Currently a civil servant in a Ministry.

I tried for MINDEF 2 years ago when I was about to graduate, but I didnt even make the cut after PT. HR was frank - my PT results were good but my academic qualifications were not relevant to the position that I had applied for.

This year, I tried again. Applied for a position that is closer to my academic qualifications and experience. Because of the covid-19 pandemic, I suspect that psychometric tests/selection interviews are being suspended. So really looking forward to the email informing me to go for PT once this whole shenanigans subside.

Have a couple of questions for you DXOs:

1) Could there be a more than 1 vacancy for a position?

Asking this because... I applied for Position A in April. HR got back to me to tell me whether I am keen in Position B too. Reason was that while they would process the applications for both positions, they would move on to process the application for Position B if I am not further shortlisted for Position A.
I realized that Position A was advertised way back in January. Most likely they would have identified a candidate already. Position B was advertised in March. So I was thinking, could it be that the advertisement for Position A was not taken down after so long because there are more than 1 vacancies to be filled?

(Both positions are HR-related jobs. Based on the job descriptions, it seems like both deal with public relations as well like fronting the public. Which is kinda similar to my current job. In my Ministry, we have a large team of people doing such work viz communicating policy positions to public. Sometimes when we hire there are more than 1 vacant positions)

2) Are some positions easier to get in than others?