Would-Be Land Surveyors Race For Their Jobs

Being a land surveyor can be a tough job. Out in the elements, facing dangers from traffic, insects, and angry neighbors. But nothing could be as tough as the physical tests applicants for land surveyor positions were put through recently by the Department of Land Records for the City of Hyderabad, India.

The Times of India reports

For the last two days, hundreds of young job-seekers are sweating it out at the College of Physical Education at Domalguda, trying to meet the stiff athletic standards set by the department.

The department is recruiting for 439 posts of surveyors and is conducting preliminary physical tests. To qualify for the next phase, the candidates have to run the 100 meters under 15 seconds (for women, 18 seconds).

They also have to run the 800 meters inside 170 seconds (for women, 210 seconds). Until Monday, there was yet another qualifying mark they had to meet: the high jump with the bar set at 1.2 meters. That's just 70 cm off Bobby Aloysius's national record of 1.91 meters.

When not a single candidate was able to meet the mark, the authorities relented and scrapped it. Not that the 100 meters is any easier to do under 15 seconds.

The men's national record for the 100 meters is 10.30 seconds held by champion sprinter Anil Kumar. And the women's record is 11.38 seconds held by Rachita Mistry.

Not surprisingly, just two or three candidates out of the hundreds were able to do it.

I'll have to admit, if I was asked to perform those types of athletics to get my job as a land surveyor, I would be like some of the applicants about whom the Times remarked, "Some of the candidates did not have the constitution for athletics and ended up with cramps, and tears."