Nearly 1 million sit for China’s civil service exam

World
Europe

About 920,000 people sat for China's highly competitive public sector exam on Sunday, according to statistics released by the State Administration of Civil Service.

But only 14,500 applicants, one in about 63, will secure jobs this time around.

More than 1.4 million people reportedly signed up for the National Public Servant Exam while 1.3793 million were deemed eligible to take the test, 280,400 fewer than last year.

Candidates make their way into a testing center on Sunday.

According to the Chinese newspaper, The Mirror, better known as Legal Evening News, a vacant position at the Huizhou Meteorological Bureau in China's southern Guangdong Province was the most popular with a ratio of 4,040 to 1, followed by jobs offered by the state statistics department and intellectual property administration.

It was also found that around 450,000 candidates did not complete Sunday's exam, below the number for the last two years.

An applicant is seen preparing for the test in Beijing on Sunday. /VCG Photo

Wu Xue, the professional instructor with Huatu Education for the exam, explained that some of those who quit early actually used it as a preparation exercise for a future legitimate attempt. Wu also believed that some of the applicants were not yet ready.

Persons applying for certain positions like the ones in finance or public security will also be required to take part in professional skill tests.

Since 2009, the enrollment number has been exceeding 1 million, prompting the question “Why are there so many people sitting for the civil servant exam?” on Zhihu, the Chinese version of Quora.

Devices are placed in the testing center to block radio signals in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province on Sunday, to prevent cheating. /VCG Photo

“The civil servant is the only job that doesn't take your academic background, working experience or EQ into consideration. Plus, you don't need to curry favor with anyone or worry about any trick in the process of recruitment,” Zhihu user Huan9527 answered.

“As to the person who doesn't want to make a living away from home like me, the civil service is a good choice,” commented Li Si.

In fact, the civil service exam in other Asian countries is also popular with many seeing the public sector as providing stable job opportunities. In South Korea, over 440,000 people sat the exam in 2018