Applicant Screening Practices at Korean Firms : Evidence from Interviews of Personnel Officers

Most Korean employers screen extensively job applicants' personal backgrounds. Because this includes applicants' protected characteristics, and is not directly related to job requirements, the practice may yield discrimination and inefficiency in recruitment. This study surveys companies' screening practices, their aims, and their rationalization vis-à-vis antidiscrimination laws. Interviews with personnel officers of fifteen companies reveal that employers vary in their familiarity with antidiscrimination laws, in the importance they attribute to job application forms, in the frequency with which they update them, and in their justification for intrusive questions on application forms. Employers familiar with laws ask fewer personal questions, and downplay the importance of personal questions in recruitment. Frequency of updating of application forms indicates inertia in firms' responding to market conditions and laws. Firms asking more personal questions employ fewer women, but appear no more prosperous or successful at selecting dedicated workers. Human resource departments should calibrate their screening practices more carefully and frequently, to align them with their underlying objectives and with social aims. Regulators should create environment conducive to these efforts