Just how good is your credit? That is what public service officials are now asking applicants during the interview process.

The credit record has become a key factor when judging the qualifications of public service applicants in one district of Shanghai.

"Personal credit is more stressed than before in the recruitment of new public servants because of the special characteristics of the profession," said an official surnamed Jiang from the Personnel Bureau under Shanghai's Yangpu district government.

"Public servants usually represent the image of governmental organs, and they should have a better credit performance than many other professionals," he said.

Jiang is responsible for the recruitment of public servants in the Yangpu District. His bureau is reportedly the first in the city to introduce credit records in the examination of public service applicants.

Such credit examinations are used mainly to find out whether applicants have paid their bank debts and other utility bills on time.

According to Jiang, applicants who have passed the public service written examination are required to fill out a special form authorizing the bureau to investigate their credit performance.

"We usually have this process completed before the interview, and if we find applicants with a bad record, according to the database, we will ask them to explain their reasons," he said.

"Flawed records and unconvincing explanations will lead to many disadvantages for people who want to become public servants."

The Yangpu Personnel Bureau launched the credit examination in 2005. So far no applicant has been found with a previous bad record, Jiang said.

The bureau, however, is now considering increasing the examination's requirements, for example, checking traffic violations.

The source used by Jiang's bureau to check credit worthiness is the so-called "Shanghai individual credit information collection system" operated by the Shanghai Credit Information Services Co. The company was founded in 1999 and supported by the Shanghai Municipal Information Commission. The system has already collected credit information on more than 7.7 million people.

An unidentified source from the information commission said a special information collection system for public servants will be established in the city, which means it may be extended outside Yangpu.

But an official from the Shanghai Personnel Bureau said the credit examination system would be a "big task" if implemented in the city.

It would require the cooperation of many different government departments because personal credit issues concern many different aspects of an individual's daily activities.

(China Daily March 13, 2007)