By Asteria Pirola
Every job application ends in one of three ways: a yes, a no, or silence. For too many Namibians, silence is the most common answer, and it is the most damaging.
A yes, brings hope and a no, brings closure, but silence brings neither. It leaves people waiting, doubting themselves and unable to move on, and over weeks and months that uncertainty becomes a mental health burden.
Research from Namibia points to the mental toll. A 2024 University of Namibia study of young adults in Windhoek found higher rates of severe depression among the unemployed (25.5%) than the employed (17.5%), with severe stress at 20% versus 17%.
A 2025 study in Rundu found that young people experienced joblessness as distressing, with a loss of daily structure, financial vulnerability and decaying social relationships.
One jobseeker recently described sending 30 CVs and meeting “no experience” or “must know someone” as the answer, while watching friends move ahead brought anxiety and self-doubt.
Unemployment has many causes, but the experience of the search is shaped by the people who run recruitment.
The quality of the professionals behind HR decisions determines whether an applicant is treated as a person or as a pile of paper. Let’s take the basics. Acknowledging an application is a minimum professional standard, and so is closing a process with a rejection letter sent timeously.
When they are skipped, candidates cannot tell whether they are still in contention. They cannot plan, they hesitate over other offers, and they begin to blame themselves.
My past experiences as a Human Resources Business Partner, I have seen how unpredictability and loss of control wear people down, and how often these gaps come from neglect rather than intent.
An acknowledgement can be an automatic message. What is missing is attention, accountability and professional discipline.
The gap between policy and practice is visible. Applicants to the Electoral Commission of Namibia recently complained of little information on selection criteria and weighting, and no feedback on why they were not chosen.
The commission rejected the allegations and said it followed its procedures. I make no judgment on that case, but the shape of the complaint is familiar.
The Namibian Prime Minister Elijah Ngurare has told public-sector HR practitioners recently that applications must be transparent and accountable, another theme that requires public discourse too.
So, what would better look like? Every applicant receives an acknowledgement, a status update and a closing decision, with a clear reason category for rejection.
Public bodies and large employers publish a simple, anonymised recruitment report each quarter: vacancies advertised, applications received, shortlisted and appointed, days taken to decide, and the breakdown by region, gender and disability.
An independent body, such as the Public Service Commission, can read those reports and ask questions.
This is where AI can help, if used carefully. Much of the burden is repetitive: sending updates, compiling statistics, spotting posts that have been open far too long.
Software can do this cheaply and consistently, and it can flag patterns where outcomes drift from stated criteria so a human can investigate.
It should not decide who gets hired. The safeguards matter: human decision-makers, explainable criteria, strong protection of applicants’ data, and regular bias audits, because AI trained on past hiring can copy past favouritism.
A clear “no” with a reason lets a person adjust and try again. A “not yet” with a date lets them plan and those who are appointed start their careers knowing how and why they were chosen.
Every acknowledgement sent, every rejection closed on time and every appointment explained signals to prospective applicants that this organisation hires fairly, and people notice how an employer treats strangers.
An HR division that does its basic job without favouritism or nepotism earns trust, and trust becomes brand loyalty, and consequentially a stronger pipeline of talent and a healthier culture on the inside.
Dr Asteria Pirola, founder and chief executive of Net-0 Network, has worked for more than 15 years in startup ecosystems, workforce development, experimental psychology, neuroscience and African innovation. She can be reached via: info@netzeron.com www.netzeron.com
