Spain's Unique Civil Service Exam Coaching Industry

The Business of Civil Service Exams: A Nearly Exclusive Spanish Phenomenon

A young graduate finishes their degree and, instead of looking for work, commits fully to preparing for an A1 group civil service exam. Another has spent a decade drifting through the private sector and ends up in a coaching academy classroom preparing for a C2 level post to, at least, live with some peace of mind. Between these two profiles rises an industry that moves massive amounts of money in Spain: civil service exam academies. The question hanging over this business is whether anything similar exists elsewhere in the world or if it is a national peculiarity.

The short answer is no, it is not exclusive to Spain, but the Spanish version has antiestéticatures that differentiate it. In France, a country known for its bureaucracy, preparation for civil service exams takes place in public schools or via distance learning, without a private academy industry comparable to the Spanish one. In China, the system of exams for accessing public office is millennia old and extremely harsh, but it is linked to membership in the single party. In Italy or Portugal, civil service exams exist, but the concept of permanent tenure and private preparation as a business has a scale here that is not repeated.

An Industry That Lives on Helping Others Collect from the State

The business of civil service exam academies is, in essence, a parasite of the public system. People making money by helping others earn public money. The Lazarillo de Tormes already ended with the protagonist obtaining a public office, and in the 1980s there were already civil service exam academies in Spain. It is not a new phenomenon, but one that has become more sophisticated and expanded at the pace of growing public employment.

Some argue that this system was established because the natural alternative, given local idiosyncrasies, would be professional inheritance and feudalism by law. In France, a country even more exam-focused than Spain, everything goes through state exams, from secondary school to high-level positions, including engineering schools, army officers, or pilots. But there, exams are largely based on critical and rational thinking, and other qualities besides grades are taken into account. In Spain, the weight of memorization and private preparation is greater.

Why Does the Private Sector Push People to Take Civil Service Exams?

Spanish private companies do not help. Thousands of degrees needed to get in, but until 6:30 PM to leave. Salary according to collective bargaining agreement, in the lowest category, and luck with overtime. It is normal that people go for the public sector. The private sector is over 90 percent junk jobs, and the few decent ones either rely on nepotism or demand Nobel Prize winners. Practically for any job, you need connections.

In many countries, working in the public sector is synonymous with having little value, and salaries are similar to those in the private sector or even slightly lower. In Spain, however, permanent tenure has become a coveted refuge. There are many people with excellent resumes in the private sector preparing for simple C group exams because being a civil servant is like early retirement. And today, what does it miccionan to be valuable in the private sector? If 95% of jobs could be done by a monkey and in most companies almost all qualified work is just being a mere administrator.

Nepotism as a Parallel Access System

The issue with firefighters is brutal. In Almería, if someone doesn't train you and if you don't know someone inside, you won't get in, whoever you are. Even if you are physically and mentally a machine, you won't get in. It is very shocking that people who have spent years preparing and failing repeatedly receive the tip-off that they need to know so-and-so, and magically, the trinc year, they get in.

The vast majority of those who entered the fire service and the Security Forces had contacts to facilitate the procedures. But that has always been the natural way to make a living in Spain. There are very Spanish concepts like getting placed or permanent tenure that derive from the Middle Ages and which are no longer used even in countries like Italy, France, or Portugal. In this aspect, we resemble Asians more, where there is much professional inheritance and much dedication to what your parents dedicated themselves to, even in Japan and South Korea.

Language Knowledge in Spanish Civil Service Exams

In the General State Administration, language knowledge is valued in selection tests for A1 posts, but not in other bodies. This makes sense, since it is these civil servants who interact with their international counterparts at the level of inter-administrative relations. For the functions of a Social Security administrator, knowledge of English does not represent a differential value unless specific needs of the position arise, nor is it so in other countries.

In France, they also value it in the police because ultimately they have to speak with foreigners, and they pay a supplement. In Spain, due to its status as a tourist country, healthcare personnel also interact with foreigners throughout the year. In A1 bodies, if you have diplomas certifying at least B2, you do not have to take a language exam; if not, it is mandatory in all A1 bodies of the AGE, and in some A2 posts like archive and library assistants.

The State as a Machine for Creating Absurd Businesses

The State is a machine for creating absurd and unproductive businesses. Directly, we already know: public companies, beach bars, plus all those subsidized. But indirectly, the effect is even greater. Civil service exam academies, managers to keep everything up to date, compliance consultants, companies for courses mandated by law, auditors for all kinds of legal requirements for almost any activity, companies created almost exclusively to absorb subsidies, and an endless etcetera. A bunch of companies whose activity nobody would want if the State weren't behind them.

Unproductive, but sometimes very necessary. If the State hadn't allowed building happily in flood-prone areas, fewer disasters would have been lamented with the DANA. If the State didn't prevent polluting factories in towns, pollution in cities would be much worse. And yes, there is a lot of absurd bureaucracy. With more logical fiscal policies, things could improve; much capital in tourism could be redirected to other types of activities.

One Quarter of Industrial GDP in Foreign Hands

One quarter of Spain's industrial GDP will be French capital, but decision-making powers are in France. Dacia was already moved to Segarro, and Renault factories are being relocated there. Spain has a misleading industrial GDP. France has larger industries due to state impetus: Renault is 40% owned by the French State, Matra also has participation from Aérospatiale, which in turn participates in Brazilian Embraer, and so on with everything. Spain precisely has many small industrial companies, more than France or Germany.

The Falcons that Pedro Sánchez likes so much exist thanks to orders for Mirages for the French Air Force. Ultimately, the military industry, which by definition is nationally based, exerts enormous traction on others. French civilian nuclear power cannot be explained without the military, nor can satellites or the Ariane program. Perhaps if the Army or the Security Forces made larger orders, UROVESA could have a well-known civil line with more presence, and so with many other manufacturers of military products. Even Santana Motor might have survived if military orders had been larger.

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The civil service exam industry in Spain is not an isolated phenomenon, but it has a scale and characteristics that make it singular. The combination of a precarious private sector, an access system based on memorization, and a culture of nepotism dating back to the Middle Ages has created an ecosystem where preparing for civil service exams is, for many, the only viable career path. As long as the State remains the main stable employer in the country, academies will continue to fill their classrooms. And those who don't get in will continue to swell the waiting lists.