Fresh college graduates will have to wait a while in order to enjoy the security of "Iron Bowl" jobs because 80 percent of the available positions in Beijing will go to more experienced applicants this year.

 The policy, revealed by Beijing Social Work Committee secretary Song Guilun at the local "Two Sessions" in Beijing, stipulated that only those who have more than two years of work experience at grass-roots sectors, such as in a village, will be considered for civil service jobs, as New Express Daily reported Saturday.

The two sessions are known as the Third Session of the 11th Beijing Municipal People's Congress and the 11th Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference Beijing Committee.

No civil service positions will be available for fresh college graduates next year.

Certain positions will be set aside for village officials or community workers, whose jobs include handling pay disputes and providing legal services, Beijing Municipal Human Resources and Social Security Bureau spokesman Song Fengjing said at a press conference Friday.

Some people supported the policy, saying it can improve the quality of civil servants and lure students into work for grass-root organizations.

Over 60,000 candidates will sit for the 2010 Beijing civil service exam, an earlier report by Beijing Youth Daily said.

After working at a grass-roots department, students will have a better chance of getting a civil service job, Guangzhou Daily reported yesterday.

Civil servants should possess good analytical and problem solving skills, which most fresh college graduates lack, the report said.

"This policy is positive as it tries to attract talents to underdeveloped areas," Fu Haibo, a village official, told the Global Times yesterday.

Fu, in the second group of village officials selected from Beijing college graduates in 2007, will sit for this year's civil service exam of Beijing.

"Three-year working experience as a village official enabled me to know how to speak and act suitably when communicating with others," Fu said.

These village officials are guaranteed a chance to sit for the civil service exam if they have served the village for three years.
However, many fresh graduates felt this is an unfair move.

Wang Yifei, a senior at Beijing Diplomatic University, told the Global Times yesterday that the policy is "unfair," as it deprives them of the right to compete.

"Though it is true that fierce competition for civil servants will end up with a few students being selected at the end, I still want a chance to fight for it," said He Rong, a postgraduate student at Beijing Foreign Studies University.

The student said she has applied for this year's civil service exam.

"If we can turn into civil servants, we can have Beijing hukou and be on the national payment list," said He Rong.

She said being a community worker is not attractive because the salary is only about 1,000 or 2,000 ($146 or $292) a month, which is insufficient for daily survival.