On January 8th, Hefei, Anhui Province, the central government and its directly affiliated institutions held a written examination of public subjects for the 2023 annual examination of civil servants. Xinhua News Agency issued Chen Sanhu/photo
Admission ticket for Wujiang to take the exam. Photo courtesy of respondents
The admission ticket for Baiye to take the exam. Photo courtesy of respondents
Phoebe’s admission ticket for the exam. Photo courtesy of respondents
"I finally landed!"
At the beginning of February this year, Wu Jiang could not help but sigh when he saw that his name appeared in the publicity list of a municipal institution in Hunan. Prior to this, he applied for 26 career positions and spent half a year touring more than half of Hunan.
Examination and compilation refers to becoming a national civil servant or entering a public institution through unified and open recruitment. In recent years, young people’s enthusiasm for reference remains high. According to the data of the Ministry of Education, the number of college graduates in 2023 is expected to be 11.58 million, and fierce employment competition has given birth to the Kao Gong army.
Accompanied by the phenomenon of "exam fever", there are some special terms such as "patrol exam, face-to-face" in the group of exam takers and exam editors. Patrol examination refers to traveling around the country to take the examination of civil servants or institutions, and increasing the chances of landing through multiple examinations. Entering the interview, that is, "entering the interview", means that the candidate’s preliminary test scores have reached the score line and can enter the interview. This means that their chances of going ashore have increased a little.
Why did they join the patrol army waiting for "landing"? What did they pay for the patrol exam? Is going ashore the only choice in life?
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Wandering around the exam, just for a chance to get an interview.
In July 2022, 22-year-old Koharu graduated from a university in Fujian, majoring in architecture. As she has never found a job, she began to prepare for the public examination at home full-time.
At first, Koharu felt it was "a little difficult" to prepare for the exam, but after she learned it, she found that the two subjects of the civil service exam — — Administrative professional ability test (line test) and application theory test are about knowledge accumulation, which is more or less reserved. "There is no such thing as civil service examination ‘ Zero foundation ’ 。”
"Of course, in addition to hard work, there are also luck problems." In the actual combat process, Koharu often appears "only one or two, even only 0.2 or 0.01 points". In her view, it is a last resort to increase the probability of "entering the face and going ashore" by taking a patrol exam.
Koharu, who "applied for more than 20 jobs", is a native of Hunan. Over the past six months, she has toured three provinces of Hunan, Fujian and Guangdong, and she can’t remember exactly how many exams she took. She only remembers that "the fare for going there is at least several hundred yuan".
"The probability of going ashore once or twice is not very great, but I can always get one or two chances to get in when I take more than a dozen exams." Phoebe, a graduate student in a "985" university in Beijing, is about to graduate. Since November 2022, she has applied for nine civil service positions. "This is similar to Qiuzhao’s Haitou, and I think it is normal."
Young people who set foot on the road of patrol examination often face the double test of mental and physical strength.
In July 2022, Wujiang entered a public institution in Hunan as a contract worker. He needed to take care of both work and study. "I go to work at 8: 00 in the morning, rest at 12: 00, rest from noon to 2: 30 in the afternoon, and others rest, so I read and study." After work, he is always preparing for the exam, and will not rest until one or two in the morning.
On weekends, Wujiang will embark on the road of exams and tour the exams in Hunan Province. He applied for a total of 26 positions, many of which were grass-roots units at the county and township levels, and thus went to many places he didn’t know before. In some places, there is no direct high-speed train. "I have been on the bus for seven or eight hours at the longest, and I often arrive at two or three in the morning." He can’t accurately count the time spent on the road. He only feels, "Others are sleeping, but I am preparing for the exam. This time is the most sad."
"I reported seven civil servant positions in various places and delivered more than 100 resumes in central enterprises and state-owned enterprises." Liu Xiaohao, a graduate student majoring in economics in a university in Beijing, is about to graduate in July this year. In order to find more opportunities for himself, he has been in a state of high tension since he was promoted to the third year of postgraduate study in the second half of 2022. Some people worry that he can’t take care of too many written tests and interviews, but he thinks that this can exercise his language control ability, time coordination ability and business arrangement ability, and "enjoy it".
