This file photo taken on Aug. 26, 2020, shows officials from banks conducting online job interviews with applicants at a job expo in Seoul. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, June 3 (Korea Bizwire) — The introduction of so-called ‘blind hiring’ for state-run companies in a bid to limit gender and academic background discrimination has resulted in a higher turnover rate for new hires, a report showed Wednesday.
The Korea Institute of Public Finance analyzed the nation’s 182 state-run institutions that adopted blind hiring measures.
The one-year turnover rate for new hires stood at about 10 percent before the introduction of blind hiring. This figure, however, rose to 14 percent after blind recruitment was introduced.
Blind hiring was introduced to prevent public institutions from asking job applicants about their family background, the names of schools they attended, and their hometown.
It was expected to push them towards hiring new employees on the basis of job competency.
The blind hiring process, however, which prevents employers from asking job applicants about which schools they attended, made written exams and interviews more important.
This is because it became difficult for recruiters to find other ways to assess the level of job applicants.
Furthermore, there has been ongoing criticism that blind hiring is eroding the national R&D competitiveness since it is applied unilaterally, even to science and technology R&D areas that require a higher level of specialty.
“Public institutions are showing the tendency to hire those who have quick adaptation with a good sense of expression rather than various talents with excellent job capabilities,” the report said.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
