Government jobs in Uganda: how to apply through the PSC, ESC, HSC, JSC and District Service Commissions

Match the post to the right commission

• Public Service Commission (PSC): appoints, promotes and exercises disciplinary control over people in the public service under Articles 165 and 166 of the Constitution, and guides and coordinates District Service Commissions.
• Education Service Commission (ESC): has power under Article 168 to appoint people to offices in the education service. Recent exercises covered KCCA primary schools and seed secondary schools built under the UGIFT programme.
• Health Service Commission (HSC): has power under Article 170 to appoint people in the health service. It handles the Ministry of Health headquarters, national and regional referral hospitals and specialised institutions such as the Uganda Cancer Institute, and supports District Service Commissions on health posts.
• Judicial Service Commission (JSC): set up under Article 146, it recruits judicial officers, and its 2026 adverts also covered Judiciary staff such as court clerks, personal secretaries and accountants.
• District and City Service Commissions: under Articles 198 and 200, each district has a district service commission with the power to appoint people to offices in the service of the district. City service commissions, such as the one in Jinja, advertise posts for their cities.

A profile on one commission portal does not apply you to posts run by another commission. Each exercise has its own advert and route.

Find adverts in the official places

The PSC portal at vacancies.psc.go.ug says most government jobs are listed there, but that some ministries and agencies post jobs on their own websites or elsewhere. The ESC publishes adverts on esc.go.ug and its eRecruit portal, and its notices show that its adverts also ran in the New Vision and Monitor newspapers. The HSC posts adverts, shortlists, interview schedules and lists of successful candidates on hsc.go.ug, and the JSC uses the careers and notices pages of jsc.go.ug. District and city commissions use their websites and notice boards.

Check often, and expect few openings at a time. For the 2026/27 financial year, the Ministry of Public Service told government employers to recruit only after clearance confirming both a vacancy on the approved establishment and the wage, and to give priority to heads of department and posts critical for service delivery.

• PSC e-recruitment portal
• Education Service Commission
• Health Service Commission
• Judicial Service Commission careers

Apply online on the commission portals

The PSC, the ESC and the HSC take applications through online systems. The steps are similar: register as a new user, confirm the account if the system emails you a link, complete your profile starting with your bio data, open the advert, choose the post, attach documents, review and submit. The HSC instructions tell applicants to select the job of their choice, apply online, upload all relevant documents and submit.

• Scan documents in advance. Recent PSC adverts asked for a recent passport size photograph and O Level, A Level and degree certificates and transcripts, each as a PDF of no more than 1MB.
• Upload what the advert asks for. The ESC says shortlisted candidates present the rest of their documents at the oral interview.
• Respect the limit on the number of posts. PSC adverts set a limit and warn that applying for more leads to automatic disqualification.
• Submit, do not just save. The ESC portal lets you save an application and come back to it, so make sure you pressed submit before the deadline.
• Keep a copy of your application form. The ESC advises this, and it has asked shortlisted online applicants to bring photocopies of their forms to the interview.

Apply by email or on paper when the advert says so

The JSC asked applicants in its External Advert No. 5 of 2026 to complete Form 1 for judicial officers or Form 2 for administrative and other staff in typed format, combine all documents into a single PDF and email it to the address given for the position. Applicants could apply for only one position.

Many district and city service commissions still use paper. The Jinja City Service Commission asked for applications in triplicate on Public Service Commission Form No. 3 (2008), with three sets of certified copies of academic certificates, transcripts and result slips, National ID copies and three passport size photographs, addressed to the Secretary of the commission and received by the deadline. Serving officers had to route their applications through their responsible officers.

That advert said the forms are available from the Public Service Commission at Farmers House in Kampala and from district and city service commission offices. Job descriptions for local government posts can be read on the Ministry of Public Service website.

Check eligibility line by line

• Citizenship: public adverts invite applications from suitably qualified Ugandans.
• Qualifications: the Standing Orders require O Level and A Level certificates for public service entry points unless the advert states otherwise, on top of the qualification named for the post.
• Age: PSC adverts list a minimum age for each post, and some ESC posts set an upper limit, such as below 50 years for Education Assistant in its first advert of 2026.
• Registration: some posts need professional registration, such as teachers registered with the Ministry of Education and Sports.
• Status: some adverts are only for new entrants and others only for staff already in service, so read the terms of employment for each post.

After you apply: shortlists, tests and interviews

Commissions publish shortlists on their websites and contact only shortlisted candidates. The adverts say that if you do not hear from them by the end of the exercise, you should consider yourself unsuccessful.

Many exercises include a written aptitude or competence test before the oral interview. In August 2026 the JSC told candidates to bring only pens, their National ID and a calculator to its aptitude tests, and the ESC has said that shortlisted candidates must bring National Identity Cards. For oral interviews, expect to present your academic documents, as originals where the notice says so, and your National ID.

Do not try to influence the process. The JSC warns that canvassing by applicants, or by anyone on their behalf, leads to automatic disqualification. The PSC verifies academic documents and says anyone found to have submitted forged documents will be disqualified and charged.

What changes when you are appointed

Under the Standing Orders, appointment to a pensionable office starts with six months of probation, during which your supervisor appraises your performance before confirmation. Pay on first appointment starts at the minimum of the salary scale for the post unless otherwise stated, with entry points such as U4 for posts that require an honours degree and U8 for support staff posts that require the Uganda Certificate of Education.

NSSF says its mandatory cover excludes employees under the government pension scheme. The Ministry of Public Service says the new Public Service Pension Fund covers officers on permanent and pensionable terms, with contributions starting on 1 July 2027.

Never pay to apply

Every commission gives the same message. The PSC portal warns that there is never an application fee to apply for a Uganda government job. The ESC says all its services are free of charge, the HSC tells applicants not to accept to pay anyone, and the JSC says no one should pay money to anyone for any service relating to its recruitment.

If someone offers to fast track your application, put you on a shortlist or help you pass an interview for money, refuse and report it to the police and to the commission. Use only the contact details printed in the official advert.

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