The hugely popular SARFT post sets no special conditions concerning the
applicant's university major, political background, household registration or
working experience.
A large pool of candidates is certainly good news for recruiters. "It is
encouraging to see that some of the nation's most promising young talents want
to make a career in government offices. This will enhance the overall quality of
China's civil servants and improve government efficiency," said Zhang.
However, a vocation for public service does not seem to be the main factor in
the current craze for government jobs, according to a survey by China Youth
Daily and Tengxun.com of 17,330 applicants.
The survey revealed that 83.3 percent of candidates considered handsome
housing subsidies, medical allowances and stable working conditions as the
biggest attraction of a civil service career.
Another 55.8 percent confessed that they hoped to gain fringe benefits from
government jobs.
"I was told by my schoolmate that his boss, who is a senior official in a
central government institution, drives an Audi sedan provided by the
government," said Allan Zhang, 28, who is preparing for the civil servants
examination on November 25.
"Although the salary for his grade is only 1,700 yuan (US$213), he receives
1,200 yuan mobile fee allowance plus 2,600 yuan housing subsidies every month.
As for 'grey income' like gifts and coupons, you just name it," said Zhang. He
quit his job as a software engineer in a Beijing-based multinational company
last year.
He said that government officials have a lot of power. "When you become a
senior official, you no longer need to carefully observe others' faces.
Everything becomes easy because others can take care of it for you," he said.
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