For months now, thousands of people who have passed a competitive examination for the General State Administration They live trapped in a bureaucratic limbo: they are civil servants, they receive a reduced salary, but they still haven't been assigned a post and, in practice, can't start their jobs. The situation, which mainly affects the State Civil Management Corps (A2), has become a source of discontent among those affected.
The paradox is hard to ignore: The Administration urgently needs staff In overburdened agencies like the SEPE (State Public Employment Service), Social Security, and immigration offices, thousands of successful candidates are left waiting for a job that never seems to arrive. Words like uncertainty, gridlock, and lack of information are frequently heard in the testimonies of those taking the exams, with a direct impact on their personal, professional, and financial lives.
Thousands of approved officials, without assignment or effective incorporation
Today, More than 4.000 people passed the tests for the State Civil Management Corps (A2)Those who applied in the 2024 recruitment drive are still waiting for their assignments to be published in the Official State Gazette (BOE). Until that list appears, they cannot officially take up their posts or know in which city or organization they will be working.
The data collected suggests that The opposition learned that they had approved it in May 2025After passing the exams in a call for applications launched the previous year, they completed the mandatory selection course in February, a prerequisite for the A1 and A2 levels. However, everything has been at a standstill since then, awaiting the formal allocation of positions.
Meanwhile, those affected receive a payroll of around 1.060 euros per month as trainee civil servantsThis amount is significantly less than what they will receive once they take up their permanent positions. This payment is made even though they are not performing any specific tasks, fueling the public debate about the efficiency of public employment management and the paradox of paying for not working.
The situation is also repeated in other scales of the General State Administrationwhere the time between passing a competitive exam and being able to take up the assigned post sometimes stretches to two or even three years. In certain lower categories, salary isn't even paid until the post is published in the Official State Gazette (BOE), which further exacerbates the instability of the applicants.
This administrative bottleneck occurs just when More staff are needed in highly stressed services. within government agencies such as Social Security, the State Public Employment Service (SEPE), and immigration offices. The lack of staff in these organizations results in delays, waiting lists, and lengthy procedures, despite thousands of approved positions and selected candidates already waiting to start.
A limbo that affects rentals, mortgages, and life plans
Beyond the numbers, The testimonies of those affected themselves reflect the human dimension of this problemChristian, one of the candidates who passed the civil service exams, sums up his situation like this: “They don’t tell us anything; we have no idea when we’ll get our assignments.” His case illustrates the kind of difficulties that are multiplying.
After passing and completing the selective course, Christian has found that He cannot plan such basic things as where to liveShe explains that she had trouble renewing her rental contract because she couldn't provide proof of a permanent address or the location where she would be working. The uncertainty has been building up and has now spread to almost every aspect of her daily life.
The impact is not only economic. Several opposition figures acknowledge that The situation is taking a toll on them psychologically.“I’ve had to take sleeping pills,” Christian recounts, after months without a clear start date, without knowing if he’ll have to move to another city, and without being able to make any medium-term commitments. The shared feeling is one of being on hold, with no room to make important decisions.
The phrase most often repeated among trainee civil servants is emphatic: “Without the publication of the destination in the BOE (Official State Gazette), nothing is processed.”Without that official resolution, banks are reluctant to grant mortgages, many homeowners hesitate to sign long-term leases, and some families encounter problems enrolling their children in schools if they are unsure of their place of residence.
There are some particularly delicate cases. María Luisa, another of those affected, signed a preliminary sales agreement to buy a homeIf the Official State Gazette (BOE) does not publish their assignment before a deadline, they risk losing the amounts already paid. These kinds of situations, where administrative deadlines and private commitments intersect, increase the sense of vulnerability of those who, paradoxically, have already secured a permanent position.
Structural delays in competitive examinations and positions still not advertised
The delay in assigning destinations is part of a broader problem: the chronic slowness of some selection processes in the AdministrationIn different levels and branches of the State, the time between the final exam and the actual taking of office can extend to two or three years, a distance difficult to bear for those who have invested time, savings and effort in preparing for the competitive examination.
Meanwhile part of the public job offer still in the airMore than 9.000 staff positions, corresponding to the 2023, 2024, and 2025 recruitment drives, remain unfilled. Of these, 5.765 are for new hires and 3.328 for internal promotions, according to data from the candidates themselves and sources within the administration.
