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Postal exam draws 11,000

Forty-two-year-old Chen (陳) used to work in a local insurance firm. He quit his job a few months ago and began to seek jobs in the government sector.

"I have been working at an insurance company for so many years, but I wasn't able to get the promotion I wanted," he said.

Chen, who declined to reveal his first name, was one of 11,000 candidates who took the personnel examination held by the Taiwan Post Co yesterday. They are competing for 248 contract positions at the nation's largest state-run corporation.

Chen knew that the starting salary may not be comparable to what he used to make. However, he said that as the post office has aimed to expand its operations, his experience in the private sector might help him move up the career ladder faster than his peers.

Yesterday's test was mainly designed to recruit two kinds of workers: service counter clerks and technical professionals for different business operations within the post office.

While more than 9,500 people applied for the service counter clerk positions, only 200 of them will be hired.

Meanwhile, more than 2,000 people were vying for 48 spots offered in the technical category.

Taiwan Post set the starting salary for a service counter clerk at approximately NT$24,000 per month, whereas the monthly salary for a basic level technical professional is about NT$41,000.

The company reported earlier that five candidates who registered for exams held doctoral degrees.

Officials overseeing the examinations said about 80 percent of registrants showed up for the examination yesterday. Applicants were between 18 and 60 years old.

Besides career potential, the fact that the post office promises a certain degree of job security has drawn participation from other highly educated professionals as well as recent college graduates.

Test-takers registered for the personnel exam for a variety of reasons.

A woman, surnamed Hsu (徐), said she was a well-paid computer programmer in a private company. A native of Penghu, Hsu said she has been working in Taiwan proper for many years and that it was time for her to go home.

"There are post offices at Penghu, too," she said.

Another woman surnamed Huang (黃) said both she and her sister took the exam this year. She was applying to be a technical professional, whereas her sister took the test for the service counter clerk.

"I only took the test to get some experience," she said, adding she had applied for other government jobs since she graduated in June.
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