the people you meet, and the conversations you have are empowering. These provide a rich perspective on India’s rural and urban problems and how we can help solve them.
Remember, opportunities to directly influence public policy don’t happen every month or even once a year. But when that opportunity arises, and your work plays a small role in a big policy moment, the joy you feel will be unparalleled.
Let’s look at the data points. If you’re in your early 20s, your career spans roughly 40 years. That means you’ll spend at least 90,000 hours at work. As a simple equation, this means that about a third of your life is spent at work.
This also means choosing meaningful work, rather than just work that will give you many times the benefits.
As India develops and its economy grows, public policy will become a key driver of change, both in the corridors of power and on the ground. So when my alarm goes off at 7:50 a.m., I can’t wait to jump out of bed, energized not only by my black coffee (but also by my choices!) but by my choices.
Publisher:
Shruti Bansal
Publication date:
October 1, 2024
