One of the notable changes in the amended Law on Cadres and Civil Servants, recently passed by the National Assembly, is a fundamental shift in the recruitment, use, and management of civil servants. 

The 2025 law aligns with the spirit of Politburo resolutions 57, 59, 66, and 68, creating a legal framework for civil servant management, aiming to build a professional, effective civil service that meets the demands of socio-economic development and serves the public.

This content is specified in Decree 170/2024, which regulates the recruitment, utilization, and management of civil servants.

Accordingly, Decree 170 eliminates the requirement for national-level civil servant quality assessments and rank promotion exams, thereby reducing administrative procedures and promoting decentralization in recruitment and utilization.

Nguyen Quang Dung, Director of the Civil Service Department (Ministry of Home Affairs), said that previously, civil servants who wished to be promoted to major specialist or to senior specialist had to pass rank promotion exams.

“For example, a university graduate starting as a specialist would undergo a one-year probation period at 85 percent salary with a starting coefficient of 2.34. After 9 years, they could qualify for the major specialist exam, and after another 6 years, they could take the senior specialist exam,” Dung explained.

The amended Law on Cadres and Civil Servants introduces significant innovations in recruitment based on job positions.

Candidates can apply for all specialist, major specialist, senior specialist positions, or even leadership roles. Those who meet the job position requirements will be appointed to that position and receive the corresponding salary.

Job positions serve as the basis for determining staffing and allocating human resources, and are the sole criterion for recruitment, utilization, training, development, rewards, and salary, encompassing the entire lifecycle of human resource management in the public sector.

No more promotion exams for salary increases

Decree 170 also clearly outlines transitional mechanisms. Accordingly, directors and equivalent positions in central ministries and agencies, and department directors under provincial People’s Committees will be assigned senior specialists without promotion exams. 

Similarly, deputy directors, deputy department directors, and commune-level People’s Committee chairpersons will be assigned major specialist ranks.

However, abolishing promotion exams does not mean relaxing cadre evaluations. The responsibility for selecting and appointing the right people lies with the heads of agencies and units.

Cadres and civil servants must meet job position requirements to exist. This avoids situations where individuals hold positions based on rank, thus encouraging cadres and civil servants to strive and perform duties based on job positions.

“For instance, if a department needs seven senior specialist positions but only has six. The head of the department needs to establish criteria to evaluate personnel within the department to appoint someone who meets the requirements to the vacant senior specialist position,” he explained.

However, if appointed civil servants fail to fulfill their tasks, they must be screened out and replaced with more suitable candidates, unlike the past, when those who passed promotion exams could enjoy senior specialist salaries without additional responsibilities.

Abolishing promotion exams is seen as a step in the right direction, aligning with administrative reform, streamlining the government, and enhancing the effectiveness of the public service system. 

Civil servants will no longer rely on promotion exams for career advancement or salary increases but must prove their capabilities through work performance.

For this to be truly effective, in addition to establishing a practical and clear job position system, decentralization of authority must be accompanied by monitoring.

The head is given the authority to appoint and arrange personnel, which needs to be accompanied by post-inspection and periodic public service inspection, to avoid "delegation of authority without control". This is to limit the situation of taking advantage of decentralization to appoint officers without transparency and choosing the wrong persons.

Promotion exams end a historical phase

The civil servant promotion exam from major specialist to senior specialist on August 25, 2023, was described by Minister of Home Affairs Pham Thi Thanh Tra as a special exam, marking the end of a historical phase and transitioning to a new format.

As many as 1,201 cadres, civil servants, and administrative officials registered to take the exam, with 602 from central agencies and 599 from localities.

Tran Thuong