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Profesionales jóvenes de espaldas, con carpetas y hojas de vida, frente a la entrada de un edificio moderno de gobierno con la franja tricolor colombiana.
Imagen alusiva a los profesionales que ingresan al Gobierno por mérito a través del Banco de Talentos. · Erick Prometeo Media

Talent Bank: 145 professionals have joined the government on merit

Spokesperson Miller Soto presented the Talent Bank balance: at least 145 professionals have joined the national government after submitting their résumés, and…

--- The context --- The Talent Bank, the digital platform created by the government of Abelardo de la Espriella for recruiting and selecting personnel in the public sector, has begun to deliver results. The government spokesperson, Miller Soto, presented a new balance of merit-based selection on the morning of Saturday 17 October for those joining the current administration. --- The facts --- According to Soto, at least 145 professionals who submitted their résumés through the tool have already joined national government entities, and 132 further processes are under way for internal control posts. The new officials entered the ministries of Agriculture, Defence and Housing, as well as the Presidency of the Republic, through the official mechanism backed by the company Magneto Empleos, which has extensive experience in the field. Among them, the case of the science minister, Claudia Benavides Salazar, stands out: she took office on 7 August after registering her résumé on the platform and later meeting De la Espriella in an interview, in which he endorsed her for the portfolio. Hers was the first appointment to come from the Talent Bank promoted by the government. The spokesperson defended the scheme as a change in the criteria for access to public service and stressed that those who joined the national administration did so through the evaluation of their résumés and not through party recommendations. He said the State no longer belongs to those who own the votes but to the whole country, and, referring to the appointments already made, he noted that their résumé alone had been enough. --- The positions --- According to Soto, the Talent Bank has become a way to replace the practices of distributing posts linked to electoral interests, and it aims to end the use of public jobs as compensation for political support in elections. He asserted that the era in which the State was a prize for paying favours, arranging clientelist networks or placing activists is over. The spokesperson also said the mechanism answered the historic demand of citizens who had been excluded from institutions despite having professional preparation. One announcement focuses on internal control leadership: the government opened 132 vacancies by competition for those posts, which carry supervisory responsibilities inside public entities. Soto stated that De la Espriella does not know the selected applicants for those positions, which guarantees that internal control chiefs will answer to the citizen interest and not to the administration of the day, although the timetable and conditions of each call have yet to be established. The selection policy will also apply to the regional directorships of the Colombian Family Welfare Institute, with strict evaluation filters to guarantee full suitability for the vacancies. The initiative also contemplates close to 15 ProColombia executive positions in other countries, which the executive seeks to fill with Colombians already residing in the destinations where they will work, in order to attract investors and trade opportunities and to reduce relocation costs. --- What remains unknown --- The source does not yet establish the timetable or the conditions of the internal control calls, nor does it detail how many regional directorship posts at the Family Welfare Institute will be available or when those calls will open. It also does not specify how the 132 processes under way are distributed among entities or within what deadlines the announced appointments will be completed. --- Unanswered questions --- When will the timetable and conditions of the 132 internal control competitions be known? How many Family Welfare regional directorships will be opened and under what evaluation filters? How many more professionals will join the government through the Talent Bank in the coming months? --- EPM analysis --- The balance presented by the spokesperson shows the mechanism on three simultaneous fronts: the appointments already made in ministries and the Presidency, the opening of competitions for the leadership posts that oversee public resources, and the extension of the scheme to the regional directorships of the Family Welfare Institute and to ProColombia positions abroad. The case of the science minister, the first appointment to come from the platform, works as the practical demonstration of the model the government describes. 📌 EPM Take: In EPM's view, the Talent Bank is no longer just an announcement: it now counts 145 professionals appointed through the evaluation of their résumés, among them a minister, and it opens 132 competitions for the posts that oversee tax money. The real test will be the transparency of each call, with public timetables and conditions, and whether the merit that today governs entry also governs the permanence of those who join the administration. If the competition is sustained without exceptions, access to public service will have changed at its roots in Colombia.
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