Recently, Yunnan Rural Credit Cooperatives attracted attention for their job posting seeking “branch office staff” requiring applicants to hold a national second-level or above athlete certificate, excel in basketball or volleyball, and meet certain height requirements. This sparked online criticism, with netizens questioning the legitimacy of the job requirements. Under public pressure, the institution eventually removed the athlete and height criteria.
According to a report from “The Paper” on April 11, the 2026 campus recruitment position chart for Yunnan Rural Credit Cooperatives showed that the Kunming Guandu Rural Cooperative Bank was recruiting 22 branch office staff members, divided into three categories: “Branch Office Staff 01” hiring 9 males; “Branch Office Staff 02” hiring 9 females; and “Branch Office Staff 03” hiring 4 individuals without gender restrictions.
All positions required full-time master’s degree or higher, age 28 or below, and “Branch Office Staff 03” also required holding a national second-level or above athlete certificate, passing a physical fitness test, demonstrating strong professional skills and competitive level in basketball, volleyball, or football, with male applicants needing to be 185cm or taller and female applicants needing to be 175cm or taller.
The stringent and almost “precisely targeted” application conditions have stirred controversy, with netizens questioning if the “Branch Office Staff 03” position was a “pre-arranged” job posting.
Netizens commented, “Isn’t the bank’s function about playing sports?” “This is tailor-made for someone.” “100% pre-arranged job.” “Using national resources for their own benefit!” “Why not recruit privately instead of publicly announcing the criteria?” “They should limit it to the last 10 digits of the ID card to prevent others from wasting their time running along.”
Some netizens expressed, “A rural credit cooperative in a district recruiting so selectively shows either too many outstanding candidates and few positions available, or the education in China has become too diluted.” “Is it because diplomas are too diluted or jobs are too scarce? All branch office staff of credit cooperatives need to be full-time master’s degree graduates!” “Even recruiting ordinary staff at a rural credit cooperative requires a full-time master’s degree or higher, indicating how tough the job market is.”
The term “pre-arranged job” is used to describe positions that appear to be openly recruited but already have predetermined candidates in mind.
On the morning of April 10, a reporter from “Modern Express” called the recruitment consultation hotline of Yunnan Rural Credit Cooperatives, where a staff member mentioned that each unit has certain autonomy in recruitment and could not explain why the job positions were set with such requirements.
On April 12, “The Paper” learned that the credit cooperative had removed the controversial athlete and height requirements from the original job announcement while keeping other aspects unchanged.