Historians and contemporaries alike have criticized Chilean public administration during the Parliamentary period due to the emergence of clientelism in the selection of public workers. Notwithstanding, a great part of these impressions are not based on evidence. This article analyzes the development of administrative careers in public services between 1884 and 1920, specifically studying the hiring and promotion processes. It concludes that, despite the nonexistence of a bureaucratic framework for career management, in practice there was a de facto civil service system which permitted long administrative careers within public administration.