Public corporations will hire some 3,000 employees this year, using the new National Competency Standards, which aim to check the abilities of applicants to meet real world work conditions, the government said Tuesday.
The move to introduce a revised hiring tool reflects state policy to reform the way corporations hire workers, the finance ministry said.
In the past, such matters as alma mater, personal background, general work-related experience, language proficiency and math skills were tested, which often led to an “over-spec” competition by many job applicants.
This trend has been cited as one reason for the excessive drive to enter good universities, which in turn causes people to pour money into private education.
The NCS on the other hand, aims to check if the job seeker has practical experience and knowhow, as well as the ability to tackle everyday work-related challenges.
Communication skills and global outlook will also be examined, with interviews focused on personal work experience.
It said that some 130 public companies such as electricity monopoly Korea Electric Power Corp., nuclear energy operator Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power Co., Korea Expressway Corp.
and Human Resources Development Service of Korea will use the new system to hire workers.
“The total hired using the NCS this year is just under 18 percent of the 17,000 people that will join state-managed companies and organizations, but the numbers will increase with time,” the finance ministry said.
It said extra time is being given to adopt the hiring model since there are people who have studied to enter these companies using the old method.
A grace period of about a year will be granted, with a further 30 corporations to start hiring people using NCS in the second half of 2016, and 100 more to use it from the first half of 2017 onwards.
The government said that to help applicants prepare for the new hiring tool it will release manuals detailing what the NCS is and help revise job-related training programs for schools and vocational institutes. (Yonhap)
