This article analyses the main factors that affect the election of a high civil servant in the first level of hierarchy in Chile, according to a sociological perspective using the capital species concept. This paper provides a theoretical and descriptive travel on State modernization and professionalization of public management in Chile. Later, with a sample of 45 cases regarding high civil servants designated during the period of 2003-13, a maximum likelihood logit models were performed to determine the factors that influence the selection of these civil servants. It concludes that political capital is not a factor that gives advantage in the selection.