ISLAMABAD: President Dr Arif Alvi has said that the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC), being the top examining authority of the country, should be perfect and should match the world standards in terms of its members’ skill set, examination and selection procedures, and methods of conducting interviews for the selection of suitable candidates for recruitment to posts in government departments.
He called for bringing qualitative improvements in the Civil Service by ensuring the selection of the right person for the right job, and timely updating the method and mode of examination for recruitment to various posts.
The President gave these remarks during a meeting with the Chairman of the Federal Public Service Commission (FPSC), Captain (r) Zahid Saeed, who called on him to present the Annual Report 2021 of FPSC, here at Aiwan-e-Sadr, on Wednesday.
Secretary FPSC, Syed Hasnain Mehdi, and senior officials of the Establishment Division and President’s Secretariat attended the meeting. During the meeting, the President said that for the interviews, standard questions should be selected and evaluated, and the response of the interviewer should be calibrated and quantified on a statistical and scientific basis.
He said these methods should be continuously improved upon by benchmarking best practices around the world, using technology to rule out biases, and seeking external help to evaluate the examination and selection criteria.
He said the FPSC should hire a consultant with excellent repute and relevant experience to help the FPSC to evaluate its examination and selection criteria, identify the improvements needed, and recommend solutions to bring it on par with the best selection and recruiting agencies of the world.
The President said the recruitment process should be made more efficient and transparent by incorporating the latest Information and Communications Technology (ICT) tools. He said FPSC, being the top-examining body, should make efforts to improve the availability of quality human resources for the government by bringing improvements and updating the selection process at par with world standards.
The President said that processes for making high-level selection and recruitment have to be improved continuously by using sophisticated examination and interviewing techniques to ensure that the candidates match the required criteria and that their efficiency and productivity was up to the mark.
He expressed concern over the non-fulfilment of posts reserved in quota for minorities, women quota in rural Sindh, and quota for Balochistan, adding that such posts should be filled on a priority basis, without compromising on standards, the integrity of the selection process, and the quality of the candidates. Chairman FPSC presented the Annual Report 2021 of the Commission and informed that last year, FPSC conducted national-level exams smoothly, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, and observed the relevant SOPs.
He highlighted that under General Recruitment, FPSC received 509,955 applications during 2021, and recommended 2161 candidates for appointment against different posts. He said in 2021, FPSC received 39,650 applications for the CSS Competitive Examination 2021, in which 17,240 candidates appeared, whereas 365 candidates qualified for the written part of the exam. He added that FPSC also conducted the first-ever Multiple-Choice Questions Based Preliminary Test (MPT) for CSS candidates, in which 61,725 applications were received.