Authorities in India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, say they have been overwhelmed after receiving 2.3 million applications for 368 low-level government jobs.
Prerequisites for the posts include having primary school qualifications and being able to ride a bicycle.
But, tens of thousands of graduates, post-graduates and others with doctorate degrees have also applied.
An official said it will take four years to interview all the candidates.
"These candidates only have to be interviewed but my estimate is that the entire process will take at least four years to complete even if there are 10 boards interviewing 200 candidates a day, for 25 days a month," senior official Prabhat Mittal told BBC Hindi's Atul Chandra.
Those who have applied for the posts, advertised in August, include 255 PhD holders and 152,000 graduates.
With the number of applicants, there are more than 6,250 candidates vying for each post.