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  #1  
Old Friday, August 03, 2018
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Default My analysis of FPSC's recruitment process.

Hello everyone,

I just wanted to share with you what I have written about FPSC's general recruitment process (not CSS). As many of you would also have appeared in general recruitment tests conducted by FPSC, besides CSS, so I thought you would be able to relate to what I have noticed in the last couple of months. Please give it a read, and let me know if you think there is some angle which I have missed in my analysis. I might want to get it published in newspaper or magazine in future or drop it in FPSC's 'suggestions and feedback box' if you all agree with the points I have raised in my analysis. Hope you enjoy it.



"I came back from abroad about two years ago and sought employment in public sector. I was told that most recruitment is conducted through FPSC in federal departments. So I tried to make myself familiar with the FPSC’s process by reading its annual reports and by applying for few positions which seemed suitable to me. I prepared for the tests; appeared in them; passed some, failed others; went on to the next stage of submitting documents, and eventually appeared in an interview. To cut a long story short, I can safely say that I have acquired some understanding of how FPSC recruits public sector employees. And having worked abroad and gone through recruitment process there many times, I could not help but compare FPSC with recruitment agencies abroad. Below is my analysis of FPSC’s process based on my experience at home and abroad. If you ask me to pin down the difference, between FPSC and foreign recruitment agencies, as briefly as possible, I would say that FPSC mainly focuses on rules and procedures and does not care much about talent-hunting whereas foreign recruitment agencies care less about procedures and more about finding right person for the right job. In the following paragraphs I have tried to explain this point in detail and also the implications of these procedures for the candidates.

Before we delve into the analysis, let me clarify few things. This analysis only relates to the recruitment to BPS-16 and 17 which is conducted under the heading of general recruitments. It does not apply to CSS, although I have appeared in CSS too but I would like to write about that experience later. Also, I mainly took issue with the overall process and the content of screening tests. I have abstained from commenting on quota system and aggregate marks make-up. Now, without further ado, let us dive right in to the analysis.

Recruitment can be broken down, generally speaking, into two steps: attracting as many of suitable candidates as possible and then choosing the best one(s) from them. I contend that FPSC ignores first step altogether, and as far as second step is concerned, FPSC has a quite selfish approach to its recruitment policies. Let’s talk about the first step first. If you read job advertisements put out by private companies, you will instantly realize that FPSC does not do anything in the way of attracting candidates. And, unfortunately, that is not all; there is even more to it. It might be too subtle for you to realize at first glance that many candidates actually get scared away by FPSC. If you are having difficulty in believing this, just ask around. You will find out that many candidates just lose their motivation when faced with frustratingly slow pace of the process. Also, excessively outdated and odd syllabi of FPSC’s exams compound the problem. You might argue that the slow pace of the process is due to procedural checks which are necessary for ensuring merit. But I want you to realize that these procedures defeat their own purpose when they start repelling talented candidates, and this is exactly what they do – at least to some extent.

Scaring away talented candidates is very detrimental to FPSC’s work. It cannot be accepted as necessary compromise or a sacrifice in the name of merit. Let me elaborate this with an analogy. Suppose you have been asked by your boss to get a high-tech product built by a top-tier tech company. You put out a RFP (Request For Proposal) in a newspaper hoping to get some bids from tech giants. But, for some reason, you didn’t get response from any top-tier company. All responses to your RFP are from second-tier companies. What do you think would be the implications of this situation? It implies that even if you choose strictly-on-merit basis you will still be stuck with a second-tier company. So, having a merit based selection system is only effective when you have an effective mechanism of attracting first-rate bidders. Similar is the case with FPSC’s selection process. If it only manages to attract second-tier candidates, it will unexceptionally get second-rate public servants. By not attracting best talent, FPSC abandons the field for private corporations, at home and abroad, to ‘bag’ the top cream of talent. There is nothing wrong with private corporations ‘bagging’ the best candidates, but, as a citizen of Pakistan, it concerns me when FPSC does not put up a good fight for its fair share. Here, I want to acknowledge that some candidates just don’t feel attracted towards public sector and this is not FPSC’s fault, obviously. Also, I do not mean to denigrate public servants. I know for a fact that many of them are just brilliant at their jobs.

Now let us talk about the second step. Choosing the best candidate(s) should obviously involve some kind of an assessment of the qualities of the candidate(s) under consideration. To this end, FPSC has employed a particular method to determine suitability of candidate(s). This method entails screening test, which is followed by a psychological test and an interview. I have no problems with this method as such, but I do have strong reservations about the contents of screening tests. You would have noticed that I have called FPSC’s syllabi (for the screening tests) in the above paragraphs excessively outdated and odd. Let me expand on these two terms, one by one. FPSC’s tests, for BPS-16 and 17, are MCQs-based tests and are almost entirely meant to gauge the memorizing power of candidates. This is true of both professional and generalist types of tests. In some cases, 10 – 20% of the test consists of arithmetic and general intelligence questions which, admittedly, is an exception. But the major portion of the test still calls for a capability in candidates to retain a huge collection of facts and figures in their minds. If a candidate could not – for any reason – memorize certain chunks of trivial information then he does not stand a good chance at passing the test. Conceptual understanding of the subject, despite its importance in the real world, does not matter much in FPSC’s exams.