These squares are governed by a maximum period of three years before expiryIf the selection processes are not published and carried out within that timeframe, the Administration risks losing them. Some of these offers could begin to expire in the coming months, adding further pressure to a system already experiencing significant delays in almost every phase.
In parallel, The implementation of public employment offers is sufferingIt's not just about positions that take a long time to be advertised, but also about the fact that, once the applications are processed, successful candidates don't quickly find jobs. The result is a bottleneck that affects both the workload of the agencies and the lives of those waiting for their assignments.
The accumulation of unexecuted bids and the slowness in allocating positions mean that, even though the Government maintains that the processes are being expeditedHowever, the perception of the opposition is very different. For those who have been waiting for the Official State Gazette (BOE) for months or years, this improvement does not translate into real changes, and the official discourse clashes with their daily experience.
What the Government says and what those affected report
The Ministry of Public Administration maintains that Selection procedures are becoming increasingly faster. And that many applications are now resolved in less than a year from their inception. The Secretary of State for Public Administration, Consuelo Sánchez Naranjo, argued in the Senate that deadlines have been shortened and that there is an effort underway to modernize and digitize procedures.
However, The accounts of the successful candidates call that message into question.For them, the reality is that, although the exams are held and graded somewhat more quickly, the major obstacle arises afterward: in the assignment of postings and the actual onboarding. This phase, crucial for the effort made to translate into a real position, continues to be neglected and lacks any visible planning.
Many of those affected point directly to Ministry of Public Administration, headed by Óscar LópezThey criticize the lack of public information, specifically the absence of official schedules or clear projections regarding when the assignments for each unit will be published, and the fact that communications are limited to generic responses or referrals to future resolutions without a specific date.
In their demands, these trainee officials claim transparency and defined deadlinesThey are not only asking for the allocation of destinations to be published as soon as possible, but also for information to be provided well in advance of the approximate dates so that they can organize moves, family life, changes of school for their children or job decisions for their partners.
The conflict reveals a fundamental structural problem: the disconnect between public employment planning and the real needs of the servicesOn the one hand, positions are approved and competitive examinations are held; on the other hand, the lack of agile management in the final phase means that these positions take too long to be filled, while citizens suffer the effects of the lack of staff in key offices and departments.
What are the opposition demanding now, and what risks do they see in the short term?
Facing this scenario, Those who passed the State Civil Management Corps (A2) exam have begun to organize themselves to make their demands heard. Their immediate priority is clear: that the list of assignments be published in the Official State Gazette (BOE) so they can begin their duties as soon as possible. They believe that, having passed all the tests and the selection course, keeping them on hold for months makes no sense.
Among their demands is also the requirement to a stable and predictable schedule for future promotionsThey propose that the Administration should set maximum time limits between the publication of the offer, the holding of the exams, the resolution of the lists of successful candidates, the holding of selection courses and the final allocation of the positions, so that those taking the competitive exams know what to expect.
Another fear looming over those affected is that of potential loss of positions due to the expiration of public employment offersAlthough the focus is currently on the delay in assigning positions to those who have already passed, there is also concern that the more than 9.000 pending positions may not be filled within the legal three-year deadline, which would represent a setback in staff renewal.
On a personal level, many trainee civil servants acknowledge that They live thanks to the financial support of their families. or previous temporary jobs they managed to keep while preparing for the competitive exam. But this safety net is not universal: those with children, rentals, mortgages, or who lack additional income feel especially vulnerable to an indefinite wait.
The question of how long this situation will last remains unanswered. Until there are clear decisions from the Ministry of Public AdministrationThe thousands of successful candidates from the State Civil Management Corps and other bodies will remain in that intermediate position: with a position earned, a reduced salary, and a life that never quite gets going because the Official State Gazette (BOE) has not yet had the final say.
This whole scenario presents a contrast that is difficult to ignore: An administration that complains of a lack of personnel in sensitive areas simultaneously keeps thousands of new civil servants standing at the starting line.Time management, planning of public employment offers, and transparency in information have thus become key elements to unlock a system that, to this day, leaves both citizen service and the life projects of those who have already managed to pass a competitive examination in suspense.
