Thanks to Alpha Anywhere and developer Jim Dusoe, applying for a job with the Nigerian government is now as simple as a few clicks rather than a lengthy process that could involve days of travel and many hours of standing in line --- and potential danger.
Nigerian government jobs are highly sought after. When the government announces job openings, hundreds of thousands of people sometimes apply. The government has struggled to handle the job-application process, which had been done in person and manually. In March of 2014, more than 500,000 people applied for fewer than 5,000 jobs, and a resulting stampede resulted in the deaths of at least 16 people.
To fix the problem, the government contracted with Dusoe to build and deploy a system to handle the entire application process. He chose Alpha Software to create it.
Dusoe chose Alpha Anywhere because its unique capabilities made it ideal for the task, including its development tools and ability to work with many different kinds of databases. He also cites the ease of building Web apps and mobile applications with Alpha Anywhere due to its low-code, visual approach.
"One big draw of Alpha Anywhere is how easy it is to connect to so many different kinds of backend data sources," he says.
Using Alpha Anywhere, he built a system that lets people use the Web to see what government positions are open, and then fill out an application. After the applications are filed, Nigerian employment officials evaluate the candidates. They use analytics to help narrow down the candidates to a short list.
Big Benefits for Nigeria
People can now apply for positions from all parts of the country online, while previously only those applied who could get to the job-application site. In the first six weeks, the system handled 80,000 registrants and had 38,000 applications for approximately 25 jobs.
The entire application and hiring process is now standardized and transparent, potentially helping reduce nepotism and corruption. The system also makes it much easier for officials to hire the most qualified people, because they do not have to wade through thousands of paper-based applications to fill a single opening. Instead, analytics help narrow down qualified applicants. The system also collects data to help the government get a better understanding of its unemployment problem.
Dusoe estimates that Alpha Software reduced his coding time by a factor of five. Next, Dusoe says, he may build a mobile app letting people register and apply for jobs via mobile phones.
"I'll build the app in Alpha Anywhere," he says. "And I expect that will go as smoothly as building the initial system did."
Read how Alpha Software has helped other government customers.
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