Civil Service Reforms Offer College Students Chances for Good Positions

Because of recent changes in Civil Service examinations, men with college training will now find it easier to secure well pain government positions without having had any previous practical experience in their field.

The new reforms, inaugurated by Leonard D. White, retired Civil Service Commissioner and his successor, Samuel H. Ordway '21, are the third stop in a series designed to draw recruits from a wider field and to open government service to those trained in the Social Sciences and Public Administration. Government Department members have expressed approval of these reforms.

The examinations will consist of two parts: a general test of questions unrelated to any particular field to measure the candidate's aptitude for adjustment to the professional duties of the service, and another examination covering the fundamentals of that particular field which the candidate intends to enter. The first test counts 30 percent, the second 70 percent, and in order to be eligible, the competitor must make a grade equivalent to at least 70 percent in each of these two sections.

The broadest of the new examinations are those for the positions of Junior Economist and Junior Administrative Technician. These require that the applicant shall have majored either in Economics or Government while in college. In addition, other more specialized fields are open to the biologist, the chemist, and the physicist.

It is hard to predict how many applicants will be successful in the new examinations, but in previous tests of a somewhat similar nature 500 of the 11,500 candidates were found eligible. Applications for the examinations may be obtained at the Boston Post Office.