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Abstract
This paper studies entry-level bureaucratic recruitment in China, i.e., the National Civil Service Exam (NCSE). I build a many-to-one Non-transferable Utility job matching model with two-sided heterogeneity and demonstrate its non-parametric identification based on instruments without using individual-level data. The framework is applied to study the NCSE, where each candidate applies to one position and subsequently takes a meritocratic exam determining admission. I compare the performance of the NCSE with a serial-dictatorship mechanism in the counterfactual analysis and find that the existing mechanism can be better when candidates differ in multiple dimensions and there is information friction in the hiring process.