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Major conglomerates overhaul recruitment procedures
By Kim Hyun-bin
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major conglomerates to drastically change their recruitment procedures. In the past, most corporations conducted an open recruitment, where they hired hundreds to thousands of new employees at once, but due to the prolonged pandemic, companies have been starting to switch to the standard on-demand recruitment system.
Hyundai Motor Group, LG Group, KT and now SK Group are scheduled to implement on-demand recruitment systems to better suit global management trends and to hire talented people in ways that best fit the ever-changing technology sector, characterized by fifth-generation (5G) networks, artificial intelligence (AI), the internet of things and the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
Starting next year, all affiliates of SK Group will initiate 100-percent on-demand recruitment, whereas before, new recruits were hired at once.
"We will be implementing on-demand recruitment to minimize confusion for those seeking jobs," a SK Group official said. "We will not be conducting an open recruitment process this year," SK Group said.
In previous years, SK Group recruited 8,500 new employees annually during two open recruitments, once in the first half of the year and another in the latter half.
In 2019, ten SK affiliates conducted their open recruitment processes simultaneously.
Now, the on-demand recruitment system is showing rapid expansion among companies, especially among the top ten conglomerates.
In 2019, Hyundai Motors Group and Kia Motor were the first to initiate on-demand recruitment while others have quickly been following suit.
The move allows companies to hire more qualified people when needed, along with personnel that could better meet the needs of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.
LG Group, which previously also conducted two open recruitments a year, transitioned to an on-demand recruitment system last year, while 70 percent of new employees first start off as interns, before receiving full-time status.
Last year, KT also abolished open recruitment and initiated on-demand and intern recruitments.
The move could drastically reduce costs compared to large-scale open recruitments; as the system has been a worldwide norm for key global companies for some time.
"It takes a lot of money to recruit all of new employees at once. In addition, we can only screen and choose applicants based on their resume and qualifications written on paper, which has been seen by many as an inefficient way to hire competent individuals," an industry official said.
The prolonged COVID-19 pandemic has also provided the impetus for this swift transition to on-demand recruitment, as worries of infection clusters have pushed companies to adopt the system.
The pandemic has also forced Samsung to allow the Global Samsung Aptitude Test (GSAT) to be taken online.
Industry insiders believe that it is only a matter of time before other conglomerates adopt on-demand recruitment procedures as well.
"Even after COVID-19, on-demand recruitment is likely to expand to other conglomerates," another industry official said. "Job performance has become crucial in the fast-changing industries of the future, and in order to adapt, it has become imperative for firms to secure talent at the right, appropriate time."
Reduction in employment
One of the key reasons for the changes in recruitment practices is the pandemic-induced sluggishness in job markets coupled with accelerated digital transformation.
COVID-19 drastically reduced employment in 2020. According to CEO Score, which analyzed the top 500 companies registered with the National Pension Service (NPS), there was a reduction of 13,000 new positions.
Last year, 497 firms newly registered 264,901 employees with the NPS, while 270,803 were removed.
Once a person is newly employed they are registered with the NPS, and they are taken off the register when they retire or resign. In 2019, 17,000 more people were added to the pension list than people who were removed.
Out of 22 industry sectors, 12 saw a reduction in payrolls. The largest cuts were in the construction and construction material industries ― from January to December last year, 16,403 were newly registered while 24,195 were taken off the list, a reduction of 7,792 from this sector alone.
On the other hand, information technology (IT) and electronics sector saw an increase of 3,833.
