SCS encourages interns to join Government and serve public (with photos)

     The Secretary for the Civil Service, Mrs Ingrid Yeung, today (August 1) met with over 40 university students participating in the Administrative Service Summer Internship Programme to hear them share their experiences gained from the internship, and encouraged them to apply for the Administrative Officer (AO) post.
 
     Mrs Yeung said, "I strongly encourage young aspiring people who are committed to serving the community to actively consider joining the civil service. Whether you are graduating from the university next year or in 2026, if you plan to join the Government after graduation, now is the time to learn more about the employment and development opportunities offered by the Government. It is encouraging to note that this round of Internship Programme has attracted a record high number of applications from a total of 303 students from local, Mainland and overseas universities.
 
     "Opportunity favours the prepared. In the past five years, roughly one in every four newly recruited AOs were participants of the Administrative Service Internship Programme. The newly recruited AOs this year also include two Year 3 students from local universities who enrolled in the summer and winter cohorts of the Internship Programme last year and are now among the first batch of candidates recommended for 'advanced conditional offers'. I look forward to having internship participants becoming AOs in the near future to serve the public and contribute to our country and Hong Kong with their strengths."

     AOs play a pivotal role in the Government and are responsible for the formulation of government policies, co-ordination and monitoring of the implementation of various programmes, and management of the use of public resources. The Civil Service Bureau (CSB) organises the Administrative Service Internship Programme every summer and winter, offering students who wish to pursue an AO career an opportunity to work with serving AOs for around eight weeks, thereby gaining practical experience of government work at an early stage to facilitate future planning. The Permanent Secretary for the Civil Service, Mr Clement Leung, and Deputy Secretary for the Civil Service Ms Eureka Cheung also joined the sharing session with the interns and listened to their internship experiences.
 
     Mr Boey Lam, who is pursuing a double degree in Psychology and Public Administration at a local university, is one of the interns and has been posted to the division on mental health and healthcare manpower under the Health Bureau. Sharing his experience, Mr Lam said that during the internship, he had the opportunity to study overseas experience in promoting mental health awareness, assist in the preparation of policy papers and witness the passage of the Nurses Registration (Amendment) Bill 2023 at the Legislative Council. He found the experience most invaluable and appreciated in particular the need for public policy formulation to take into account different perspectives and balance the interests of stakeholders.
 
     Miss Naomi Lai, who is studying International Politics at a Mainland university, has a placement at the Narcotics Division of the Security Bureau, taking part in anti-drug prevention and promotion work. She assisted in the organisation of an anti-drug summit in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the promotion of anti-drug messages to youth at the Hong Kong Book Fair and the Ani-Com & Games Hong Kong. Through the experience, she learnt about the importance for the public service to be agile, innovative and collaborative having regard to stakeholder interests.
 
     A new round of the Common Recruitment Examination (CRE) and the Basic Law and National Security Law Test (BLNST) (degree/professional grades) is now open for application, while the recruitment exercises for the posts of Administrative Officer, Executive Officer II, Assistant Trade Officer II and Transport Officer II will begin in September. Prospective applicants for these posts should apply on-line before the deadline of 5pm on next Friday (August 9) for taking the CRE and the BLNST in order to attain the requisite results. For details, please refer to the CSB’s website (www.csb.gov.hk/eng/cre.html).