The first step after a master’s degree is an eligibility examination. The UGC NET is the national test, conducted for candidates seeking assistant professor positions and, for higher scorers, junior research fellowships. Karnataka also conducts its own State Eligibility Test, and clearing either establishes eligibility to teach at degree level.

Neither examination is easy, and the pass rate reflects that. What makes it manageable is starting during the master’s programme rather than after it, while the syllabus is still familiar and there is structure around your study. Colleges that run coaching alongside the degree give students a real advantage here, and it is one of the more practical questions to ask on a campus visit.

A doctorate is the next stage for anyone serious about the career. It deepens specialisation, is expected for permanent positions at most institutions, and is generally required for progression beyond the entry grade. Many candidates begin a PhD while teaching.

Timing matters too. Vacancies at colleges and universities open in cycles, and candidates who already hold NET or SET when a position is advertised are in a far better place than those still preparing for the next attempt.

If you’re wondering what the job is like, teaching is the visible part, and it takes more preparation than students imagine. Explaining consolidation or transfer pricing to a room of twenty-year-olds so that they follow it is a skill built over years.

Beyond the classroom sits research. Assistant professors publish papers, present at conferences and increasingly guide student research too. This is where the commerce lecturer career becomes intellectually serious, because you are expected to contribute to the subject rather than only relay it.

There is also administrative work, examinations, accreditation processes and departmental responsibilities, which nobody advertises but everyone does. In return the profession offers stability, autonomy over how you teach, long holidays for research, and the specific satisfaction of watching students you taught move into good careers.

Pay at the start is modest compared with corporate finance, and it is worth being clear about that. It improves with a doctorate and with permanent appointment, and the trade-off many people make willingly is a slower financial start in exchange for work they find genuinely interesting for thirty years.