Staff Reporter
Windhoek-Bank Windhoek yesterday responded to an angry job applicant accusing the financial institution of tribalism and unfair recruitment practices by clarifying that 1300 applications were received for a particular vacancy of which a mere 60 were shortlisted for interviews. The bank’s Executive Officer for Marketing and Corporate Communication Services, Jacquiline Pack, noted that the institution now uses an electronic Human Resource application process to ease the application process.
The strongly worded letter addressed to Bank Windhoek’s Managing Director, Baronice Hans, from a job applicant charged that; “To date applicants meet the requirement were of shortlisted with reasons known to them only (sic)”. Pack responded: “In these difficult times Bank Windhoek acknowledges your concerns and truly would like to assure you that we have policies that govern all our processes to ensure that they are transparent and fair…To ensure objectivity and fairness our panel was a mix of internal and external representatives from local educational institutions”.
The angry applicant further accused the bank that its “Online recruitment is a joke, because they instruct applicants to upload their CVs without any proof of attachment as to whether you have meet the advert requirements.” However, Pack mentioned that “As an institution we have adopted an electronic HR application process to ease the process of applying for positions and it is important to note that the screening process includes validation. In fact it is industry practice followed by most corporates as trends evolve in the digital space and costs are managed in terms of paper”.
Finally, the anonymous applicant also accused the bank of tribalism, saying that “only Basters, Coloured and Damara /Nama” applicants were considered. “The comments contained in this letter are not factual or true and we would like to confirm that Bank Windhoek employs Namibians from a wide demographic spectrum as was the case here. Bank Windhoek appreciates your valuable feedback as a concerned citizen and would like to urge you to keep applying,” said Pack.