On this page 5 sections
Does internship count as experience? Usually no: the commissions count regular, full-time, paid work done after your qualification, and an internship, part-time work, honorary work and self-employment do not count. This guide explains exactly how your experience is counted, what counts and what does not, and how to add up several jobs without double counting.
Advertisements ask for “3 years experience” or “5 years relevant experience”. The number that matters is not how long you have worked in total, but how much of it the commission will count. Our experience certificate guide explains how to get the proof; this guide explains the counting.
Experience at a Glance#
| What | Answer |
|---|---|
| Counting starts | After your qualification result is announced |
| Cut-off date | The advertisement’s closing date |
| Overlapping jobs | Counted once, never twice |
| Part-time / honorary / apprentice | Not counted |
| Internship | Usually not counted |
| Proof needed | Certificate per employer, exact dates |
Add your jobs. Overlapping days are counted once, breaks are taken off, and experience before your qualification result is not counted. Check the total against the years the advertisement asks for.
The date your degree result was announced. Work before this date does not count for FPSC and PPSC posts.
Job 1
Job 2 (optional)
Job 3 (optional)
Breaks & leave without pay (optional)
Periods that do not count, such as a break in service or extraordinary leave without pay. Taken off the total.
Breaks are worked in 30-day months, the way service books are worked. Commissions count experience only after your qualification result was announced, up to the advertisement’s closing date. Overlapping periods count once. Part-time, honorary, self-employed, apprentice and (usually) internship work does not count. Your accounts office or the commission makes the final count.
How to Count Your Experience in Pakistan#
- Step 1: find your start date. Experience counts from the date your qualification result was officially announced by the Controller of Examinations, not from the day you sat the last paper and not from the day you received the degree. Any work before that date does not count. The Supreme Court upheld this rule in 2016 (PPSC vs Mst. Numaira Saeed).<
- Step 2: find your end date. Experience is reckoned up to the advertisement’s closing date. Work after the closing date does not count, even if the interview happens months later. For a job you still hold, count up to the closing date.<
- Step 3: add up each job separately. For each job, count from its joining date (or your qualification date, whichever is later) to its leaving date (or the closing date). A job from 1 March 2021 to 28 February 2023 is 2 years. A job from 1 March 2023 to 30 November 2025 is 2 years and 9 months.
- Step 4: remove the overlaps. If two jobs overlapped, the overlapping days count once, never twice. A job from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2023 and another from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024 do not add up to 3 years: together they cover 1 January 2022 to 30 June 2024, which is 2 years and 6 months. The marks percentage guide uses the same careful arithmetic for a different calculation.
- Step 5: compare with the requirement. 4 years and 9 months meets a 3-year requirement with 1 year and 9 months to spare. 2 years and 6 months falls 6 months short of the same requirement. If you are short, do not apply for that post: the commission cannot relax the eligibility condition.
What Counts and What Does Not in Pakistan#
Counts: regular, full-time, paid work after your qualification. That is the rule in the FPSC General Instructions (updated 30 January 2025), the PPSC instructions and the SPSC Recruitment Management Regulations. The work must be relevant to the post: an advertisement that asks for “relevant experience” does not accept experience in an unrelated field.
Does not count: part-time, honorary, self-employed, apprentice and daily-wage work. The FPSC instructions list all five as excluded. PPSC’s certificate form adds visiting work to the same list. SPSC excludes ad hoc, contract and officiating periods.
Internship: usually not counted, with narrow exceptions. The FPSC’s current rule is that internee experience is not counted. Older FPSC guidance treated National Internship Program internees as countable, so the advertisement governs. SPSC counts an internship that is part of your course if it comes after you pass the final written exam, and counts experience gained during a higher degree in the same subject (a different subject does not count). A plain internship certificate is not employment experience unless the recruitment criteria allow it.
Higher degrees can count. FPSC counts the period spent obtaining an MPhil or PhD in the relevant field as practical experience, up to 2 years for MPhil and 4 years for PhD, for initial appointment. It does not apply if you obtained the degree during service (no double benefit) and not where the prescribed qualification is itself MPhil or PhD.
The employer must be real. FPSC accepts experience from firms, companies, institutions, banks and NGOs only if they are well known nationally or internationally, registered or incorporated with the concerned government department, maintain offices, and have a proper registration or reference number. For a private firm, PPSC requires the certificate to be signed by the Chief Executive or Head, plus the SECP or Registrar of Firms registration certificate.
Traps That Cost Candidates Their Application#
Claim it in the form or lose it. FPSC treats experience left out of the online application form as an afterthought: later claims are not accepted, and no subsequent changes are allowed unless FPSC asks for them. List every job in the form, with exact dates, before you submit.
One certificate per employer, with exact dates. The certificate must state the post, the field and nature of the work, and the exact from and to dates. PPSC requires it to be issued by the Appointing Authority or Head of the Institution or Department. SPSC requires it to be issued by or under the authority of the Secretary or Head of the Department. A vague letter that says “worked here for some years” will not pass document checking.
Do not count work before your qualification. A job you held while studying does not count toward a post that requires post-qualification experience, unless the Service Rules expressly say experience is counted “before” the qualification. The result declaration date on your transcript is treated as the date you completed the qualification.
Do not double count overlaps. Two part-time jobs, two concurrent contracts, or a job plus a fellowship in the same months: the months count once. Commissions check this at document scrutiny, and an inflated total is treated as a false claim. The FPSC and PPSC instructions both state the overlap rule plainly.
Frequently Asked Questions#
Does internship count as experience?
Usually no. The commissions count regular, full-time, paid work done after your qualification. The FPSC’s current rule is that internee experience is not counted. SPSC counts an internship that is part of your course if it comes after you pass the final written exam. A plain internship certificate is not employment experience unless the recruitment criteria allow it.
How do I calculate my total experience from several jobs?
Count each job from its joining date (or your qualification date, whichever is later) to its leaving date (or the advertisement’s closing date). Add the periods together, then subtract any overlapping days: each day counts once. For example, 1 March 2021 to 28 February 2023 is 2 years, and 1 March 2023 to 30 November 2025 is 2 years and 9 months, giving 4 years and 9 months in total.
Does experience before my degree count?
No, unless the Service Rules expressly say experience is counted “before” the qualification. Experience counts from the date your qualification result was officially announced. Work done while you were still studying for the minimum qualification does not count. The Supreme Court upheld this rule in 2016.
Can I add experience after submitting the application?
No. FPSC treats later claims of experience as afterthoughts and does not accept them, and no subsequent changes to the experience period are allowed unless FPSC asks for them. List every job in the online application form, with exact dates, before you submit.
What if two of my jobs overlapped?
The overlapping period counts once. A job from 1 January 2022 to 31 December 2023 and another from 1 July 2023 to 30 June 2024 together cover 1 January 2022 to 30 June 2024: 2 years and 6 months, not 3 years. FPSC states plainly that overlapping post-qualification experience is not admissible.
