Infuriating process of government recruitment
People of my country are crazy to get a job in a government department or agency, this is due to privileges, perks and allowances along with a handsome salary and snug. When I graduated from university, people around me were already on the hunt for government job, some were successful, some used their PR and some used 'other' methods to stick their teeth into it. I personally applied to several hundred postings, but almost none of them landed me to a job. The shittiest thing in this endeavor was the procedure, it's enough to make one lose heart.
For almost each and every job application, I attached attested photocopies of all the educational documents, identification card and the domicile certificate. For those wondering, what the heck is attestation? It is that I made photocopies of all original documents, and then I had to find someone already in government service - a gazette officer (i.e. someone on a executive post like, director, commissioner et cetera) to physically verify the photocopies to be identical with the originals, then after inquiry they affixed their official stamp and put signatures to verify each of those papers writing C.T.C.
Only this part took almost a whole workday to sort-out, because no one was willing to do this, since only that officer could attest a document; who personally knew me. Pretty frustrating, but never matched the dreadful labor for getting a domicile certificate, but that is another part of story. Now again for those, who don't know what the heck is domicile certificate? It's a document to verify that I'm the resident of the same province for which I intend to apply to avail my job quota.
To put it in simple words this thing only aided me to apply with a priority application for a specific city or area, like if some government agency intended to appoint account officer in Lahore city of Punjab province, and if my domicile province printed on domicile certificate was Punjab, only then I was allowed to make an application, if it was some other province like Sind then I shall not be allowed to make an application, it simply got rejected.
These are the basic formalities, but worst thing has yet to come; it's almost a century old procedure, and almost nothing has evolved, pathetically. If you want to complete these prerequisites; there is no way to get these things done online using internet; yeah I had to physically lurk around to complete those. What if the requirement of domicile certificate and attested photocopies gets vanished; it would ease out horrendous situation.
I was lucky enough because someone mentored me & I already had these prerequisites handy. But in next part there is almost no exception; well according to principal. I had to search the newspapers, internet job boards, word of mouth, local photocopy shops where they put cuttings from newspaper or public notices on the notice board, starring for few hours a day to read the long descriptions and instructions & judging myself whether I may deem fit for this opportunity. I wonder it took my precious time that I could invest in somewhere else; in a more productive sense, but it was part of the game.
As I said earlier, I found an opportunity in a prestigious government agency where I intended to apply for. Now following the procedures, I had to download the job application form from government website, had to print it, fill it by handwriting, and send it physically using snail mail, which is I had to send it along with all those required attested photocopies of documents using a registered post packed inside a bulky envelope. This whole process was costly and worst thing is it never brought fruit to my effort. Why the heck you didn't placed an option to apply online?
Talking of the cost, I had to pay an application fee in a government treasury, and affix the original slip duly stamped by a treasurer along with my application form; I repeat you had to pay to get your application considered by recruiting agency, where in the world you pay to get paid? There is no way to pay it online without hassle, where you put money in a bank account using net banking. There is only one bank in my whole town where I paid this congestion charge, waiting in a queue for almost 3 hours to get this thing done, because of no other option.
Chances are that this application lands inside inbox of recruiting agency, where they filter or sort these manually. Actually I knew a person who was hired only to sort and filter these applications, and he was not the only one. They get thousands of applications, but I personally had seen with my own naked eyes that most of these applications land in trash or collected by recyclers, they even don't bother to open the envelops, but this was long time ago and I personally believe to this day same would be followed by each of the government department. So, whose applications make their way to recruiting officers? Off course those who had access to or of those who had a pawn inside.
Talking of this fallacy (according to them; this a counter argument; said this is a fallacy; perhaps) they present a precompiled list of shortlisted candidate for the sake of fair and transparent recruitment process, get their medical examination, entrance tests, psychological assessments done and after that they do call some favorites for an interview; just for face-saving; but they finalize only those who were already on their roll. And the best part is there is a law or privilege somewhere; that no one could intervene, argue in this process; there is no watchdog; rarely someone challenges this in the court of the law; and if the outcome of the case is against officials the whole recruitment process is rolled back. Again this brings disappointment and tremendous loss of precious time, money & the people' hope.
But this whole system could be evolved; things can be improved using modern technology and methodology already widely used. Some of the government agencies are already doing impressive work in this field, if you look at recruitment websites of armed forces; they are performing very well. Recruitment ports of FPSC & PPSC are doing the similar job at a good level; but these portals are not intuitive, interactive, responsive and user-friendly. The worst example is of NTS; look at the almost decade old layout; it can never fit in the all-time evolving internet. They don't have an idea of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
These portals can only be of 'real' use if we eliminate some-of-the-things that I mentioned earlier; which are hindrance on this path. We have to use technology like AI, machine learning to collect, scrutinize, summarize the data, then autonomous system should consume this information to setup, tests and virtual interviews. The COVID-19 has already brought some fascinating opportunities and technological improvements; our governments should consume these improvements; there must not be reluctance to embrace this real change and evolve. That's how there may be a chance that I may land-in a good job in government sector.