At present, Liu Xiaohao has received offer (admission notices) from 10 companies, and is also preparing for interviews for two civil service positions. Including room and board, he has spent five or six thousand yuan on the patrol exam, but he still firmly regards being a civil servant as his first choice.
Some people also regard the formal examination as a simulated trainer. "The national examination is the same, Shanghai is the second model, Jiangsu Province is the third model, Zhejiang Province is the fourth model, and Shandong Province is the official exam." There are still people who have not thought about their future career plans at all, and rely on the patrol exam to cast a wide net, "taking the exam one step at a time."
The cost is huge, why do you have to rely on the patrol exam to land?
"There are 40 people in a class, and there may be 4 doctoral students, five or six going to the enterprise, and the rest are all candidates." A Wei, a sophomore in a "985" university in Beijing, found that more than 7 adults in their class were taking the exam and compiling it.
What are the reasons for young people’s eagerness to take exams and compile exams?
"Being a teacher in the establishment seems to be my only choice." Many examiners take job stability as their first goal, and so does Baiye.
In June, 2021, she graduated from a university in Hunan, majoring in preschool education, and entered a public kindergarten in Changsha as a contract worker. "At that time, during the interview, the job advertisement said that she could pay five insurances (endowment insurance, medical insurance, unemployment insurance, work injury insurance and maternity insurance), including room and board, and one gold (housing provident fund) after three years."
When she signed the contract with the garden, she learned that the actual situation was not consistent with the promise in the job advertisement. "The kindergarten director said that she would not solve my accommodation, and I don’t know when the provident fund will be put in place."
In 2022, Wujiang got the offer from some small and medium-sized companies in Changsha. He found that the guarantee mechanism of these companies was not perfect. "Most companies will not pay you the provident fund at all, and many small and medium-sized companies also directly stated that they will only pay five insurances after working for at least one year, saying that they want to ‘ See your stability ’ 。”
In fact, five insurances and one gold, which are regarded as "welfare", are a statutory mandatory obligation. Article 72 of the Labor Law of People’s Republic of China (PRC) stipulates that employers and workers must participate in social insurance and pay social insurance premiums according to law. Article 3 of the Measures for the Administration of Housing Provident Fund Deposit in Changsha issued in 2021 stipulates that state organs, institutions, state-owned enterprises, foreign-invested enterprises, urban collective enterprises, urban private enterprises and other urban enterprises, private non-enterprise units and social organizations (hereinafter referred to as units) within the administrative area of this Municipality shall deposit housing provident fund for employees who have established labor relations with them.
"If I want to find a job with complete security, I can only take the exam." At the beginning of 2022, Bai Ye embarked on the road of preparing full-time preparation teachers. She applied for 9 positions and repeatedly took exams back and forth in her hometown county and the provincial capital Changsha. In 2023, she wished to become a teacher in a public kindergarten in Changsha.
Others make choices under the expectations of their parents. A Wei is a native of Shandong Province. In order to satisfy her parents’ wishes, she made plans for taking the exam at the undergraduate level. He introduced that some job fairs for civil servants restrict majors. At the master’s degree stage, he chose diplomacy as his major. "This belongs to the category of political science. Under this category, there are many positions that meet my interests and professional counterparts, and the selection of posts is relatively smooth."
However, some people blindly follow the trend and embark on the road of patrol examination without seriously planning for the future.
A Wei’s social media has nearly 60,000 fans, many of whom are peers on the road to taking the exam. He noticed that some students majoring in biochemical and environmental materials had no choice in civil service positions and were forced to choose some "three unlimited" occupations, "which meant fierce competition".
Biochemical recycled materials are the general names of four fields: bioengineering, chemical engineering technology, environmental science and engineering, and material science and engineering. "Three Unlimited" refers to the positions that are not limited to majors, academic qualifications (college or above) and household registration in the examinations of civil servants and institutions.
Wang Xin, an undergraduate majoring in bioengineering in a university in Hunan, will graduate in July this year. "I wanted to continue my studies at first, but the postgraduate entrance examination failed."
