Public contest
In Brazil, public examinations (Portuguese: concursos públicos) are the most commonly used form of hiring public servants, including school teachers, university professors, bureaucrats, diplomats, prosecutors, judges, etc. The Constitution of Brazil of 1988 demands that public servants be hired by public examinations.
The large majority of examinations are composed of multiple choice tests, but other types in conjunction with those are common, such as writing tests and oral tests.
All trial court judges, both in the state and federal level, are hired by public examination. Judges of the Justice Courts and of the Regional Federal Courts, which are state and federal appellate courts, are chosen among trial court judges, with a reservation of 10% of the seats for lawyers and 10% for prosecutors.
All trial court prosecutors are also chosen by public contest, and prosecutors that work in cases of the appellate courts are chosen among trial court prosecutors.
Only 6.3% of school principals in Brazilian public schools are hired by public contest, 43% of them are elected, and 45% of them are nominated by politicians.