Globally, educational institutions continue to shift from manual hiring workflows to digital recruitment and selection systems as part of broader efforts to enhance efficiency, transparency, and equity in public service hiring practices. Internationally, countries such as the United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom have widely adopted applicant tracking systems (ATS) and automated evaluation tools to streamline job postings, document screening, and decision-making processes in the education sector. According to Johnson (2022), digital recruitment platforms significantly reduce administrative burden, minimize human error, and promote fairer assessment by standardizing evaluation criteria across applicants. As global trends emphasize data-driven and technology-enabled hiring systems, educational agencies worldwide are increasingly prioritizing automation to ensure that recruitment processes remain competitive, transparent, and aligned with modern public service standards.

Every year, the Department of Education (DepEd) invites thousands of individuals to be part of its growing workforce. This 2025 according to Philippine Information Agency (PIA), the department opened almost 20,000 new teaching positions and 10,000 non-teaching positions duly approved by the Department of Budget and Management. To ensure a transparent, fair and merit-based recruitment, selection and appointment process, DepEd issued DepEd Order No. 7 s. 2023 which discusses the general guidelines in the recruitment, selection and appointment of various positions. The said DepEd order serves as a guide for its human resource committee to uphold the values of fairness, transparency and accountability in the hiring process.

As an Information Technology Officer (ITO) in the Department of Education, one of my mandates includes planning, designing and developing digital infrastructure systems that would support and improve the department’s general operations and services including learning delivery, ICT infrastructure and data automation. Having been part of the Schools Division Office (SDO) Sorsogon Province for several years, the proponent has experienced the challenges brought about by the traditional recruitment and selection process. Without a technology-based intervention, the entire process becomes tedious, repetitive, time-consuming and can be susceptible to human error. 

Motivated by these challenges, the proponent with guidance and support from the Human Resource personnel section aims to plan, design and develop a data automation platform with emphasis on the improvement of SDO Sorsogon’s recruitment, selection and appointment workflows and practices.   The proposed system is intended to respond to the challenges brought about by the recruitment and selection process through a comprehensive application tracking and hiring decision support system.

The proposed information system was developed to address the basic and common problems in recruitment and selection process from job posting to generation of results. Through its implementation, it aims to streamline the recruitment and selection process through the creation of centralized inventory of job vacancies within SDO Sorsogon. Through its online feature, it offers wider dissemination of hiring opportunities and enable applicants to submit their documents aligned with the job vacancy qualification standards (QS) of each posted position. 

These documents uploaded online are subject for Initial Evaluation Result (IER) by the personnel section. If the applicant meets the initial qualifications, the applicants will be immediately notified by the system to initiate the next phase of the recruitment process which is the comparative assessment. 

As stated in DepEd Order No. 7 s. 2023, the applicant will be assessed via a Comparative Assessment Results (CAR) framework which considers education, experience, training, performance, behavior and interview. Moreover, to ensure the integrity and objective evaluation of the applicant’s qualification, the DepEd Order also provides instructions to organize Human Resource Merit Promotion and Selection Board (HRMPSB) to assess, evaluate and determine the applicants’ qualifications, accomplishments and capabilities in relation to the job being applied for. Points will be given by the members of the HRMPSB based on the applicant’s meritorious accomplishments and performance which are aligned on the criteria prescribed by DepEd Order No. 7 s. 2023 on specified job vacancies. 

Once the points are assigned, the proposed system will automatically sum up all the points acquired by each applicant and generate comparative assessment results which will be submitted for selection and placement purposes. The results will then be forwarded to appropriate authorities to assist them in determining the most qualified candidate for the position. Moreover, applicants will be notified of the status of their application throughout the recruitment process, ensuring transparency and accountability of all involved in the recruitment process.

Acquiring the right talent is the most important key to growth (Benioff, 2021). Hence, in the context of the Department of Education, recruitment and selection play crucial roles because the quality of the delivery of basic education services is dependent on its workforce. Therefore, recruitment and selection should not only be treated as administrative tasks but should be viewed as strategic process that will affect the future of education.