In the expectation of his parents, he was "forced" to sign up for five civil service positions, "all of which are not limited to three, and the enrollment ratio is even one among hundreds of people." After hard work, he got a job opportunity, but he finally gave up. "With a monthly salary of 3,000, it is impossible to work there because it is too far from home."
"The degree of competition is different with different majors and different positions." Phoebe is a master of journalism and communication in a "985" university in Beijing. They have more choices in their majors. During their internship, "half of them went to the media and half went to the Internet".
When she was looking for a job after graduation, many people around Phoebe didn’t have a clear career plan. They were still taking the exam like "following the crowd" and even missed a good job opportunity. "It’s too boring to go ashore for the exam."
Some people go to extremes because of blindly taking exams and compiling exams. According to media reports, a woman in Chengdu, Sichuan did not find a job after graduating from college, but was forced by her parents to take the exam for five years and did not go ashore. Finally, she was diagnosed with schizophrenia. The mother said, "My daughter has had some abnormal behaviors since last year. Recently, she often answered irrelevant questions in conversations with her family and threatened to be the director."
Whether to "go ashore" or not, you can find the answer by taking the road at your feet.
Koharu experienced the feeling of "going ashore". Now, she has entered an interview with the Natural Resources Bureau of a city in Guangdong Province. "There is a great chance of landing", but her anxiety and confusion still make her unforgettable.
At the end of 2021, Koharu was nervously preparing for the first test of postgraduate entrance examination. "At that time, I felt that I couldn’t get into graduate school, and my life would be finished."
Over the past six months, after failing in the postgraduate entrance examination and being unemployed at home, Koharu’s life does not seem to be "finished". On the contrary, he sees more possibilities of life.
"There is only one chance to take the postgraduate entrance examination. I have to study hard for a year and give up a lot of things to fight this battle, which is quite stressful for people." After failing in the postgraduate entrance examination, she started the patrol examination for more than 20 positions. In the process, Koharu gradually got rid of her anxiety. "There is no chance to cry if she fails, and there will be exams to prepare next week."
"Everyone wants to go ashore, so there is a patrol phenomenon." Aunt feels that there is no need to be too harsh on the examiners, and the opportunities people face are fair. "Some people have been admitted to several posts at the same time and can only choose one post, and the latter opportunities are reserved for those who are prepared."
There are also voices that "it is unwise to go ashore for the sake of landing." Liu Xiaohao said that it is most important to measure your own needs. "I value personal development, and I will consider cities with good development prospects and jobs and units with room for improvement." In his view, some people just patrol the exam for going ashore, without comprehensive consideration of their own needs and job matching. Even if they go ashore, they may be unacceptable or even unable to integrate into the local area, which affects their own development. This is a blind test.
"The major of biochemical and environmental materials has strong professionalism, and the school trains future-oriented scientific research talents. Taking the exam is not the most suitable choice for me." Today, Wang Xin wants to continue his postgraduate studies in the field of bioengineering.
"The so-called ‘ Iron rice bowl ’ It’s just a choice. " Phoebe has accumulated internship experience in several Internet companies during her graduate studies. After obtaining offer from several Internet companies, she went on to take the exam. If she is not admitted to the civil service in the end, she will choose to work in an enterprise. "It is also very good to develop in the direction of technical posts."
"If you can make a clear plan for your future development and then go to the exam, the success rate will be higher." Due to full preparation, five of the seven positions in A Wei Kao successfully entered the interview. "The public examination examines the general professional ability, which is strong and can make a difference anywhere." Now, he has entered his favorite unit, and he can combine his major in diplomacy with his specific job responsibilities in his post, which gives him a sense of gain and value.
Some people made it to the shore by patrolling exams, while others were still trying to swim to the shore. "No matter whether you go ashore or not, you can find the answer to the future by taking the road under your feet." Baiye said.
(Note: Phoebe, Baiye, Awei and Koharu are screen names)
Zhongqingbao Zhongqingwang Trainee Reporter Liu Yuheng Source: China Youth Daily
