The Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye Human Resources Office organized a meeting at the Çankaya Mansion to discuss the effective use and coordination of new recruitment methods and tools in the public sector. The meeting was attended by President of Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye Human Resources Office Salim Atay, along with the General Directors of Personnel from 17 Ministries and Office managers.
During the meeting, Atay shared insights from the Public Employee Satisfaction Survey (KAMU-VERİ) conducted in June-July 2019, with the participation of 862,833 public employees. The survey results highlighted that the key factors influencing satisfaction and employee engaement are merit and transparency in selection, recruitment, and placement processes. Atay also noted that the more than 200,000 open-ended responses collected in the survey, along with feedback received through the Presidency’s Communication Centre (CIMER) and social media, reinforce the findings of “KAMU-VERİ” and underscore the importance of prioritizing merit in recruitment.
Atay explained that the Career Gate Public Recruitment Platform was developed by the Office for the use of public institutions under the mandate of the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye Human Resources Office as outlined in Article 527/E/1-d, 4 of Presidential Decree No. 1 on the Organization of the Presidency and the 2021 Economic Reforms Action Plan provisions. The provisions include to “develop systems for more effective and transparent sharing of employment announcements in public institutions and organizations with the public” and to “ensure that works and transactions related to public personnel are managed by a single administration”, respectively.
Atay highlighted that the Career Gate, developed as a domestic and national software and integrated with e-Government Gateway, aims to support merit and competency-based recruitment in public employment. The Platformfacilitates the effective and transparent sharing of job postings, standardizes job applications in the public sector, and manages recruitment processes in public sector with using transparent and traceable methods.
Atay also noted that some public institutions and organizations manage recruitment processes from application toplacement through separate platforms or paper applications. This fragmentation complicates citizens' access to comprehensive and transparent information about job advertisements and post-application processes, and makes it challenging for public institutions to conduct, report, and audit these processes effectively.
Transparency at Every Stage
Atay also highlighted that with the e-Government Gateway integration of the Career Gate Platform, all recruitment processes have been transitioned online, eliminating the need for physical paperwork and significantly reducing manual application control procedures. This shift has led to increased efficiency and productivity. He noted that potential biases and inadvertent errors in the application and evaluation processes have been minimized, reinforcing merit-based recruitment. Citizens can now access all job opportunities in public sector and submit their applications through a single platform using their e-Government password. This has streamlined the application and follow-up processes, allowing for transparent and expedited monitoring of every stage of the evaluation process.
Atay emphasized that the Career Gate Platform, initially launched with the “Contracted IT Personnel” and “Cappadocia Area Directorate” job announcements of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, ensures the effective use of public resources by saving the costs associated with developing such a platform on an institutional basis.Atay pointed out that the public sector is the largest employer in the country, and effective human resources management in this sector leads to more efficient use of public resources. He highlighted that, as part of the reform efforts, transitioning to centralized, traceable, and sustainable human resources management while eliminating fragmentation, can result in annual savings of billions of Turkish Liras in the public budget. This will be achieved through the implementation of technology-supported modern human resources applications using domestic and national digital platforms.
At the end of the meeting, it was decided that regular coordination meetings with the Directors General of Personnel would be crucial for managing the transformation of the “Public Personnel” regime effectively and holistically across all ministries. Additionally, it was agreed to conduct regular meetings with the managers of units under the General Directorates of Personnel. These meetings will aim to ensure the efficient use of tools developed by the Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye Human Resources Office, such as the Career Gate Platform, plan training sessions for authorized personnel involved in these practices and enhance collaboration in all areas to implement modern human resources practices effectively in the public sector.