The government plans to hold recruiting seminars online to inform more local and overseas students about the Recruitment Examinations of National Public Employees, as well as preventing the further spread of the coronavirus, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.
The new system will be introduced because of an increase in the number of private companies holding online seminars. Starting in fiscal 2021, the government also plans to hold interactive meetings, including question-and-answer sessions, as if applicants were in an in-person meeting.
The number of applicants for the Comprehensive Service -- also known as the elite service -- for national public servants dropped from 17,295 in fiscal 2019 to 16,730 in fiscal 2020, the lowest figure under the current examination system. By conducting online recruiting seminars, the government hopes to attract a wider range of students to take the recruitment exams.
The National Personnel Authority included 687 million yen in its budget request for fiscal 2021, about 1.8 times the initial budget for this fiscal year because of the spread of the novel coronavirus. Therefore, the NPA might have needed to reduce the costs relating to the recruitment exams themselves.
To allow examinees to maintain a safe distance from each other during the first stage of the written exam, the NPA expects it will require twice as many testing locations.
However, many universities have stopped allowing the use of its rooms because of the pandemic, and renting a private conference room is expected to be more expensive compared to a room at a university. In addition, there will be twice as many exam proctors, who will require face shields and disinfectant at the testing site.
Before the pandemic, the NPA held the exam every March at universities in major cities attracting many students.
"We would like to use the pandemic to explore new ways to test and recruit prospective employees," an NPA official said.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
