Critical Methods of Civil Service Selection System: An International Experience Comparison
Thomas C.-P. Peng, Chunta Lee *
Abstract
The point of public employee selection system is to select the most qualified candidates after testing applicants’ psychological cognition, learning capacity, learning results, and personality. After reviewing international trend and the current civil service system in Taiwan, this paper finds that selection process must be differentiated according to the requirement of job levels to achieve test validity. Government needs to put in adequate resources to develop effective selection methods for achievement tests, cognitive tests, and personality tests.
The civil service examination in Taiwan traditionally tests almost exclusively the applicants' professional knowledge but is valued by society as open and fair. However, Taiwan's current civil service selection system fails to meet the standard of test validity and pales in comparison with those of advanced Asian and Western countries. This paper proposes some recommendations to improve the civil service selection system in Taiwan.
Keywords: civil service, recruitment, selection, public sector, public employee
* Thomas C.-P. Peng, Associate Professor of Department of Political Science & Graduate Institute of Public Affairs, National Taiwan University. e-mail: tpeng@sinica.edu.tw
Chunta Lee, Assistant Professor of Department of Social and Public Affairs, University of Taipei. e-mail: chunda@utaipei.edu.tw