Public Corporations Will Change Hiring Process

State enterprises are very popular here, and the competition to enter companies is very fierce. Many call it “a job given by God.” From the latter half of this year, at the earliest, public corporations will modify their employment process.

On March 19, the Ministry of Planning and Budget (MPB) proposed a renovation plan for public enterprises to give more opportunities to applicants, therefore attracting talent from various fields. The plan will be prepared by early May at the latest and be implemented from the latter half of this year.

According to the proposal, the job application period for similar state enterprises (for example, Korea National Housing Corporation and Korea Land Corporation) will be limited to a certain period. Until now, one job seeker could apply for several public corporations at the same time. But if he or she is hired from several companies simultaneously, other applicants who otherwise could secure “a job given by God” can’t get it. The plan is to minimize such a negative consequence.

Public enterprises employ a relatively small number of applicants and the recruiting period is not fixed. As a result, the competition becomes fiercer. In the early half of this year, the competition ratio of Incheon Port Authority is 741 to 1 and Korea Gas Safety Corporation 450 to 1.

“This proposed plan is to reduce social costs; university applicants are limited to applying for only three universities. It’s like this,” said Han Sang-rok, director of Innovation Management Division.

MPB also plans to persuade public enterprises to give English test scores (such as TOEIC and TOEFL) and GPA little weight in the selection process. Several state corporations consider English test scores less important; Korea Land Corporation used English scores only to screen applicants through documents. Korea Electronic Power Corporations gives a perfect score to office work applicants with TOEIC score of 900 and field work applicants with a score of 800.

MPB also plans to adopt an aptitude test in the screening of candidates for more detailed process and give a bonus score to those who are from lower income families or awarded for a good deed. MPB encourages state enterprises to employ more disabled females and graduates from local universities.

The plan will be applied to over 90 public enterprises and quasi-government organizations and over 100 large public institutions, according to the law on the management of public institutions which will be implemented from early April.

MPB’s new plan will be included as one of the “voluntary goals” among directives for the management innovation. But it’s not voluntary as public companies which obey the proposal will receive good scores and therefore no state enterprises dare not to observe it.

Some worry that it is not appropriate for the government to be involved in the employment process.

But director Han said, “Public corporations have responsibility to contribute to the public to a certain level. Therefore, there will be little problem.”

ddr@donga.com