MORE than 34,000 people sat Sunday's public service recruitment examination, competing for 350 positions. It was the first recruitment drive after a reform of the public service.

Around 6,000 people, who had signed up for the exam, did not show up.

Over 20,000 local people sat for the exam while 30,000 were from other cities in Guangdong, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Henan and even Beijing. Interviews for successful candidates are scheduled for March 24.

The test content was expanded to cover regulations governing management of public servants with the government's administrative law enforcement arm.

Test results and the threshold score for interviews will be unveiled tomorrow.

Closed-circuit TV monitoring systems were installed in all exam rooms to prevent cheating.

It is the first recruitment campaign since the city government adopted measures early February to partially end the system of lifelong guaranteed jobs for government employees.

All available positions are with the administrative law enforcement arm of the government. Employment contracts will be signed between the two parties on an annual basis.

The city government adopted the new measures Feb. 3, with the aim of transforming the public service into an incentive-oriented and performance-driven career option. The reform divided public servants into three categories: management, administrative law enforcement and professional and technical.

Shenzhen has been tasked by the Central Government to learn from Hong Kong and overseas cities in reforming the public service. Government jobs have proved extremely popular among jobseekers in the past few years because of the relatively high salaries and stability, becoming known as "iron bowl" jobs.

Shenzhen had around 35,000 public servants by the end of last October, compared to around 137,000 in Beijing.

Source:Shenzhen Daily