Chinese examinees walk towards an exam site to attend the 2015 China National Civil Service Examination in Nanjing city, East China's Jiangsu province, Nov 30, 2014. [Photo/IC]

Civil servants, couriers, air stewardess and writers have the toughest time in dating, according to an online survey.

The study, announced by Zhang Yiyi, a well-known writer and the image ambassador of the Single's Day, lists 10 professions where due to time crunch single men find it most difficult to date.

Zhang Yiyi was once famous for writing a poem in support of single men that went something like this: "Single men should not be assumed as suffering from a lonely life, since ancient sages all enjoyed their solitude."

The survey comes just days ahead of the Single's Day on Nov 11 when people celebrate their single status.

It seems the halo around the civil servants has faded a bit, as 158 positions during this year's national civil service examination saw no applicants.

A fixed monthly wage of some thousand for a regular civil servant is considered just enough for daily expenditures, but not sufficient for the mortgage and car payments that have to be made every month.

Another drawback is that senior civil servants could be involved in corruption and could land up in legal trouble.