'No one remembers who worked at Goldman Sachs, but everyone knows TN Seshan': Mock interview of UPSC topper goes viral

He appeared in 2021 and in 2022 and in his second attempt he secured AIR 236. Since he did not make the cut for IAS, he appeared again, and this time he topped the examination.

In a video shared on YouTube by Rau's IAS academy, the topper explained in a mock interview why he left such a high-paying job.

An interviewer said he's impressed by Srivastava's academic achievements, which include 97.8% in grade 10, 97.5% in grade 12, 9.7 GPA from IIT in electrical engineering, 10 out of 10 in MTech

He asked, "What made you (Srivastava) leave Goldman Sachs and a career in that domain considering they transfer bright people to United States, what made you drop all that?"

Srivastava replied: "I would say there are majorly two reasons. Firstly, if you see that coming from the area that I come from, even the blessings are of the form of "collector bano", so there was some kind of knowledge about civil services I had from the beginning, but the final change where I took it seriously was during my job days. I had a volunteering experience where I realised that just going and feeding the children is not enough to have a meaningful impact on their lives. Thirdly, I would say that there is also an element of social prestige associated with it."

Then the interviewer asked him if he wanted prestige, he could have climbed the ladder at Goldman Sachs quickly and get posted in the United States and go right to the top. "I know young people like you who have done that," he said.

To this, Srivastava replied: "When we work for a larger society, it is a much more prestigious thing. For example, no one remembers who worked as a partner at Goldman Sachs, but everyone knows who Mr. TN Seshan is."

Seshan was the 10th Chief Election Commissioner of India (1990–96) and became known for his electoral reforms.