An exam supervisor checks candidates' information before the 2012 national civil service exam starts in Hefei, capital of East China's Anhui province, Nov 27, 2011. The exam offers about 18,000 posts in China's public service system. Around 970,000 people take part in the exam. [Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING - About 970,000 Chinese people nationwide took an annual exam Sunday to compete for highly coveted positions of national public services.

Central government agencies have 18,000 positions open for recruitment next year, which means roughly one out of 54 exam takers could land a government job, the State Administration of Civil Service said.

In one of the most competitive cases, more than 4,000 people applied for a position offered by the State Ethnic Affairs Commission.

The number of examinees was slightly smaller than last year's total of 1.03 million, because nearly all of the positions this year require at least two years of experience.

Last year, 85 percent of the positions offered had a minimum work experience requirement in order to deter fresh college graduates from taking the exam.

Many Chinese look to central government jobs as their first choice in job hunting, as those jobs offer stability and a variety of benefits, including low-cost medical care, affordable housing and transportation subsidies.

The exam involves two written tests. The first features multiple-choice questions concerning the Chinese language, as well as maths and logic. The second test gauges the candidates' writing skills and reasoning on certain topics.

Those who pass the first round of testing would still take more examinations, including specialized tests and face interviews organized by different government departments.