Shortlisting in 30 Minutes — Papua New Guinea's AI-Driven Digital Recruitment System

Papua New Guinea's public service has long faced criticism for slow, opaque hiring often marked by allegations of nepotism and political interference in appointments. Ahead of the country's 50th anniversary of independence in September 2025, the Department of Personnel Management (DPM) began piloting an AI-driven digital recruitment system intended to replace paper-based files with an end-to-end digital, merit-based process.
The system, trained against job descriptions and competency, experience and qualification requirements, uses a large language model to read applicants' CVs and cover letters and to generate longlists and shortlists automatically. DPM Secretary Steven Matainaho said the process removes "any space for any manual or human manipulation." In an initial one-month pilot covering just over 200 positions and a couple of thousand applications, shortlisting exercises that previously took days were completed in about 30 minutes; human interviewers still conduct face-to-face interviews after shortlisting, after which the AI drafts offer letters and contracts.
Prime Minister James Marape publicly backed the rollout, and DPM coordinated its introduction with the Central Agency Coordinating Committee and the Departments of Treasury, Finance and National Planning, the Department of Justice and Attorney-General, the Public Service Commission and the Internal Revenue Commission. The government has signalled plans to extend similar AI tools to procurement, tendering and project-delivery oversight. No independent audit of the tool's accuracy or bias has been published, and critics have raised concerns about data governance and consent; Islands Business itself noted that "the political test will be whether the new system holds up once it is used at scale, across agencies, and under scrutiny."

Read the full analysis: https://islandsbusiness.com/news-break/png-rolls-out-digital-recruitment-system-to-tackle-nepotism-in-public-service/