The Illusion of Opportunity: When Job Interviews Are Just for Show

In Namibia, as in many parts of the world, job interviews are meant to be a platform for opportunity and a chance for the best candidate to rise on the strength of their skills, experience and potential.

But beneath the surface of countless advertised vacancies lies a troubling and demoralising reality: the position has already been filled in practice, long before the first CV is read.

Many Namibians have come to recognise the signs.

The job advert is posted as a formality.

The interview panel seems disinterested.

The questions are rushed or irrelevant.

And within days, a candidate closely connected to the organisation, often a friend, relative or internal staff member, is announced as the ‘successful candidate’.

This practice is not only unethical, but also deeply damaging. It wastes the time, resources and emotional energy of hopeful applicants, many of whom are unemployed graduates, single parents or people taking transport money they can barely afford just to make it to an interview. It perpetuates a culture of exclusion and feeds the belief that ‘who you know’ matters far more than ‘what you know’.

While organisations are often legally required to advertise vacancies publicly and conduct interviews, the sincerity of this process is where the issue lies. It’s not enough to comply with the letter of the law if the spirit of fairness is blatantly ignored.

Internal promotions or preferential hires are not wrong in themselves because after all, loyalty and institutional knowledge should be rewarded – but when these are decided before due process, and the rest of the applicants are simply brought in to create the illusion of openness, the system becomes a farce.

Moreover, such practices contradict Namibia’s constitutional principles of equity and fairness, particularly in the public sector where transparency should be paramount.

Young people, already struggling in a limited job market, are especially disheartened. When they start to believe that merit no longer matters, we lose more than just motivation, we lose potential.

The culture of ‘jobs for friends’ undermines the integrity of our institutions and erodes trust in both the public and private sector.

This practice also affects employees within organisations.

When promotions or hires are predetermined, deserving staff members lose faith in internal processes and morale declines. Innovation and effort suffer when people feel that their hard work will never be rewarded fairly.

What Needs to Change

1. Transparent recruitment processes: Organisations – especially government departments and state-owned enterprises – must ensure that interview and selection processes are independently audited and truly competitive.
3. Whistleblower protection: Employees and panel members should be empowered to report unfair practices without fear of retaliation.
5. Public accountability: When an internal candidate is chosen, organisations should disclose this and explain why, especially if the position was advertised externally.
7. Candidate feedback: Giving feedback to unsuccessful candidates would go a long way in restoring credibility. Many never hear back after interviews, reinforcing the suspicion that their application was never seriously considered.

To conclude, job interviews should be a space where merit and potential shine through – not where hopeful candidates are used as props in a pre-scripted performance. Namibia has the talent, passion and ambition to build a just society. But this begins with fairness – not just in law, but in practice.

It’s time to move beyond appearances and commit to a hiring culture that genuinely values transparency, equality and integrity.

– Delphina Muleke is a brand strategist.

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