With the increasing demands for improvements, excellence and innovation in the field of education, DepEd must ensure that it attracts and retains the right people with the right skills and possesses the right values which are aligned with the overall goals of the Department of Education. Therefore, an efficient technology-based platform for recruitment, selection and appointment system that adheres to the guidelines constituted by DepEd should be instituted to ensure that all DepEd’s offices adheres to the standards of merit-based and transparent recruitment, selection and appointment.

The purpose of this study is to design, develop, and evaluate an Applicant Tracking and Hiring Decision Support System for Department of Education Schools Division of Sorsogon using ASP.NET Core, specifically tailored to automate and enhance the hiring process for teaching and non-teaching personnel within the Department of Education (DepEd) Schools Division of Sorsogon Province. 

By aligning the system with DepEd Order No. 7, s. 2023, the research aims to ensure that the recruitment process adheres to standardized guidelines and promotes merit-based hiring. The system will feature modules for applicant registration, secure document submission, and automated ranking based on DepEd’s prescribed point system. Role-based access control will be implemented to allow applicants, school heads, and selection committee members to perform their respective functions securely and efficiently. Through these features, the system seeks to reduce manual errors, improve data accuracy, and foster fairness in the selection process.

In addition to system development, the study will evaluate the software using the ISO 25010 quality model, which assesses key attributes such as functionality, performance efficiency, compatibility, usability, reliability, security, maintainability, and portability. This evaluation ensures that the system meets international standards for software quality and is suitable for deployment in real-world educational settings. 

As the Information Technology Officer (ITO) of the Schools Division of Sorsogon Province, one of the mandates of an ITO is to develop and maintain digital systems and platforms for DepEd operations, which support data management, automation, and ICT infrastructure across all government levels while ensuring security, accessibility, and efficiency. 

Human resources is not an exception to this call for digitalization. With upcoming new items and vacancies in both teaching and non-teaching positions, the DepEd Schools Division of Sorsogon needs an automated and efficient information system that can handle the recruitment and selection of new DepEd personnel that embodies the principles of fairness, merit-based, and transparency. As Benioff said, acquiring the right talent is the most important key to growth – ensuring the recruitment of qualified teachers and teacher support personnel through non-teaching staff is a great way to improve the quality of our educational system. Hence, the abovementioned reasons deeply encourage the researcher to conduct this research.

This study, titled Applicant Tracking and Hiring Decision Support System (ATHDSS) for the Department of Education – Schools Division of Sorsogon, focused on the design, development, and evaluation of an automated recruitment and selection system. The scope of the project covered applicant registration, document handling, evaluation, ranking, and report generation aligned with DepEd Order No. 7, s. 2023. The Rational Unified Process (RUP) served as the development methodology, guiding the system through the phases of Inception, Elaboration, Construction, and Transition to ensure structured and iterative refinement. The completed system was evaluated by IT experts, Human Resource Management Officers, and selection committee members using the ISO/IEC 25010 software quality model to assess its performance across eight quality characteristics.

The findings of the study revealed that the system successfully implemented secured applicant registration, efficient document management, and automated evaluation processes. Role-based access ensured that applicants, HR personnel, evaluators, and assessors performed their tasks securely and efficiently. Scoring algorithms and server-side logic generated accurate Comparative Assessment Results and Registry of Qualified Applicants, minimizing manual errors and enhancing transparency. Evaluation using ISO/IEC 25010 showed very high ratings across all areas, with the system achieving an overall mean score of 4.76, indicating excellent functional suitability, usability, security, performance, and maintainability.

Based on the results, the study concluded that the Applicant Tracking and Hiring Decision Support System effectively addressed the challenges of the manual recruitment process. It provided a reliable, secure, and data-driven platform that automated key procedures, supported merit-based evaluation, and improved the overall efficiency of recruitment operations in the SDO Sorsogon. The system met all specified requirements and demonstrated readiness for institutional adoption, as evidenced by high evaluation scores from technical and administrative experts.

In light of these conclusions, the study recommends the full implementation of the system across the Schools Division of Sorsogon to enhance transparency and consistency in recruitment. Continuous system updates and maintenance are suggested to ensure long-term performance, compatibility, and security. Additional modules - such as analytics dashboards and automated notifications - may be integrated in future enhancements to further streamline HR operations. Finally, regular training for HR personnel, evaluators, and applicants is advised to maximize the system’s usability and organizational impact.