More than 67,000 descend on Seoul seeking city job

A 28-year-old woman from Daegu booked a two-day package tour to Seoul, starting today.
Her itinerary does not include any tourist sites, however. Instead, the woman plans to go to a crowded school to take a public servant test. Her dream is to work for the city of Seoul.
“To maintain my physical and mental health, I decided to go to Seoul on a tour package provided by a cram school that I studied at,” said the woman, who refused to be named.
To take tomorrow’s test to select public employees for Seoul’s Metropolitan Government, about 67,000 test-takers from everywhere in the country outside of the Seoul region are expected. Including applicants from Seoul and Gyeonggi, the total number of test-takers will be 145,445, according to the city government.
Trains scheduled to go to Seoul early tomorrow were all booked. Korail added a special train on the route leaving at 4:55 a.m. That train sold out, too.
The test-takers are competing for 1,732 available jobs in 56 different departments.
Roughly, one out of 84 applicants will get a spot. The salary starts at either 20 or 25 million won a year ($22,000 to $27,000), depending on the job.
“I applied for the job because I liked the pension payments after retirement, although the monthly salary might be less I than could get at a private company,” said an applicant from Daegu who declined to be named.
Cram schools and tour agencies jointly developed one-night, two-day package tour programs.
In Daegu alone, more than 500 test takers bought the deal, according to tour agencies there.
The package costs 70,000 won, including round-trip bus fare between the cities, accommodation and meals.
“For the convenience of test takers, we decided to sell the program at cost again this year,” said Hwang Young-joo, president of Dream Factory Cram School in Daegu.
Seoul’s city government opened its positions to applicants from anywhere in the country starting in 1999. The test will be offered at 103 test centers in the city tomorrow at 10 a.m.
The list of people who passed the examination will be announced on Aug. 14.
After interviews scheduled between Sept. 17 and 21, the names of the new public employees will be announced on Oct. 5, according to the city.

By Shin June-bong, Sung Si-yoon JoongAng Ilbo [soejung@joongang.co.kr]