CRI听力:National Civil Servant Exam

This year, there are 15,000 positions for departments and units affiliated with the Central Government available, up 2,000 from last year. However, competition for some positions is very fierce, taking a position in the National Energy Administration as an example, more than 4700 people applied for it before 10pm on Oct the 24th.

So why do so many young people nowadays make such an effort to get a government office job? Wang Yukai, a professor from the China National School of Administration shares his opinion.

"Civil servant posts, which the public consider to be decent and stable jobs, have become the most sought-after positions. Civil service jobs confer a certain degree of status upon the recipient. It's also worth considering that China's employment situation in recent years has become increasingly grim. Half the students that graduate from universities each year can't find a suitable job."

One of the features of this year's civil servant recruitment process is that more college graduates who have worked as village heads have applied to take the national civil servant exam. More than 6000 college graduates that have been working as village heads have applied for 108 positions in central government.

One requirement for this year's national civil servant intake is grass-roots work experience, particularly for those hopeful applicants eyeing central- and provincial-level posts. It aims to refine policy-making and encourage fresh graduates to work at the grass-root level in communities.

Central and provincial governments will only recruit new civil servants, except for some special posts, from applicants with at least two years of grass-roots work experience by 2012.

According to official statistics, 78.3 percent of civil servants admitted at or below the county level last year were fresh college graduates.

Wang Yukai, says new graduates may not be fully capable of performing their duties if they begin their careers in central or provincial governments, and a recent graduate's lack of experience may result in flawed policy-making.

While the new requirements may narrow recent graduates' options when it comes to job-hunting, the new requirement does not change much for students who take the exam hoping to get lucky.

Apart from students, there are also about 170 workers with existing jobs and farmers applying for the positions with General Administration of Customs of China, the State Administration of Taxation and so on.

"The current requirements for prospective candidates will encourage more workers and farmers to join the competition for civil service jobs."

Wang Yukai adds the new requirement may give people more opportunities to pursue jobs in government offices.

For CRI, I am Zhang Wan.