To be a Customs Officer, you have to qualify through the Civil Services examination (CSE). Thereafter you can opt for Customs and Excise services based on your preference and ranking in the examination.

To be eligible to take the CSE, you need to a graduate in any stream with age between 21 to 30 years. Apart from direct recruitment through the Civil Services Examination some posts in the junior scale are filled in by promotes from the Group 'B' of the Central Government or State Government Services.

Once appointed, all probationary officers of the All India and Central Services undergo a compulsory foundation training course at the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie.

Training begins in the last week of August with a foundation training course of 4 months duration for probationers of all civil services. The foundation course is followed up by specific job-oriented training, conducted separately by each service in different parts of the country. This training is partly institutional and partly hands-on. For most cadres, the training is of 12 months' duration. Customs probationers are trained at Chennai.

After probation, customs officers get posted as Assistant Commissioners (customs) at any one of the eleven zonal offices located in major cities in India.