Notes on recruitment of customs officers in 2020

Deputy Director of the Personnel and Organization Department Bui Ngoc Loi.

Recently, the GDVC has announced the recruitment of Customs officers in five municipal and provincial customs departments. Could you tell us more about the criteria for recruiting Customs officers?

The latest recruitment period of customs officers held by the GDVC was in 2013 and there have been no recruitments since then. Since 2013, the requirements in customs performance have been increasing. Although the Customs sectorhas implemented modern IT application, the workload has sharply increased in turnover, customs declaration and annual revenue. In addition, some customs departments are newly established, such as Da Nang International Airport Customs Branch and Cam Ranh International Airport Customs Branch. The GDVC has strictly implemented the State and Government’s policy of reduction in customs officers, reducing by 10% of the number of assigned officers in 2015, the number of reduced customs officers is 600 officers by 2020.

Earlier, the GDVC issued a plan on recruitment of officers for five customs departments, including Da Nang, An Giang, Kien Giang, Khanh Hoa and Ha Nam Ninh. These departments have urgent requirements on adding officers performing specialized customs operation.

For example, at Khanh Hoa and Da Nang Customs Departments, two international airports have been put into operation, so the number of officers is low.

Meanwhile, the number of officers of other forces such as aviation security, police at airports is about 300 officers, but this for thecustoms force is only 40-50 officers while the shifts and workload are the same.

Ha Nam Ninh Customs Department is a newly established department with its performance in three provinces Ninh Binh, Nam Dinh and Ha Nam, which have great potential for development,and are in the list of top customs departments with high revenues of the whole country, but the number of officers is still short.

Although other customs departments also need to add officers, the number of remaining officers is few, so the selection of departments to add officers must be based on criteria such as requirements on operation and organizational structure.

Currently, the Personnel and Organization Department is developing a scheme on recruitment of officers for Customs departments in the entire sector and will soon submit it to the Ministry of Finance for approval and deployment.

Could you tell us about the preparation for the recruitment examination of customs officers in 2020 by the GDVC?

The GDVC's leader pays attention to the recruitment of customs officers in 2020 and requests to strictly comply with regulations and avoid errors. Many key stages of the examination must be prepared such as giving tests, controlling tests and marking tests.

The GDVC’s plan on recruitment in 2020 for five provincial, inter-provincial and municipal customs departments of Da Nang, An Giang, Kien Giang, Khanh Hoa and Ha Nam Ninh was approved by the Ministry of Finance.The GDVC has established an Examination Council for customs officers in 2020 and the Chairman of the Council is the GDVC’s leader. The council includes the following teams: Support Team, Secretary Team, and Invigilation Team to fully prepare conditions on facilities and places for the exam. The examination is expected to be held in Da Nang.

To facilitate candidates, the Personnel and Organization Department issued a dispatch requesting provincial and municipal customs departments that have recruitment targets to receive applications. The departments will receive applications from June 8 to 12. The Council permits departments to receive applications of candidates who not only apply for recruitment into their departments but also into other departments. For example, candidates who want to examine in KhanhHoa, An Giang, Kien Giang Departments, can submit their applications at Da Nang Customs Department.

Customs officers of Da Nang Customs Department perform their duties. Photo: N.L

Could you recommend candidates when participating in this recruitment examination?

The recruitment examination of customs officers in 2020, individuals who eligible for participation in the examination should pay attention to some issues. First, regarding the examination revision, the GDVC will not hold the revision and not provide materials to candidates and prohibits officers who participated in the recruitment and customs officers to participate in the examination revision.

Second, the candidates need to note that some units held exam revision, but the quality has not been verified, the exam materials are not official and not verified by competent authorities. The candidates should consider avoiding costs.

Third, regarding the submission of applications to the customs departments, from previous experience, the Customs sector predicted some situations such as the candidates read the notice, they still do not understand clearly and often ask the exam council. For example, I took the exam in May and only granted a temporary certificate, and I apply for recruitment in July. For this case, the temporary certificate is not accepted.

Along with that, the requirement on foreign language standard in this recruitment is particularly high, because the Customs sector has to contact many partners, businesses and immigration passengers, so customs officers have to meet standardized foreign language qualifications.

Fourth, candidatesare only permitted to apply for recruitment into one customs department.

Fifth, candidates need to follow the review content included in the notice of recruitment of customs officers.

Sixth, the candidates pay attention to follow on thewebsite of the GDVC and Customs Newspaper to get information about this exam, the time for examination is expected from July 7 to 12, 2020.

In particular, the candidates need to pay attention, the GDVC will take strict measures to control the examination, so that the exam will take place publicly and transparently. For example, the use of information technology equipment will be controlled, there will be internet breakers and surveillance cameras, if the candidate is foundto use equipment, their exam will be canceled.

Currently, the Examination Council for customs officersin 2020has published a phone number 024.39440833 (ext: 9232; 8203) to answer questions of individuals applying for the recruitment.