Become a Professional Cricketer.

Executive Chefs in India lead kitchen brigades ranging from 30 to 150 cooks at 5-star hotel chains (Taj Hotels, ITC Hotels, Oberoi Group, Marriott, Hyatt), standalone fine-dining restaurants, boutique properties, and cloud kitchen networks. The role spans menu engineering, food-cost management (keeping cost-of-goods at 28–35%), procurement, FSSAI compliance (Schedule IV Hygiene Standards), staff training, and the relentless standard-setting that drives guest experiences from biryani buffets to multi-course tasting menus. India's culinary recognition on the global stage — with names like Garima Arora (Asia's 50 Best), Manish Mehrotra (Indian Accent), and Gaggan Anand — has transformed the profession into a legitimate high-prestige career path. Entry typically runs through a 3-year B.Sc. Hospitality (or equivalent) from IHM Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, or Hyderabad — flagship institutes under the National Council for Hotel Management (NCHMCT) — followed by departmental training in kitchens, CDP (Chef de Partie), Sous Chef, and eventually Head Chef or Executive Chef. The NRAI (National Restaurant Association of India) estimates the organised food service industry at ₹5.5 lakh crore, creating strong sustained demand for kitchen leadership talent across every price point.

Flight attendants (cabin crew) in India are the frontline safety professionals and hospitality ambassadors of every scheduled commercial flight. IndiGo, Air India, Vistara (merging with Air India), Akasa Air, and SpiceJet hire heavily from tier-2 and metro India, as do foreign carriers — Emirates, Qatar Airways, Etihad, Lufthansa — which actively recruit Indian applicants via annual open days in Mumbai, Delhi, and Bengaluru. The entry path requires a DGCA Cabin Crew License, obtained after completing a 6-12 week airline-specific type-rating and safety training program; training institutes like Frankfinn, IATA-authorised AHA, and Sushma Industries provide pre-employment grooming. Age at entry is typically 18-27; airlines enforce height (MinIMum arm-reach ~212 cm for most carriers), BMI, and clear-skin requirements at the time of joining. Cabin crew fly 60-90 block hours per month on domestic/international sectors, operate in a strict FDTL (Flight Duty Time Limitations) framework under DGCA CAR Section 7 Series O Part III, and are responsible for passenger safety briefings, in-flight service, emergency procedures, and crew resource management. Senior crew progress to lead cabin crew, pursers, and cabin managers; international carrier pursers can take home INR equivalent of ₹25-55L annually including tax-free allowances.

Hotel Front Office Managers in India are the nerve centre of guest experience at properties ranging from Taj Lake Palace and ITC Grand Chola to Marriott, Hyatt, and Hilton. The role owns the full guest journey — reservations, check-in, concierge, bell services, night audit, and check-out — and operates through Property Management Systems such as Opera, IDS Next, and eZee. A typical 5-star FOM manages 20–60 front-desk staff, drives RevPAR and Average Daily Rate, handles VIP and VVIP protocols (including Bollywood and political arrivals), and ensures C-form filing for foreign guests per the Foreigners Act. The standard entry path is a 3-year B.Sc. Hospitality from an IHM (NCHMCT-affiliated institute in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chennai, or Hyderabad), followed by a management trainee stint at a Taj or Oberoi property. Bilingual fluency in Hindi-English, and regional languages, is a strong differentiator. FHRAI (Federation of Hotel & Restaurant Associations of India) membership properties follow shared industry standards on room rates, cancellation policies, and statutory compliance. Demand for experienced FOM talent remains strong as India's hotel pipeline adds 50,000–80,000 branded rooms per year.

