The Ministry of Public Service and Labour (MIFOTRA) plans to introduce a new recruitment process in public service known as e-recruitment. In a press release last week, the ministry said that the introduction of e-recruitment was one of the Government’s continued efforts aimed at improving efficient service delivery in public service. Indeed most recent research shows that most organizations are opting for e-recruitment to source for the best in their respective professions. The initiative is good news for job seekers in Rwanda. It’s even more economical for fresh graduates seeking for their first job. For a job seeker who has just finished university, raising money to type, print and deliver the application documents to the hiring ministry is a challenge. This new system means that public service will reach a much broader pool of job seekers, which increases the chances of finding the right candidate. Also as government pushes for a green economy in all sectors of the country, the compilation of data, and all related administrative work electronically, and hence less paperwork is a step towards achieving that goal. The process of e-recruitment is also efficient and faster. For example posting a job opening complete with all the specifications on the internet, takes only a few minutes. Delivery time and response time are immediate. Job seekers will not have to physically visit government offices to check if they were shortlisted or not. They will just have to visit the ministry website for feedback. Also with the planned creation of job centres throughout the country , all citizens will have a chance to compete for all available public service jobs. However, despite the advantages of the system, security measures have to be taken to avoid cases where unscrupulous people could hack and compromise the e-recruitment system.