For almost each and every job application, I attached attested photocopies of all the educational documents, identification card and the domicile certificate. For those wondering, what the heck is attestation? It is that I made photocopies of all original documents, and then I had to find someone already in government service - a gazette officer (i.e. someone on a executive post like, director, commissioner et cetera) to physically verify the photocopies to be identical with the originals, then after inquiry they affixed their official stamp and put signatures to verify each of those papers writing C.T.C.
Only this part took almost a whole workday to sort-out, because no one was willing to do this, since only that officer could attest a document; who personally knew me. Pretty frustrating, but never matched the dreadful labor for getting a domicile certificate, but that is another part of story. Now again for those, who don't know what the heck is domicile certificate? It's a document to verify that I'm the resident of the same province for which I intend to apply to avail my job quota.
To put it in simple words this thing only aided me to apply with a priority application for a specific city or area, like if some government agency intended to appoint account officer in Lahore city of Punjab province, and if my domicile province printed on domicile certificate was Punjab, only then I was allowed to make an application, if it was some other province like Sind then I shall not be allowed to make an application, it simply got rejected.
These are the basic formalities, but worst thing has yet to come; it's almost a century old procedure, and almost nothing has evolved, pathetically. If you want to complete these prerequisites; there is no way to get these things done online using internet; yeah I had to physically lurk around to complete those. What if the requirement of domicile certificate and attested photocopies gets vanished; it would ease out horrendous situation.
I was lucky enough because someone mentored me & I already had these prerequisites handy. But in next part there is almost no exception; well according to principal. I had to search the newspapers, internet job boards, word of mouth, local photocopy shops where they put cuttings from newspaper or public notices on the notice board, starring for few hours a day to read the long descriptions and instructions & judging myself whether I may deem fit for this opportunity. I wonder it took my precious time that I could invest in somewhere else; in a more productive sense, but it was part of the game.
As I said earlier, I found an opportunity in a prestigious government agency where I intended to apply for. Now following the procedures, I had to download the job application form from government website, had to print it, fill it by handwriting, and send it physically using snail mail, which is I had to send it along with all those required attested photocopies of documents using a registered post packed inside a bulky envelope. This whole process was costly and worst thing is it never brought fruit to my effort. Why the heck you didn't placed an option to apply online?
Talking of the cost, I had to pay an application fee in a government treasury, and affix the original slip duly stamped by a treasurer along with my application form; I repeat you had to pay to get your application considered by recruiting agency, where in the world you pay to get paid? There is no way to pay it online without hassle, where you put money in a bank account using net banking. There is only one bank in my whole town where I paid this congestion charge, waiting in a queue for almost 3 hours to get this thing done, because of no other option.
Chances are that this application lands inside inbox of recruiting agency, where they filter or sort these manually. Actually I knew a person who was hired only to sort and filter these applications, and he was not the only one. They get thousands of applications, but I personally had seen with my own naked eyes that most of these applications land in trash or collected by recyclers, they even don't bother to open the envelops, but this was long time ago and I personally believe to this day same would be followed by each of the government department. So, whose applications make their way to recruiting officers? Off course those who had access to or of those who had a pawn inside.
Talking of this fallacy (according to them; this a counter argument; said this is a fallacy; perhaps) they present a precompiled list of shortlisted candidate for the sake of fair and transparent recruitment process, get their medical examination, entrance tests, psychological assessments done and after that they do call some favorites for an interview; just for face-saving; but they finalize only those who were already on their roll. And the best part is there is a law or privilege somewhere; that no one could intervene, argue in this process; there is no watchdog; rarely someone challenges this in the court of the law; and if the outcome of the case is against officials the whole recruitment process is rolled back. Again this brings disappointment and tremendous loss of precious time, money & the people' hope.
But this whole system could be evolved; things can be improved using modern technology and methodology already widely used. Some of the government agencies are already doing impressive work in this field, if you look at recruitment websites of armed forces; they are performing very well. Recruitment ports of FPSC & PPSC are doing the similar job at a good level; but these portals are not intuitive, interactive, responsive and user-friendly. The worst example is of NTS; look at the almost decade old layout; it can never fit in the all-time evolving internet. They don't have an idea of Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
These portals can only be of 'real' use if we eliminate some-of-the-things that I mentioned earlier; which are hindrance on this path. We have to use technology like AI, machine learning to collect, scrutinize, summarize the data, then autonomous system should consume this information to setup, tests and virtual interviews. The COVID-19 has already brought some fascinating opportunities and technological improvements; our governments should consume these improvements; there must not be reluctance to embrace this real change and evolve. That's how there may be a chance that I may land-in a good job in government sector.
What are your thoughts? please email me AT shehroz DOT pk
Shehroz