There was a time when curriculums at our higher education institutes were also designed this way. More focus was laid on the development and nourishment of perfect memory in the students. But now, focus has shifted towards understanding concepts and drawing analyses based on the information provided. Ability to relate knowledge to the real-world scenarios is given preference over mere ability to memorize information. Annual exams based system has been superseded by semester system whereby a significant percentage of the marks is apportioned to real-world based assignments. While our higher education institutes are somewhat trying to keep pace with the fast changing world, FPSC is still fixated on the decades old – one can also argue that it is centuries old – notion of cherishing memorizing capability in the students. This is the argument behind my saying that FPSC’s syllabi are excessively outdated.

And as regards the oddity of it, FPSC’s syllabi for the screening tests are odd because these are neither relevant to the posts which are to be filled through these tests, nor in line with the curriculum which is being taught at our universities. By irrelevancy I mean that there is a glaring mismatch between the attributes which are evaluated through a FPSC’s test and the attributes which a government office demands to see in its holder. The kind of information which candidates memorize to pass a test for a certain post becomes of little value for the candidate after he/she gets the said post. You can check the veracity of this claim by asking any serving BPS-17 officer if he still remembers what he memorized for the FPSC’s test. If he says no – which I am sure he will – then that is a proof that the contents of the test and actual qualities or information that is required to discharge daily duties of a government office are totally disconnected from each other. And if it is so, then is not it logical to doubt the usefulness of asking such questions in the tests? As opposed to these kinds of tests, why should not we have tests which gauge analytical skills, IQ, inter-personal skills, leadership skills and other skills and attributes which are actually needed for the discharge of government’s duties? Gauging only necessary and relevant attributes in the candidates should be the focus of such tests. Let me cite an example to elaborate my point. If someone wants to be recruited as an officer in the Armed Forces of Pakistan, he/she has to go through certain tests which are collectively known as ISSB. Being an officer in the Armed Forces demands certain attributes and abilities. ISSB gauges only those attributes which are not only vital for the service of an officer but also remain relevant throughout the careers of such officers. I will not say anything further on this topic, for I leave it for you to decide whether ISSB’s pattern of assessment is more effective or FPSC’s.

And by being not in line with the curriculum taught at our universities I mean that candidates have to learn information that is over and beyond our curriculums and also of substandard quality. Questions in FPSC’s tests are mostly taken from certain MCQs book and websites, and almost all candidates are well aware of this fact. So, they try to memorize every word of these books and websites in order to pass the tests. The problem with this practice is that if you show these books to any subject specialist, like professors at universities, they will clearly point it out to you that these books are by no means a reliable measure of students’ aptitude and grasp of the subject matter. I know this because I have discussed this matter with couple of subject specialists and I am myself a post graduate degree holder. There are usually some basic things, in every subject, which every student should know, and then there are things which if you know, nice, but if you do not know, it is still fine. You cannot possibly know the fine details of everything anyways. Being Pakistanis, we should generally know about the main events which took place before and after 1947, but I do not see how not knowing about the exact timing of these events can negatively affect anyone’s performance in departments like FIA, IB and Railways etc. Moreover, some of the questions in these books are plainly wrong, and many more are subject to certain assumptions and conditions. I think it is only waste of candidates’ time to learn such material. True, learning a new piece of information can never be useless, but usefulness of compelling hundreds of candidates to learn something which has only very narrow application in the real world is debatable. Would not it be better if they spent their time learning more useful information?

In conclusion, I would say that FPSC is quite right in following strict procedures but it should also pay attention to its slow pace and odd contents of its tests. All the gains made by adopting principles of meritocracy are lost when the process is as slow and outdated as it is now. I think that the whole process in its current shape and format is more beneficial to FPSC than it is to the candidates. The reason is: it is more convenient for FPSC to have it this way. Given the difficulties involved for the candidates, less people apply for the positions, still less people manage to pass the test, which gives FPSC a chance to say that so many candidates applied for the job and only 3% or 10% managed to clear the test. Everyone goes home thinking that principles of meritocracy have been upheld. And more importantly, no one has to take pains to set a relevant and bespoke test for every position. It is a whole lot easier to pick random questions off the shelf and put them down on the question paper."
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Old Friday, August 03, 2018
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A very brief analysis. I appreciate your effort to pinpointing the discrepancies and loopholes, and endorse your view about irrelevant and outdated contents that are still included in syllabi of FPSC. It's the need of the hour to look through and review the whole recruitment process for general recruitments.
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Old Friday, August 03, 2018
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Nicely sketched the image of this rotten system. Please suggest some good book/sites which think would help passing general recruitment tests..
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Fahad Qaiser (Saturday, August 04, 2018)
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Old Tuesday, November 06, 2018
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Dear Fahad,
A very thorough analysis and i must say you rock! (MashaAllah)
Call it a coincidence, i also had more or less same opinion and wanted to express my thoughts.
So, by now, which FPSC exams and interviews etc have you gone thorugh?
All the best!.
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Fahad Qaiser (Saturday, November 10, 2018)
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