Women account for 6 in 10 hires; oldest recruit is 57-year-old man, youngest a 19-year-old woman
The Seoul Metropolitan Government recently announced the final list of 2,775 successful candidates selected through its first round of local civil servant recruitment examinations for 2026.
As in the previous year, women outnumbered men among the newly appointed civil servants. The youngest successful candidate was a woman born in 2008 who passed the Grade 9 general administration exam, while the oldest was a man born in 1969 who passed the Grade 9 social welfare exam.
According to the city, the final candidates were selected through interviews conducted from Aug. 24 to Sept. 10, drawn from 3,236 applicants who had passed the written examination for Grade 8 and 9 general civil servant positions administered on June 20.
Of the 2,775 total successful candidates, 2,521 were Grade 9 and 254 were Grade 8 nursing positions. By job category, 1,735 were in administration and 1,040 in science and technology. By gender, 1,089 were men (39.2 percent) and 1,686 were women (60.8 percent), continuing the trend of female-majority hiring seen the previous year. The share of women rose 2.4 percentage points compared with last year's regular recruitment round.
By age group, those in their 20s made up the largest share at 1,462 (52.7 percent), followed by those in their 30s at 1,011 (36.4 percent), their 40s at 237 (8.5 percent), their 50s at 56 (2.1 percent) and teenagers at 9 (0.3 percent).
In addition, the city's second recruitment written examination — covering 383 positions including Grade 7 general administration roles — is scheduled for Wednesday. A total of 12,068 people have applied, putting the competition ratio at 31.5 to 1. The final results are expected to be announced on Jan. 6, 2027.
Earlier this year, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced in February that it would hire 3,180 new civil servants at Grades 7 through 9, with positions allocated across administration at 1,903, technology at 1,256 and research and guidance at 21.
ikson@heraldcorp.com
