The dream job

More than 20,000 residents participated in the first round of examinations this month, to secure one of 183 vacancies for the post of senior technician in the government, with a monthly salary of over MOP34,000 (US$4,250).
This fierce competition, or nearly 110 people vying for one position, is not uncommon in a city where being a civil servant is regarded as an ‘iron rice bowl’ – a stable job paying a high salary.
But what some of those 20,000 candidates might not have contemplated is that there are other ways of landing a job in the government – as long as you have personal connections with certain officials, as highlighted by a recent scandal unfolding in the Cultural Affairs Bureau (CAB) and the ongoing trial of the territory’s former Public Prosecutor.
The Commission Against Corruption, which also conducts the functions of Ombudsman here, released a hard-hitting report on the Cultural Affairs Bureau last month, slamming illegal hiring practices which avoid employing workers via the central recruitment system that the Bureau says is too time consuming.
Legislator Au Kam San said his office had received similar complaints about the government in the past, believing such illegal hiring practices also exist in some other government departments.
“The current central recruitment mechanism is cumbersome and time consuming, but this should not serve as an excuse for government departments to circumvent the system,” he emphasised.
The legislator has urged authorities to further streamline procedures and reduce the time needed for central recruitment.
Cheong Koc Iun, president of the Chinese Civil Servants Association of Macau, thinks authorities could further unify various means to hire workers.
The 2016 by-law lists public bodies that can employ workers via central recruitment, as well as reviews of resumes and knowledge tests like training or body tests.
“The key is that the efficiency of central recruitment should be enhanced so that government departments can get workers they need in time to fill their vacancies,” he added.
The full story can be read in this month’s issue of Macau Business magazine, available at newsstands or online
at www.magzter.com