Press Release - September 20, 2002
The Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (Canada) today (September 20) invited people who are interested in joining civil service posts at degree or professional level in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government to sit for the Common Recruitment Examination Part I scheduled for November 16, 2002.

The deadline for application is October 4, 2002. Applicants must be Hong Kong permanent citizens and have resided in Hong Kong for not less than seven years.

�I urge all job applicants who are interested in these civil service posts to sit for the examination. Upon obtaining the requisite examination results, they will be eligible to apply for these posts before the new language proficiency policy takes effect in 2003,� said the Director of Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office (Canada), Mrs Rosanna Ure.

From January 2003, applicants to the civil service posts at degree or professional level in Hong Kong will first have to obtain a pass in the two language papers, namely Use of Chinese and Use of English of the Common Recruitment Examination Part I, before job application.

The examination consists of three one-hour papers in multiple-choice format � Use of Chinese, Use of English and Aptitude Test. The two language papers are applicable to civil service grades which require degree or professional qualifications for appointment and also grades which offer different entry pay points to candidates (including degree holders) according to their academic qualifications (e.g. certain disciplined service grades). A total of 52 grades will also incorporate Aptitude Test as one of the entry requirements to test candidates� reasoning abilities.

�Candidates will sit for all or any combination of papers, depending on the entry requirements of the posts for which they would like to apply,� Mrs Ure said.

�Holders of degree or professional qualifications or undergraduates who will have attained a degree in 2003 may apply before October 4 to sit for the Common Recruitment Examination Part I to be held on November 16,� she added.

Application forms (CSB 31) can be downloaded from the Hong Kong Civil Service Bureau (CSB) website (http://www.csb.gov.hk).

�Potential applicants may submit their application on-line at the CSB website. They are required to send their academic proof either by fax (852) 2877-9045 or by post to the Civil Service Examination Unit at Room 2011, 20th Floor, 9 Queen�s Road Central, Hong Kong within five calendar days from the day of the on-line applications,� Mrs Ure said.

In addition to centres in Hong Kong, examination centres may be set up in nine overseas cities, including London, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, Toronto, Vancouver, Melbourne, Sydney and Singapore subject to demand.

Applicants admitted for the November examination in overseas cities will be notified of their examination centres individually by October 29, 2002.

Information relating to the application of the new language proficiency policy and the operation of the Common Recruitment Examination Part I is available at the CSB website. Enquiries can be made to the Bureau�s Civil Service Examinations Unit by phone at (852) 2537-6429 or e-mail at [email protected].