Animal Trainers for film and TV prepare dogs, horses, birds, and exotic animals to perform on-cue behaviours for Bollywood, regional cinema, OTT productions, and commercial shoots. In India, the trade is anchored by a small network of established trainers — Sundar Bhatti's legendary work training dogs for iconic Bollywood roles (Moti, Tommy) defined the craft's standards for a generation. Every production using live animals requires an AWBI (Animal Welfare Board of India) No-Objection Certificate per shoot, compliance with the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act 1960 (PCA Act), and a vet on call under AWBI norms. Trainers typically own or co-own their animal stable, negotiate per-day rates through informal CINTAA (Cine & TV Artistes' Association) conventions, and handle welfare logistics that the production unit has neither the knowledge nor the liability appetite for. Entry is entirely through apprenticeship — usually under an established trainer in Mumbai, Hyderabad, Mysuru, or Jaipur.

Track and field athletes in India compete under the Athletics Federation of India (AFI) and World Athletics in disciplines spanning sprints (100m-400m), middle and long distance (800m-10,000m), hurdles, relays, throws (javelin, shot put, discus, hammer), jumps (long jump, triple jump, high jump, pole vault), and combined events (decathlon/heptathlon). The Neeraj Chopra era — Olympic gold at Tokyo 2020 and World Championships gold at Budapest 2023 — fundamentally shifted how India treats track and field: AFI central contracts, Target Olympic Podium Scheme (TOPS) support, and Diamond League appearance fees are now accessible to India's top eight to ten athletes. Training hubs at the National Institute of Sports (NIS) Patiala and the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centres in Bengaluru and Lucknow provide national-level coaching, sports science support, and international competition funding. Below the national elite, athletes navigate state athletics associations, Khelo India University Games, and junior National Championships on self-funded or state-government scholarships.

Archivists in India acquire, appraise, arrange, describe, preserve, and provide access to records of enduring value — from 16th-century Persian manuscripts at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library to born-digital corporate governance records at Tata Central Archives. The statutory backbone is the Public Records Act 1993, which governs the National Archives of India (NAI) in New Delhi and its regional repositories in Bhopal, Jaipur, Puducherry, and Bhubaneswar. State archives (UP State Archives Allahabad, Maharashtra State Archives Mumbai, MP State Archives Bhopal) operate under parallel state-level acts. Private and institutional archives — Aga Khan Trust for Culture, Godrej Archives, TIFR Archives, various university libraries — follow the same international descriptive standards (ISAD(G) General International Standard Archival Description; DACS Describing Archives: A Content Standard) but with greater flexibility. Day to day means accessioning incoming record transfers, constructing finding aids in EAD (Encoded Archival Description) XML, running preservation assessments (monitoring RH 45-55%, temperature 16-21°C, IPM pest trapping), supervising digitization workflows (TIFF master at 400 dpi, JPEG2000 access copy, PDF/A for text records), and handling researcher access and RTI requests under the Public Records Act and the RTI Act 2005.

Professional table tennis players in India compete under the Table Tennis Federation of India (TTFI) umbrella — from national-ranking tournaments and TTFI national camps at SAI centres in Patiala and Pune, to the Ultimate Table Tennis (UTT) league franchise season and the ITTF World Tour circuit (now the WTT series). Achanta Sharath Kamal — the country's most decorated TT athlete, multiple Commonwealth gold medallist, and 2022 Asian Games bronze medallist — defines the elite ceiling; Manika Batra, Sathiyan Gnanasekaran, and Manav Thakkar represent the generation competing on the ITTF world rankings ladder. Professional income splits across TTFI central contracts (Grade A-D: ₹10-35L/yr), UTT franchise fees (₹8-30L per 14-match season), ITTF World Tour prize money, and sponsorships from Stag, Butterfly, or DHS equipment brands. Entry is through TTFI state association circuits and junior national camps — a path that demands near-total commitment from ages 8-14.

