Frequently Asked Questions
No. You may apply to take CRE again whenever they invite applications in future. For details about CRE, please visit CSB homepage (www.csb.gov.hk). For enquiries about CRE, please contact the Civil Service Examinations Unit at (852) 2537 6429 or email to csbcseu@csb.gov.hk
Yes. Applicants who do not possess the requisite CRE and/or BLNST results may also apply. The Civil Service Bureau will invite such applicants to attend a special CRE/BLNST to be held on 7 December or any other date within December in Hong Kong. Their applications will only be processed subject to their obtaining of the requisite results.
Results of CRE (including Level 2 and Level 1 results of the two language papers and a Pass of the Aptitude Test paper) obtained from December 2006 onwards are of permanent validity. All results of CRE held before December 2006 have expired.
An overall band of 6.5 or above (with no subtest score below band 6 in the same sitting) in the Academic Module of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is accepted as equivalent to Level 2 result in the Use of English (UE) paper of the CRE. For this purpose, your IELTS result must be obtained within the two-year validity period of the test on any date during the application period..
In other words, IELTS results obtained between 15 September 2022 and 4 October 2024 will be deemed equivalent to Level 2 result in the UE paper of the CRE for the 2024/25 AO Recruitment Exercise.
New recruits appointed to the Civil Service on or after 1 June 2015 are subject to the new retirement age of 65 in respect of the civilian grades. Although there is no age limit for applying for the post, applicants who will reach the prescribed retirement age upon appointment will not be appointed.
No. Even if you have applied for more than one of the posts, as long as you have met with the entry requirements, you will be invited to sit the same Joint Recruitment Examination (JRE).
If a candidate has applied for more than one post, he/she may be invited to attend interviews for the different posts, depending on whether he/she meets the corresponding entry requirements and shortlisting criteria of the posts applied.
No, definitely not. All candidates meeting the entry requirements will be assessed in the JRE and interviews on the same ground. Save for disabled candidates who choose to receive preferential treatments, candidates will be short-listed for interviews in accordance with their JRE results. At the interviewing stage, the recruitment board will assess a candidate's performance with reference to a set of objective assessment criteria. The university which a candidate graduated from or his/her field of studies is not part of such criteria. All we concern is the candidate's potential and suitability for the AO job.
No, there is not. Candidates studying or residing outside Hong Kong are assessed against the same set of criteria applied for local candidates.
Civil servants appointed under the new probationary terms do not attract pension benefits. Instead, they are subject to the Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) Schemes Ordinance and receive MPF benefits.