Long Road to Eradicating Unfair Solicitation... 1 in 5 HR Managers Admit "Experience with Hiring Solicitation"

Survey of 494 Companies by Saramin... "Most Requests Are from Management"

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] It has been found that illicit requests for favors in corporate hiring processes are still widespread. One out of every five HR personnel admitted to having received such requests.

Job matching platform Saramin disclosed the results of a survey on 'Experience of Hiring Favor Requests' conducted on 494 companies on the 13th. According to the survey, 22.7% of the responding companies reported having received hiring favor requests. The most common type of hiring request was for new hires (62.5%), followed by experienced hires (50%) and interns (9.8%).

The most frequent targets of hiring favor requests were executives (50%). Friends and colleagues (32.1%), direct supervisors (8%), and social leaders (4.5%) followed.

The average number of favor requests per year was about twice. Considering that large-scale new recruitments usually occur once in each half of the year, this means that requests happen frequently during each hiring period.

Most of the people giving the instructions for the requests had higher social status than the hiring managers (67.9%), but acquaintances of equal standing (22.3%) were also not insignificant.

Among hiring managers, 51.8% said they did not assist even when receiving such requests. Reasons for refusing to comply included considering it unfair treatment (46.6%), the requested candidate lacking competence (41.4%), potential future problems (37.9%), hiring that would disadvantage the company (15.5%), and no personal benefit (10.3%).

59.3% of companies said that hiring favor requests have decreased compared to the past. Additionally, 63.8% said it has become easier to refuse such requests than before. Reasons cited included the formation of a social atmosphere emphasizing fairness (63.2%), hiring focused on skilled professionals with job competencies (34.3%), objective verification data provided by hiring solutions (18.1%), the ability to anonymously report through internal and external communities (17.8%), and conducting practical tests during probation periods before final acceptance (11.7%). This indicates that changes in both internal and external environments and hiring systems have had a significant impact.

However, some companies (54 companies, 10.9%) did assist in hiring after receiving requests. This was mainly done by passing candidates through document screening (40.7%), direct hiring without screening (25.9%), marking candidates as recommended (22.2%), passing interviews (16.7%), and pre-designating candidates as successful throughout the process (14.8%). The most common reason for having to assist was instructions from higher-ups such as executives or supervisors (46.3%).

Companies believe that to reduce hiring favor requests, a social consensus excluding such requests from the outset (42.3%) must come first. Institutionalizing internal systems (38.3%), strong punishment for both parties involved in the requests (37.9%), clearer related legislation (20.9%), and periodic government audits and crackdowns (20.2%) were also considered necessary.

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