Ceuta, Spain: temporary social workers hired without exam, official bulletin shows

The Official Bulletin of Ceuta, a Spanish autonomous city, has published a call for 20 temporary social worker positions under an urgent procedure, with no multiple-choice exam, with selection based on merit and experience through the employment offices. The call is signed by the Councillor for the Presidency and Governance, Alberto Ramón Gaitán Rodríguez.

The call appears in the Official Bulletin of Ceuta, document number 3252, page 17 of the PDF, according to the reference accompanying the announcement. There are **20 positions** for social workers, temporary in nature and processed as urgent. There is no multiple-choice exam: selection is based on merit and experience, and the procedure goes through the employment offices. The signature is that of **Alberto Ramón Gaitán Rodríguez**, Councillor for the Presidency and Governance.

## What the call actually says

The announcement refers to temporary positions, not permanent jobs. The urgent route has been chosen, which in practice shortens the usual timelines of a standard selection process. Selection is made by scoring merit and professional experience, with no qualifying multiple-choice exam.

That detail matters because, in a standard call, the norm is an objective test to filter candidates. Here there is none. The weight falls on prior experience and merit scoring, managed through the employment offices.

## Why 20 social workers raise eyebrows

In social services, the usual staffing ratio bears no resemblance to health or education. For a population like Ceuta's, of around **80,000 inhabitants**, a team of **15 or 20 social workers** is generally considered enough to cover ordinary demand. That is the view of the analysis accompanying the call.

If 20 additional positions are suddenly called, the reading is that the need is not about covering sick leave, but a genuine expansion of the workforce. The urgency of the procedure reinforces that interpretation: this is not about calmly filling gaps, but bringing in staff as soon as possible.

## The signature and the political context

The call is signed by **Alberto Ramón Gaitán Rodríguez**, Councillor for the Presidency and Governance. He is a trusted appointee of Ceuta's governing team. The fact that the signature sits at that level rather than in a technical department underlines that the decision has political weight, not just administrative.

Added to this is the context of public statements by the mayors of Ceuta and Melilla about the migration situation. While the official line remains that stays are temporary, the call for positions that are stable over time points to medium-term planning. It is no minor contradiction.

## What it means for the service

Expanding the social services workforce by **20 people** is no cosmetic adjustment. If the previous team was 15 or 20 professionals, this call could double care capacity. That only makes sense if a sustained workload is expected, not a one-off spike.

The urgent processing and the absence of a multiple-choice exam also shape the profile of those hired: professionals with proven experience will come in, not necessarily those who perform best in a theoretical test. It is a bet on practice over theory, with the risks and advantages that entails.