Hello defense aspirants!!. First of all, a hearty salute to those who are aspiring to take Indian Armed Forces as a career. You can pat your shoulder this very moment if you have had this zeal even once in your life. Trust me you are different!. But then this “being different” loses its soul when you don’t take the “next required step” ahead. Next required step is not the ssb. When you make your dream dish, you just don’t put “whichever” ingredients you have in the microwave. You don’t think “chalo yaar, jo hai bas yahi hai….ab banna hoga to isi se ban jaega!!”. Because like this, it’s never going to happen. Similarly, for becoming the officer in Indian Armed Forces, you should be the right “masala” which they can cook into a yummy dish (officer).
When candidates come across the OLQs, some find many of them already present in their behaviour, while some may not find.
Now, what people normally do, they start cultivating OLQs in themselves. Most of the times, they think that after 30-40 days of their “intensive” efforts, they will manage to get those OLQs. Look! SSB has many “synonyms”, and one of them is “consistency”. You have to think that “can I be consistent with these OLQs?”. Because in the 5 days ssb, you will be thrown into many mind jiggling activities again and again for long periods. These activities are specially designed to shatter your misconceptions about you. Since all these activities take the interviewing officer directly into your mind, therefore it is good to work on yourself in some realistic terms.
You cannot attain these OLQs within 15 days or a month. You need to devote a decent time on yourself. I recently read an article on ssbcrack about “Sunaina Mandhan” ( https://ssbcrack.com/2013/09/in-conversation-with-sunaina-mandhan.html) who got recommended for IAF in her very first attempt. She has clearly mentioned in her interview that she took 6 months for introspecting herself. Always remember, this is just a misconception that you cannot clear the ssb in your first attempt. We have many such examples of the students who cleared ssb in their very first attempt. The only thing they did was, they took their time, prepared well in advance, kept on practicing, and finally hit the hammer exactly when the iron was red hot.
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Here’s a guide which will help you on working over yourself
- First you have to know “who are you” (introspection). Because unless and until you don’t know about your own behavioral traits, you cannot know how much far you are from those OLQs. Take your time, and introspect yourself.
- Now know the OLQs. Know them up to their very best realistic meaning. There are many characteristical traits associated with them, even one OLQ would be having many traits within it.
- Now third step is to take a leap, and start developing them into your personality. Sometimes you will face difficulties, but be honest with yourself. Start thinking like an officer. Deal with the daily stuff of your life in a way an officer would deal.
Remember, if you will be having these traits in your behaviour in the actual terms, then only you would be able to be consistent with those OLQs throughout the ssb.
Next thing is, know your SSB. “What is ssb” and “why it is mandatory to pass it to become an officer”.” What is its significance” and “what does it constitutes”. Study about the various activities of ssb. Practice them and always keep the significance of that activity in your mind. Each and every activity of the ssb is important, and equally important is to perform in them. Always keep clear in your mind that what accessor wants to know about you through that activity.
It is very important for the preparation of ssb to think always from the accessor’s point of view. Place yourself in his place and make opinion about yourself. Think that if you were him, what you would have inferred from the candidates activity/statement.
Divide your thoughts in three parts, and work on them in a balanced manner.
- Thoughts, actions and speech (Mansa, karma and vacha). Your ssb is divided into 3 parts i.e. thoughts, actions and speech. You will find that in some activities of your ssb, like TAT, WAT, SRT etc., your thoughts play the major role. While in group exercises, your actions play the major role. Similarly, in your PI and Conference, your speech plays the major role. Now, the important thing to be considered here is, you have to be a one single person throughout your thoughts, actions and speech. Even if one part is not matching against other two, it means you are being an imposter. Let’s say, a candidate has been picturising the image of an extroverted & adventurous person throughout the activities of ssb. But when it goes in the interview, it was found out it he was hiding his originality, then it can go severely against him. Normally, interview goes up to 45-50 mins, and it is very easy for the interviewing officer to bring out your true self by the end (remember, he is your “baap”, in all respects ;p). Doesn’t matter what kind of personality you are having, always try to show your originality, who you exactly are.
- OLQs. Now, keeping the above point in mind, ensure that you are the person having maximum OLQs. This is the reason why I mentioned earlier to induct the OLQs in your behaviour in real terms. Because if they are not in your personality, you cannot be the same person having OLQs throughout your thoughts, actions and speech.
- Trainability. Always keep this thing in mind that they are looking for a “trainable person”. A person who they can train into an officer of Indian Armed Forces.
Your OLQs are divided into 2 parts; Trainable and Non-trainable OLQs. Trainable OLQs are those which they can induct into a person during training also. Hence, they don’t hold much weightage, but still having them up to some amount is necessary. Non-trainable OLQs are those which cannot be inducted into a candidate’s personality through training. Hence, it is mandatory for a candidate to posses those qualities.
List of Non-trainable OLQs are:
- Reasoning ability.
- Social Adaptability.
- Cooperation.
- Sense of responsibility.
- Liveliness.
- Courage.
A candidate is required to posses these mandatory qualities, and if they are not present, then induct them well in time.
So, as a whole, a balanced candidate who is having these mandatory basic OLQs and who they find can be trainable is bound to be selected. Know this mantra, and attain your dream. Being an officer is not very far from you, start well in time to attain proficiency, and hit the spot.
All the best!!
JAI HIND.
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About Author: Ashish Bhardwaj I am Ashish Bhardwaj. Currently, I am pursuing b.tech from Electronics and Comm. branch. I am a defense aspirant and want to become a fighter pilot in Indian Air Force.
