Both public organizations and private companies announced that they will implement blind recruitment from this year, but still, age will be considered for employment.

Blind recruitment means that public organizations and private companies eliminate certain factors that allow interviewers to judge jobseekers before interviewing them.

JobKorea conducted a survey on 375 human resources managers about the age of applicants in Sept.

In the survey, when human resources managers hire new employee, 93.1% of the respondents said they check applicants’ age.

The main reasons why managers check applicants’ age is to harmonize with other colleges and to maintain the order of rank in the company.

Even if the blind recruitment policy has been implemented and will be used in many areas, 62.7% of human resources managers think that the importance of age will still remain.


“It is hard to have a good relationship with a boss who is younger than me”

Mrs. Kim, who has been working for five years, is now facing a tricky situation. A new employee is four years older than her and also she is a friend of Mrs. Kim’s supervisor.

When the three of them are together, a new employee speaks to Mrs. Kim with honorific words but casually talks to her supervisor, which makes Mrs. Kim awkward. So these days, she tries to avoid spending time together with them.

In Korea, age is an important indicator in social hierarchy. However, there is a different set of hierarchy in the workplace. By focusing on hiring young employees, this dilemma could be solved. But is this at the cost of losing out on older employees with more experience and better qualifications?