A recruitment process the candidate can follow.

A recruitment is judged at two moments. The first is well known: does the person hired do the job. The second less so: what do the candidates who were not selected say six months later.

An organisation that recruits regularly from the same pool has every interest in attending to the second. Candidates talk to one another, and the reputation of a process decides who will come forward next time.

Verification is not a formality

Document fraud is a documented regional issue. In Côte d'Ivoire, the civil service directorate reported 707 candidates admitted to administrative competitions flagged for forged diplomas between 2022 and 2024: 208 cases in 2022 out of more than 8,000 files submitted for authentication, 380 in 2023 out of 8,115 files examined, 119 in 2024 out of 532 files checked. A separate case brought 91 customs officers before the courts.

Cameroon has launched a platform for verifying higher education qualifications. In Burkina Faso, an authenticity check led to the dismissal of officials recruited on forged credentials.

These figures do not say that fraud is widespread: set against the volumes checked, they say it exists and that it is detected when you look. The problem is not the rate. It is that a technical post held by someone without the corresponding training always shows in the end — often at the worst moment.

What we found while auditing

Our assignment for the National Statistics Development Fund did not start out as being about people: it was an organisational audit of human resources. Reorganising functions means knowing who occupies them and with what qualifications; verifying the records became necessary along the way, and it brought non-authentic diplomas to light.

That is the usual order. You do not set out in search of fraud: you come across it.

The four rules of a process that holds

First rule: the criteria are written before the first file arrives, and they do not move again. A criterion added along the way is always a criterion made for someone.

Second rule: the same tests for everyone, without exception. It is the hardest rule to hold, because the pressure for an exception always comes from above. It is also the one everything else rests on.

Third rule: a plural panel, and a written record of every stage decision. A score that cannot be explained is a score that cannot be defended.

Fourth rule: the candidate knows where they stand. They know the stages, the schedule, and the ground for their rejection when they are rejected. It costs almost nothing and changes everything that will be said about the process afterwards.

What the organisation gains

A transparent process has a counter-intuitive effect: it attracts more serious candidates the next time round. Those who know they have no backing come forward only if they believe backing is unnecessary.

That is how a well-run recruitment widens the pool instead of closing it — and you see why more clearly when you look at what entering the job market actually looks like.

The risk of hiring badly may open the discussion; it is the process that must close it.