One Civil Servant Vacancy Draws 9,470 Applications

A single vacancy in one of the National Bureau of Statistics's offices in Chongqing City attracted 9,470 qualified applicants as of yesterday, the last day for applying to sit for China's annual civil servant exams.

The application deadline was 6pm but the number is expected to set a new high record as the qualification review work will last until tomorrow.

According to initial statistics, more than 1.37 million candidates passed the qualification review to register and apply for the exam, which is to be administrated in November, according to the China Central Television.

The number of candidates is 60,000 higher than last year and is predicted to reach 1.5 million after all the qualification review work finishes. This year, the country opened nearly 3,000 more positions compared to last year. National-level government agencies, their affiliated public institutions and local branches will recruit 20,839 civil servants in 2013.

Hong Xiangyang, founder of xycareer.com, a career planning website, said applicants' enthusiasm indicated a grim employment environment in China.

"Many graduates told me they are feeling growing pressure from deteriorating employment and wish to secure a stable position in the government offices. Civil servant posts, which the public considers to be decent and stable, have become the most sought-after jobs," Hong said. Hong said it has become a trend that many students start to prepare for the civil servant exam from the time they are enrolled into universities.

"The students are blind and have no idea what kind of job to pursue. Many of them were born in the 1980s and 1990s. They live in a comparatively good environment due to the one-child policy and don't want to try hard jobs.

"Even their parents encourage them a lot to sit for the exam no matter what majors they study in universities," Hong said. Hong said the growing popularity of the exam also reflected inferior education quality and poor teaching resources in Chinese universities.

"Why don't students choose a job related to their major? Because they learned nothing from their majors," Hong said. Hong said it is not positive for graduates to see the exam as a big source of jobs.

Though the applicants rose this year, it doesn't mean all of them will take the exam. Last year, 1.33 million people applied but only two-thirds actually took the test. "Many students applied for a try but some stepped back at the last minute," Hong said.

A reader selects books in preparation for the national civil servant examination at the Wangfujing Book Store in Beijing on Wednesday. [China Daily]