SEOUL, July 21 (Korea Bizwire) — About half of South Korean salary workers believe that their academic background influences company recruitment and work allocation, a survey showed Thursday.
Incruit, a local online job placement portal, conducted a survey of 896 members, including 595 salary workers.
When asked about whether companies consider academic background in recruitment, work allocation, and department assignment decisions, 13.1 percent of the respondents answered ‘very much so,’ and 42.5 percent responded ‘mostly yes.’
Among those who answered ‘yes,’ 87.1 percent were employees of large companies, while 41.2 percent worked for small and medium-sized companies.
Regarding the practice of companies checking job applicants’ academic background, 55 percent answered ‘possible,’ and 17 percent found it ‘very natural.’
Regarding the difference in practical work capability based on academic background, 49.9 percent acknowledged some difference, and 7.3 percent reported significant differences.
Those who said there is almost no difference accounted for 34.1 percent, followed by those who said there is no difference at all (8.7 percent).
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)