Having a top university label and an eye-catching ID photo certainly didn't hurt one's chances
of landing a better job here in Korea.
But efforts are underway to change that trend... starting with public firms.
Relevant education, training, character and experience will play the deciding factors.
In our news features tonight, Oh Jung-hee gets us better acquainted with the new blind
recruitment system.
What's been making life more difficult for young job seekers in Korea, in addition to
the frozen job market,... is the widespread recruitment culture -- firms seeking students
from high-level universities with good grades, strong foreign language skills and extra certification.
But the Moon Jae-in administration is to make a change to that starting from the latter
half of this year.
(Korean) June 22, 2017 "Applicants to public organizations won't
have to write down discriminatory factors like academic background, hometown or physical
conditions.
This is to have those from different universities fairly compete from the same starting point,
evaluated by their competency."
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(Korean ) "These days, students don't give a serious
thought to what their real dreams are... but instead are busy thoughtlessly earning certifications.
We want to end this and change our society to the one where people can first think about
their desired career path and diligently prepare for that."
(Stand-up) "The National Health Insurance Corporation
is one of the very few public institutions that's been conducting blind recruitment.
It adopted the new recruitment system in 2015,... so has a lot to share with other public organizations
on the system’s strengths, and on how best to conduct the whole process."
80-percent of the corporation's work is taking civil complaints,... so communication and
problem-solving skills are crucial.
Current application forms don't ask applicants about their academic background or language
skills... but about whether they have related experience...
or took related school courses.
(Korean ) "Through the blind recruitment system, we
can offer opportunities to more applicants than before.
Also, the time new employees take to adjust... is shortened from 6 months to 2 or 3 months."
Hwang Hee-yeong graduated a local university... and went through several failures in job-seeking.
But after highlighting her experiences as a teaching assistant and others,... her key
capabilities were acknowledged and she was finally employed.
(Korean ) "I also applied to other companies that weren't
'blind recruiting,' but I wasn't confident about myself, and if I failed, I'd blame my
academic background.
But my current company recognized my capabilities above anything else, and that motivates me
to work even harder."
Midas-IT, a mid-sized software provider,... has been hiring workers based on their personality
and work ethic for seven years.
Until 2010, the company -- just like others -- had been hiring people who graduated from
top universities...
but now, the company takes that only for reference.
(Korean ) "We once did an employee investigation...
and found out those who were doing well in our company weren't from good universities.
And they were all more positive, proactive, passionate and strategic than others.
So we thought those traits should be the key standards."
Kim Dong-min, who's been working here for 11 months,... says he didn't graduate from
a famous university and doesn't even have a widely-required high English score.
(Korean ) "I thought that it was natural for companies
to consider applicants' university degrees...
but for this company, no.
During the interview, I told the interviewers mostly about what I can contribute by working
here."
Korea is only at the beginning stage of becoming a capability-based society... and some things
need to be done to successfully implement and improve the blind recruitment system.
(Korean ) "There will be cases when companies have good
enough reasons to see, maybe not which university applicants are from, but what they majored
in.
The same goes for photos or gender.
The policy will have to become a bit more flexible if it were to be expanded to the
private sector."
After blind recruitment was first announced by the government, responses varied among
university students,... with some saying it's a reverse discrimination against those from
high-level universities.
But all in all, the new system has been praised just for veiling applicants' university degrees...
as it grants opportunities to more people to 'just give it a try.'
Oh Jung-hee, Arirang News.