How e-recruitment works

Easing services. E-recruitment, among others, will reduce the use of papers as well as ease feedback for applicants. FILE PHOTO

What you need to know:

  • About five years ago government launched a wider plan seeking to digitalise its processes.
  • The launch of the ERS is one of the plans so far achieved.

Traditionally, government has operated a paper recruitment system but with the advent of technology and the increased access to internet the trend is changing.
World over, companies are using less and less paper shifting to e-services that are real-time, easy to access and increasingly available.
And in this regard, the government of Uganda has not been left out.
Under its e-government service strategic plan, Uganda has launched a number of e-services with the most recent being the Electronic Recruitment System (ERS) that will be run by the Ministry of Public Service.

Ordinarily, applicants would have to travel to Kampala to file their applications, perhaps at public service or the recruiting agency.
However, the launch of ERS allows for an automated process where the applicant will file their application at any place in Uganda that has access to the internet.

The system, which was developed by Dango Enterprises, a local computer programming and software development company and launched by ICT Minister Frank Tumwebaze early this week, according John Baptist Ochel, a consultant at the company, will require applicants to open personal accounts on the system.
Here they can upload and get the job requirements for public service positions advertised.

“A registered applicant can log in from anywhere in Uganda, using their national identification number and be able to apply online,” he says.
The system, he says is highly secure and guarantees high levels of efficiency that covers the whole recruitment and selection process.
According to Ochel, the ERS has three modules, among them the Public Service Commission Module, where vacancies are declared, the Application Module, where details of the job and requirements are published and the Selection Module, where successful applicants are sieved from the rest.

Cutting costs and corruption
According to Raph Ochan, the chairperson of Public Service Commission, the ERS will majorly address administrative challenges such as time and costs as well as reduce personal interface to curb the possibility of corrupt tendencies.
“All applicants shall be reviewed and short-listed on-line. We shall also ensure that we maintain an on-line search and selection to pick from pools,” he says.
This, he says, will also help to streamline government recruitment and selection as well as allow a fully configured system that captures data about public servants.

The ERS, according to state minister for Public Service, David Karubanga, is expected to start operating in January next year. “This is going to make our work easy. But of course the immediate gain is that it will reduce the crowds that usually turn up at our offices every time we announce vacancies,” he says.
At the launch of the system in Kampala on Wednesday, ICT minister Frank Tumwebaze, said the initiative would improve communication, especially feedback during and after recruitment.

The ERS, he said, will also improve transparency, data management and sharing as well as ensure that talented applicants do not miss out due to corruption.
“Keep expanding this system because it is going to be continuously customised to ensure that it is more efficient. All Ugandans must go [digital] and those who are not willing will be forced by environment,” Tumwebaze said.

ELECTRONIC RECRUITMENT SYSTEM

Traditionally, applicants seeking government jobs have been applying using paper applications. However as the government seeks to digitalise it systems, applicants will apply through a centralised portal run by the Ministry of Public Service.

HOW ERS WORKS

The Electronic Recruitment System is accessed through http;//vacancies.psc.go.ug where applicants create profiles and as well as upload their academic documents. From here, the applicants will be able to view and apply for available jobs after which they shall be regularly notified by e-mails and SMS notifications about the status and progress of their applications. The system will also have a resume mining feature that allows for fast, cost efficient sourcing of applicants by the Public Service Commission and an on-line, real-time application status tracking.