Recruitment into the civil service still requires competitive examinations. Fortunately, things are gradually changing but there is still a way to go.
The system of administrative competitions destroys public leadership
A score of 4 out of 20 eliminates a brilliant candidate.
This reality affects thousands of professionals every year.
Let me tell you a story
A private sector executive, let’s call him Thomas, walks into my exam room.
This man has solid team management experience.
The jury asks him a theoretical question on the 1983 law (rights and obligations of civil servants)
The candidate hesitates and tries to get out of it using common sense.
The correctors write a bad mark on the evaluation grid.
Thomas leaves the room with a feeling of injustice.
???? The truth that no one tells you lies in the very nature of this selection.
❌ The current system favors memorizing legal texts.
❌ This method excludes the situational intelligence of future managers.
The administration spends budgets to organize these tests.
This public budget finances an obsolete selection model.
Candidates learn cards by heart to satisfy a rigid scale.
Public money finances an obsolete selection model
???? What the jury saw that day shows the limitations of the model.
We eliminated a leader and we validated another candidate with an academic profile.
The current tests measure the administrative compliance of candidates.
They forget to assess the ability to lead agents in the field.
This selection is costly to taxpayers and blocks the renewal of executives.
Academic diplomas do not guarantee any managerial skills
An accumulation of university titles reassures the commissions of recruitment.
However, human resources management requires specific behavioral qualities (this is an old HR manager talking to you)
Theoretical mastery of public law is not enough to resolve a team conflict.
The executive posture is acquired through practice and through confrontation with realities.
The invisible codes of public management escape the simple competition beasts.
We must assess command ability rather than raw memory.
The culture of performance is transforming modern administrations
Fortunately, things are changing and the picture I have just painted is tending to disappear.
Here is what has changed in the expectations of users of the public service.
- Citizens demand real efficiency and rapid responses.
- The legal framework remains essential but the spirit of the service must guide action.
- State management is becoming a combat sport in the face of new technological challenges.
- The introduction of digital tools requires strong managerial agility.
- The culture of results is gradually establishing itself within ministries and communities (obviously there is no more money).
- The administration must integrate managerial simulation tests.
- This formula replaces the academic interrogation with an evaluation of real skills.
- Recruitment then focuses on the potential of the future colleague. I even launched the recruitment of resume in my community (crazy stuff •)
