The ACRC established management guidelines for enhanced fairness of employment consigned by public institutions

- Criteria for appointment of recruitment evaluation committee members established... Part of contract amount to be subtracted in case any problem occurs such as wrong exam question in the process of recruitment... Result of evaluation of recruitment agencies’ working capabilities to be shared -

December 15, 2020

Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission

The Republic of Korea

As more recruitments of public institutions are consigned to external recruitment agencies these days, guidelines for fair recruitment and its management have been established.

The Anti-Corruption and Civil Right Commission (Chairperson Jeon Hyun-Heui, hereinafter “ACRC”) has unveiled “guidelines for management of recruitments consigned by public institutions”, to ensure fairness of recruitments consigned by public institutions to external recruitment agencies.

The ACRC announced the result of analysis on the current status of recruitments consigned by public institutions to external recruitment agencies, when releasing the result of total inspection on the current status of employment of public institutions in this July.

According to the result of the analysis, the ratio of consigned recruitment out of hiring of public institutions in 2019 recorded approximately 20 percent. The ratio has increased constantly from 2017 to 2019, demonstrating a new trend of consigned recruitment in the market of public sector hiring.

However, some have pointed out insufficiency in management of consigned recruitment of public institutions, as some agencies use the same exam questions for multiple recruitments or have non-experts to execute examination.

That is why the ACRC has created the guidelines for management of consigned recruitments of public institutions, to suggest instructions that public institutions should follow when they consign hiring to external recruitment agencies.

First of all, criteria for appointment of evaluation committee members are set, so that properly-qualified recruitment agencies are appointed by evaluation of proposals.

Also, recruitment agencies’ management accountability in the process of consigned recruitment is strengthened; in case where problems such as an error in setting of questions occur, part of contract amount for them would be subtracted.

Public institutions will evaluate the performance and capabilities of recruitment agencies and share the result with one another, to find out sound agencies and to raise competitiveness of those agencies.

Finally, to save costs, items whose payment can be settled in actual expenses such as venue rental fee for written tests and allowance for interview panel members should be specified in advance when designing the cost of consigned recruitments.

The ACRC distributed the guidelines for management of consigned recruitment to 1,563 organizations including public institutions, local public institutions, and other organizations related with public service and also posted the guidelines on the official website of the ACRC, so that public officials in charge of hiring can utilize them for their work.

The ACRC will continue to enhance fairness in the management of consigned recruitment by public institutions, by monitoring how the guidelines are actually utilized.

Director General Yim Yoon-Joo of the Anti-Corruption Bureau of the ACRC said, “We have laid the foundation to ensure fairness in consigned recruitment of public institutions, by establishing measures to manage consigned recruitment which is settling as a new trend in the market of public sector employment.”

“We will continue to work hard to help fair recruitment take root, by monitoring constant changes in the recruitment market of the public sector and pushing institutional improvement in areas where unfairness exists”, added the Director General.