LG Electronics Inc., the country’s second-largest electronics maker, said yesterday it is changing to a regularized employment system from this month for the first time in seven years.
This will call for a shift to hiring freshmen on a large scale in the first and second half of the year from the previous occasional and as-needed basis. Hiring experienced persons, however, will take place once every month.
In 2000 LG Electronics abolished its seasonal recruitment system, which took place at the group level. Since then, hiring was done by individual divisions and teams whenever necessary. Many conglomerates forced to restructure in the aftermath of the 1997-98 financial crisis scaled back on personnel, while large-scale recruitment was a burden. But latest signs of an economy picking up, boosted by government support for job creation, have prompted companies to invest in their personnel.
Under its new employment system, LG Electronics said freshmen will account for 70 percent of the total recruits. Some LG employees will be dispatched to college campuses to hold recruitment campaigns during hiring season, the company said. By hiring experienced workers on a monthly basis, LG Electronics said it hopes to increase efficiency of the recruitment process and offer a wide range of positions to better meet the needs and skills of new recruits.
Experienced applicants as of this year will also receive an aptitude test, which was only applied to freshmen, as part of the company’s aims to hire workers that would best fit with its vision.
The regular employment system is designed to save time and costs while bringing in the most qualified employees to fill the job vacancies, LG said.
It plans to hire about 3,000 experienced workers this year, similar to last year, to fill research and development positions in the mobile phone, display and home network divisions.
The company plans to expand its R&D personnel to 13,000 this year from the current 11,500.
