Expanding civil service recruitment to undergraduate students in third year of study

In order to attract people with aspirations to serve the community to join the civil service and to enable young people to better plan their future career development, starting from this year, the Government will expand the pool of eligible candidates for civil service jobs requiring an undergraduate degree to students advancing to their third year of undergraduate studies (in a four-year curriculum) in the new academic year or those currently in their third year of undergraduate studies. Recommended candidates will be granted a conditional offer and will join the Government upon graduation.

In the past, government departments/grades would generally consider only final year students or those who have already obtained the relevant qualifications during recruitment. Under the new initiative, departments/grades may, having regard to their manpower resources and operational needs, consider whether to expand the pool of eligible candidates to undergraduate or postgraduate students in their penultimate year of study, so they may apply for civil service jobs requiring an undergraduate or a postgraduate qualification. Such arrangements will be clearly set out in the recruitment advertisements. Successful candidates with conditional offers can join the civil service upon graduation, subject to their fulfillment of specified conditions, including the completion of the relevant academic qualification within a stipulated period of time.

[Video in Chinese only]

Civil service recruitment examination arrangements

The Common Recruitment Examination (CRE) and the Basic Law and National Security Law Test (Degree/Professional Grades) (BLNST) tentatively scheduled for October (in Hong Kong) and December (in cities outside Hong Kong) this year, and the Joint Recruitment Examination for Administrative Officer, Executive Officer II, Assistant Labour Officer II, Assistant Trade Officer II, Management Services Officer II and Transport Officer II (JRE) scheduled for December (in Hong Kong and cities outside Hong Kong) will be open to persons holding a bachelor's degree, final year undergraduate students (i.e. graduating in the 2023-24 academic year), and penultimate year undergraduate students graduating in the 2024-25 academic year.

The next round of the CRE and BLNST is tentatively scheduled to be open for application in August (for examinations in Hong Kong) and September (for examinations outside Hong Kong) this year, while the JRE (for examinations in and outside Hong Kong) is tentatively scheduled to be open for application in September.

For details of the civil service recruitment examination arrangements, please visit the Civil Service Bureau's webpage.

It is expected that similar arrangements will be announced by different departments/grades. If you wish to apply for civil service jobs early, remeber to pay attention to the recruitment and examination details concerned!