Roughly half of respondents believed that more companies would adopt the practice of blind recruitment in the future. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, Feb. 20 (Korea Bizwire) — Over the past two years, a growing number of South Korean businesses have introduced so-called ‘blind recruiting’ practices, where companies hire employees without being informed of their academic, geographic, and gender information.
Saramin, an online job portal, conducted a survey of 821 companies, 31.5 percent of which said they had either introduced or plan to introduce blind recruitment procedures to hire new employees.
Companies have become more willing to introduce blind recruiting this year following 20.7 percent in 2018 and 21.8 percent in 2019.
At 52.9 percent, more than half of the companies said they plan on using blind recruitment for new employees only, while some businesses wanted to use the system to recruit all staff including experienced staff and interns (37.1 percent).
Others were intending to use blind recruitment to hire either experienced staff (20.8 percent) or interns only (3.5 percent).
Another 44.8 percent of respondents said they would use the blind recruitment system when sorting out applications.
Others were intending to use the system during interviews (31.3 percent), interviews with management staff (8.9 percent), or during all phases of recruitment (30.5 percent).
When conducting blind recruitment, most companies focused on measuring the applicant’s suitability for the job (45.6 percent), followed by experience (20.5 percent), and diligence (12.7 percent).
Among respondents, 55.4 percent said they like the idea of a blind recruitment system.
As for the reason, 62.6 percent said it ensures fair opportunities for all applicants, while 33 percent said it allows for a fair and transparent recruitment process.
Roughly half of respondents believed that more companies would adopt the practice of blind recruitment in the future.
Another 36.5 percent believed that the practice of blind recruitment will be limited to public enterprises and large conglomerates, while 14.9 percent argued that it is a short-lived trend that will soon disappear.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
