National public servants' exam?國(guó)考 (guokao)

Registration for China's national public servants' exam (shortened in Chinese as guokao) started on Oct 16 and continued until Oct 24. Although national-level government departments, affiliated public institutions and local branches will have fewer vacancies in 2014 (just over 19,000) than last year, the craze among young people to get a government job has not seen any change.

By 5 pm on the first day of the registration (Oct 16), more than 13,000 applicants had qualified to take the exam, twice as many as in 2012, according to the State Administration of Civil Service.

The annual guokao consists of an aptitude test and an essay on policy. Those who clear the written tests make it to the interview rounds and specialized tests, organized by different government departments.

Figures show that 1.38 million applicants qualified to take guokao in 2013, and in one extreme case, 9,000 candidates were competing for a single post.

Many people have taken guokao for consecutive years in the hope of landing a job in a government department. It is not uncommon to see candidates with master's or doctoral degrees, and even overseas returnees, applying for what would be considered below-par jobs, just to enter the civil service because it offers security and stability.

Even though civil servants' salaries are not high, job security and perks such as a better pension plan, better health and welfare benefits, continue to attract many young candidates. It shows that people still believe that working for the government is a matter of prestige and privilege.

(China Daily 10/25/2013 page9)