How are the Vuduri assigned jobs?

In fact, why do they even work at all?

Simplistically, since all robots are banned from Vuduri society, you still need things done. It is true that there are machines and vehicles but ultimately you need people.

Since all Vuduri are connected to the Overmind (at least they were until Rome's Revolution), why would one person know more or have better skills than anybody else?

The answer lies in people's physical capabilities, eye-hand coordination, strength of voice, etc. Most Vuduri schooling concentrates on refining (and testing) these capabilities so that by the time a Vuduri person reaches adulthood, they are assigned a job that their physical capabilities are best suited.

Some examples: Canus was assigned the role of medic because he had fine motor control in his hands. Binoda was assigned the task of wrangling animals because she had a good and strong voice. Rome was selected to be the data archivist on Dara because she had excellent eye-hand coordination. The list goes on.

In the end, the Vuduri society flows very smoothly because each Vuduri is plugged into the Overmind and performs a task to which they are best suited. However, if you learned nothing else, the Vuduri, as a people, are rather boring.