People who take the 2023 national civil service exam, commonly known as guokao, make their last reviews before entering an exam site in Zhengzhou, Central China's Henan Province on January 8, 2023. Photo: cnsphoto

The central ministries and their affiliated branches are about to start recruiting civil servants from Tuesday. This year the quota is of 39,700 jobs, and being skilled in political literacy is a prerequisite for candidates to be considered.

Candidates can register for the examination from Tuesday morning on the website of the National Civil Service Administration with registrations ending on October 24. The written exam will be held in December in several designated cities, according to a notice released by the administration on Monday.

Last year, a total of 39,600 vacancies were available at central government agencies and their directly affiliated institutions, and more than 3 million eventually signed up for the examination. This means that 77 candidates on average were competing for one position.

Zhu Lijia, a professor of public management at the Chinese Academy of Governance, told the Global Times that this year's enrollment is probably similar to last year, given the overall employment situation as well as the increasing demand for high-quality civil servants.

The administration will apply political standards and requirements to all aspects of the whole recruitment process, and resolutely reject those who are not politically qualified. Among them, the written test and interview contents highlight the political attributes of civil servants. 

"Political theory" will be included in the administrative professional ability test, assessing candidates' skills in analyzing and solving problems, as well as evaluating their moral conduct and law-abiding nature and related attributes.

Among the 39,700 available positions, about 27,500 are set for county-level or township authorities. These posts in remote areas will be flexible regarding their requirements on academic background and working experiences. There are 39,700 positions, of which more than 3,000 will be open to demobilized military members who have finished undergraduate education and served more than five years in the army. 

Moreover, the administration said that 26,700 positions will recruit new college graduates, as part of an effort to promote the employment of graduates. Zhu said that a civil service team that is of high quality and strong political integrity can inject strong impetus into enhancing public services and public goods at the grassroots level and ensure the long-term stability and peace of the country, especially now that we are in a phase of pursuing China's high-quality development and achieving modernization.