Due to the Impact of COVID-19, Companies Prefer Untact Recruitment... Job Seekers Sigh

Increase in 'Untact Recruitment' Companies Due to COVID-19
Diverse Methods from Online Job Fairs to Video Interviews
Job Seekers Complain "It's Harder"
Hong Nam-ki "COVID-19 Impact Visible, Employment Downside Risk to Expand"

The number of companies adopting non-face-to-face recruitment to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is increasing.
Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Suwan] "Non-face-to-face recruitment is even harder," "I actually have more to prepare for."

As a measure to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), more companies are adopting non-face-to-face recruitment. This is to participate in the 'social distancing' campaign aimed at preventing community transmission.

With companies introducing non-face-to-face recruitment, applicants can take tests or interviews without location restrictions through laptops, PCs, or smartphones. However, job seekers are expressing concerns that this recruitment method is rather burdensome. Although untact recruitment can reduce the risk of COVID-19 infection, they say it requires more preparation, such as for online interviews.

Untact is a newly coined term combining the negative prefix 'un' and 'contact,' meaning 'not contacting.' Untact recruitment refers to companies conducting hiring without meeting job seekers in person. Since interviews are conducted without face-to-face meetings, it has the advantage of reducing costs associated with interviews.

As a result, the number of companies conducting so-called untact recruitment, from online job fairs to video interviews, is increasing.

Representative examples include large corporations such as SK, LG, CJ, and Kakao. SK Innovation, which had temporarily suspended recruitment due to COVID-19, is conducting interviews via video calls. Applicants connect to the program using devices like laptops or PCs from home and engage in Q&A with company interviewers.

SK Group also plans to hold an online recruitment briefing called 'SK Careers.' POSCO will provide recruitment-related information using YouTube and its own SNS channels. Lotte Group recently opened a dedicated channel on YouTube and is promoting recruitment online.

LG Electronics is conducting the first round of practical tests via video interviews for experienced applicants only, and CJ Group is expected to introduce video interviews for some open positions next month. Kakao has been conducting video interviews for ongoing recruitment applicants since the 24th of last month.

According to a survey, many HR managers also favor untact recruitment. In a survey conducted by the job portal Incruit from the 16th to the 19th among 331 corporate HR managers on the topic of 'untact recruitment,' 69.2% responded that it should be introduced.

The reasons for supporting introduction included: △reducing infection concerns in line with the current situation (31.9%) △saving time and costs required for recruitment procedures (27.5%) △serving as a turning point for adopting new recruitment methods (23.1%) △some procedures in existing recruitment processes could be replaced by online methods (17.1%).

Job seekers are expressing negative opinions about untact recruitment. Photo by Yonhap News

On the other hand, job seekers are voicing negative opinions about untact recruitment. A 3rd-year job seeker A (29) said, "At first, I thought it was good as long as it wasn't postponed or canceled," adding, "But now I hope recruitment proceeds in the original way even if delayed. I feel that I won't be able to fully demonstrate what I have prepared through non-face-to-face recruitment."

Another job seeker B (27) said, "There were places that conducted video interviews before, but never was the entire process non-face-to-face," and added, "Especially since this is the first time recruitment is conducted non-face-to-face, it is confusing from a job seeker's perspective."

Some point out that non-face-to-face recruitment makes it difficult to understand each applicant's characteristics. A netizen who identified themselves as a corporate HR manager stated on an online job community, "Since work is ultimately carried out between people, there are limits to hiring employees through non-face-to-face recruitment."

Meanwhile, despite these corporate efforts, the employment downturn is expected to continue. On the 11th, the Korea Economic Research Institute commissioned Research & Research, a polling agency, to survey the '2020 first half new recruitment plans' of the top 500 companies with over 300 employees. Among the respondents, 19.0% said they would reduce recruitment scale compared to the previous year, and 8.8% said they had no recruitment plans at all. Notably, 32.5% of companies had not yet established recruitment plans.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Strategy and Finance Hong Nam-ki expressed concern on his Facebook, stating, "The impact of COVID-19 has been detected mainly in some service sectors," and "From this month, the impact of COVID-19 will become more visible, increasing the downside risk to employment."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.