My friends and I have collectively applied for more than 80 government job vacancies through the National Job Portal. In all these cases, we fulfilled the eligibility criteria in terms of education, experience and age. Sadly, we have not received a single response regarding shortlisting, testing or interviews. In fact, the portal itself continues to show that many of our applications have not even been ‘viewed’ by the respective departments. This situation raises questions about whether recruitment is genuinely being conducted through the portal or whether it is merely a formality to fulfil procedural requirements. For those who apply for these positions, such silence is deeply discouraging.
The National Job Portal was envisioned as a centralised and fair system to ensure merit-based recruitment. However, the apparent lack of feedback, application tracking and accountability undermines public trust in this system. This contributes to frustration among educated youth, increases scepticism toward public institutions and weakens confidence in government-led reforms. At a time when unemployment is already a major challenge, recruitment systems should inspire confidence rather than suspicion.
Mehran Khan
Islamabad
