Recruitment in Tunisia: for a kinder revolution
During a recruitment competition for a Tunisian public administration, I sat on the panel selecting young marketing graduates. These candidates held at least a Bac+4 or Bac+5 (four or five years of higher education).
I had just returned to Tunisia after 17 years of studies and a career in Europe. At one point, then, I had stood exactly where these young candidates now stood. It struck me as interesting to find myself on the other side of the fence. The aim: to help employment bodies and young people find the best “matching” between professional opportunities and candidate profiles.
An alarming finding on the quality of applications
Figures that give pause
Yet I was far from imagining that I would discover, with dismay, the quality of the application files and how poorly prepared these young people were for job interviews.
Statistically, for a single open position, around a hundred applications would arrive. Among them, only two candidates presented acceptable files.
Beyond the employment problem these figures reveal, it is alarming to realise that, on average, 98 out of 100 applications fail to reach an acceptable standard!
Multiple, worrying shortcomings
The applications showed many weaknesses: incomplete, riddled with serious spelling and grammar mistakes, poorly structured. They gave no clear picture of the candidates' studies or personal ambitions. Written in a monotonous tone, they made neither for easy reading nor for showcasing experiences that were nonetheless interesting.
My other observation concerned the almost total absence of any formalised reasons for rejecting each application. Young people in professional distress are thus denied any real hope of improvement. They receive no factual recommendation from senior figures. The gulf, already abyssal, between the young and the world of work can only widen further.
Kindness as a structuring solution
Once the time for observations had passed, I identified a few concrete actions to improve this situation. Without necessarily being an expert in recruitment or human resources management, I draw on one main concept: “kindness.” It should be expressed at several levels.
At the student stage: rethinking education
Education must not focus solely on theoretical courses. It should allow students to grow as people, so as to arrive prepared for professional life. They should be helped to develop their ability to make structuring choices in order to build their path.
Training built on “modules” chosen by the candidates would let each person be master of their own path, instead of enduring one-size-fits-all core curricula. The student would be given responsibility and be better able to justify the choices of a path in which they become the main actor. This stage must, of course, remain guided by careers advisers who support each student through this crucial exercise.
Education should also be punctuated by spells in companies: internships, professional projects, work-study placements… These experiences would allow students, still within a protected setting, to grasp the corporate world better. It is through practical experience that one develops contextual intelligence and prepares for future hiring.
At university or college, this stage should be accompanied by dedicated sessions on preparing a CV and rehearsing job interviews. It must be acknowledged that the interview is neither intuitive nor innate. It is therefore essential to arm these students with technical tools that give them the necessary perspective on their own path and let them tailor their self-presentation to the context of each opportunity.
Within companies: institutionalising feedback
A second way to improve the overall system could be introducing a rule of “kindness” among employers. They would be called upon to formalise their replies to the applications received. A recruiter needs to think at scale, not chase the narrow, immediate payoff of the exercise.
Candidates who receive the reasons their applications were rejected are more likely to improve. Conversely, candidates turned away without any reason are left with no chance of improvement. Obvious as it may seem, this fundamental step in the recruitment process is often neglected for lack of time and resources.
This neglect lets a large body of young graduates drift towards the margins — the very people it is essential to bring into professional and social life.
The medium-to-long-term interest for an employer, on top of its social responsibility, is to face candidates with the best profiles. These candidates will have benefited from other hiring processes that supported their improvement. A recruiter's hiring costs can thus only be optimised. This option amounts to a win-win approach.
Towards a transformed ecosystem
A message of hope and action
My unique experience of sitting on the panel of this administrative competition sent me back to my own educational and professional path abroad. In the light of this analysis, I hope to have offered a few concrete avenues for improvement.
I send this out like a message in a bottle — to those responsible for training paths in Tunisian universities and colleges, and to business leaders as a whole. The aim: a break sharp enough to lift the entire ecosystem.
The challenge of digital transformation
As someone passionate about health projects and digital health topics, one of my main motivations is to promote the use of new technologies. These improve the patient journey, and the quality and efficiency of the services provided by public health systems.
Like many countries, the Tunisian health system faces major challenges and far-reaching transformations: epidemiological and demographic transitions, medical deserts, budgetary constraints. I am fortunate to manage national programmes aimed at meeting all these challenges.
Among these programmes are the modernisation of the health information system, the promotion of telemedicine and the roll-out of tele-services. These initiatives bear witness to Tunisia's ability to transform and adapt to contemporary challenges.
The same kind and structured approach that I advocate for recruitment could be applied to every sector of our economy. It is about building bridges between education and the professional world, between individual potential and collective needs.
About the author
I am passionate about health projects in general and digital health topics more specifically. One of my main motivations throughout my work is to promote the use of new technologies that improve the patient journey, and the quality and efficiency of the services provided by public health systems.
Like many countries, the Tunisian health system faces major challenges and far-reaching transformations: epidemiological and demographic transitions, medical deserts, budgetary constraints. I am fortunate to manage national programmes aimed at meeting all these challenges. Among them, I can mention the modernisation of the health information system, the promotion of telemedicine and the roll-out of tele-services.
In brief: the levers of professional kindness
| Level | Lever of kindness |
|---|---|
| Student | Personalised training modules, chosen by the student and guided by careers advisers |
| Student | Gradual professional immersion: internships, professional projects, work-study placements |
| Student | Technical interview preparation: CV and job-interview practice |
| Company | Systematic formalisation of the reasons for rejection given to candidates |
| Company | Win-win approach: better profiles and optimised recruitment costs |
