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Unfolding Stories
‘Building the nation’: Civil service remains popular for Indonesian job seekers
Every year, millions of Indonesians take the civil service exams. But beyond job stability and better-than-average benefits, what is it that draws them?
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Selection process: People sit for the civil service test in Surabaya on Sept. 20, 2021. (Juni Kriswanto/AFP) (AFP/Juni Kriswanto)
E
very year, millions of Indonesians take the civil service exam. But beyond job stability and better-than-average benefits, what is it that draws them?
While working in government may not always be as lucrative or as glamorous as working in the private sector, the civil service remains a popular alternative for job seekers.
Like in many jobs, the candidates must pass a series of tests. But unlike in the private sector, the civil servant enrollment test is held only once a year. In 2021, some 4 million people sat for the exam, but less than 82,000 passed.
Some try their luck at the civil service exam every year without luck. Others, like Monica Pitoy, only need one attempt. Not long after graduation, the 23-year-old law graduate applied to the Supreme Court as a candidate justice. She had spent months preparing the application, gathering the required documents, pulling all-nighters to study and praying.
"I've wanted to be a judge since I was a child," Monica said. She recalled one day many years ago when she accompanied her father, a lawyer, to work.
"When my father took me to the district court that day, I was awestruck by the judges’ robes."
"Turns out, the dream is all coming together now," she said.
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