Vying for a government job
- Source: Global Times
- [02:55 November 30 2009]
- Comments
Examinees gather for the 2010 national civil-service examination at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in Wuhan, Hubei Province, Sunday. Nearly 1 million people took the exam in 44 cities nationwide. Photo: CFP
By Kang Juan
A record nearly 1 million people took the annual civil service exam Sunday in 44 cities across the country, underscoring the impact of the financial crisis, as well as the desire by the populace to work for the government.
"More than 1.35 million candidates had passed the qualification evaluation, and nearly 1 million took the exam," Peng Zhongbao, a senior official with the State Administration of Civil Service, was quoted Sunday by China National Radio (CNR) as saying.
The figure far exceeded the approximately 700,000 people who took the exam last year, among 1.05 million applicants.
More than 130 central government departments and subordinate agencies will recruit 15,000 civil servants this year, Zhang added, putting the admission rate chances at one in 66 – nearly the same as last year, thanks to 1,500 newly add-ed posts.
Both students and workers with existing jobs took Sunday's written exam. Some said they even took classes to prepare, and others quit existing jobs so they'd have more time to study.
"The test is much more difficult compared with those in previous years," a 23-year-old graduate student surnamed Zhou told the Global Times after finishing the exam. She said she spent more than two years preparing for the test.
"A 'single-plank bridge,' the expression used to describe college examinations, is now applied to the civil service exam," the 23-year-old woman said, adding that she will also sit exams at the local level before the results of the national exam are announced.