Senior: N/A

Tennis professionals compete on the ITF, ATP, or WTA circuits, earning ranking points and prize money across a 30-50 tournament-per-year schedule that spans four Grand Slams, Masters 1000s, ATP 500s, ATP/WTA 250s, Challenger-level events, and ITF Futures. In India the pathway runs from AITA (All India Tennis Association) junior tournaments through the ITF junior circuit to ATP Challengers like the Tata Open Maharashtra (Pune) and ITF $25K-$100K Futures. Icons like Sania Mirza (WTA Top-5 doubles, six Grand Slam titles), Rohan Bopanna (ATP doubles World No. 1 at age 43 in 2024), Sumit Nagal (India's first ATP Top-100 singles player since Leander Paes), and Yuki Bhambri have charted what a full pro career from AITA juniors to the tour looks like. Income is brutally bimodal: most ITF Futures players net under ₹8L after expenses, while Top-100 ATP/WTA players earn ₹2-15Cr/year from prize money alone before endorsements.

Senior: N/A

An Indian Coast Guard (ICG) officer holds a commissioned rank in India's maritime law-enforcement and search-and-rescue service under the Ministry of Defence. The ICG guards 7,516 km of coastline, 1,382 islands, and India's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of 2.01 million sq km — the world's seventh largest. Officers enter as Assistant Commandants (AC) via the ICG-conducted CGEPT exam or select UPSC vacancies; branches are General Duty (deck/navigation/command), Pilot (maritime aviation, Dornier and ALH-Dhruv helicopters), and Technical (Engineering and Electrical sub-branches for machinery and avionics). A day in service spans search-and-rescue (SAR) of fishermen in distress, anti-smuggling patrols in the Arabian Sea and Bay of Bengal, anti-narcotics interdictions in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR), oil-spill containment, and enforcement of maritime zones under the Customs Act, NDPS Act, and Wildlife Protection Act. The ICG is smaller and tighter than the Navy (~18,000 total strength, ~1,200 commissioned officers), which means earlier command and faster seniority for motivated officers.

Senior: ₹25.2L

Professional footballers in India compete in the Indian Super League (ISL) and I-League — the two-tier structure under AIFF governance — with the top clubs being Mumbai City FC, Bengaluru FC, ATK Mohun Bagan, FC Goa, and Chennaiyin FC in ISL, and East Bengal, Mohun Bagan SG (pre-merger entity), and Punjab FC in I-League. The Indian Women's League (IWL) runs a parallel domestic circuit. Indian players at the senior national team level hold AIFF retainer contracts, earn per-match fees, and are drawn from club rosters via selection camps coordinated around FIFA match windows. The career is physically compressed — most footballers peak between 22 and 32 — and income relative to Indian cricket is modest, though ISL marquee-tier contracts have crossed ₹1Cr per season for top domestic talent. Reliance Foundation Young Champs (RFYC) alumni and Minerva Punjab / AIFF Academy graduates form the primary pipeline into senior professional football.

Senior: N/A

An Indian Army officer holds a commission — either Permanent Commission (PC) or Short Service Commission (SSC) — in one of the combat arms (Infantry, Armoured Corps, Artillery, Army Air Defence) or technical services (Corps of Engineers, Signals, EME, Army Service Corps, Army Ordnance Corps, AMC, AEC). Entry routes depend on age and education: NDA (Class 12 passed, age 16.5-19.5, UPSC exam + SSB twice yearly), CDSE (graduates, age 19-24/25, UPSC exam + SSB twice yearly), TES-10+2 (B.Tech via CME/MCEME/MCTE/CWE), Technical Graduate Course (engineering grads), NCC Special Entry, Short Service Commission (Women) with full Permanent Commission post-2020, and the Army Cadet College (ACC) route for soldiers earning a commission. All routes converge at the Services Selection Board (SSB) — a 5-day psychological and intelligence assessment rated among the most rigorous officer-selection processes in the world. Officers train at IMA Dehradun (Gentlemen Cadets, 18-month course), OTA Chennai (SSC-W and CDS entrants, shorter course), or at arm-specific pre-commissioning training centres. The officer's career spans peace-area stations, field/operational postings at the Line of Control and COIN-affected areas, and High-Altitude and Siachen Glacier deployments — each segment demanding distinct leadership and physical competencies.

Senior: ₹27.6L