South Korean auto giant Hyundai Motor and its sister company Kia Motors will hire new talents year-round, ditching their conventional recruitment system.

Starting this year, the companies will hire new employees by opening job vacancies all year round, the company said on Wednesday in a statement.

The new system is seen as an attempt to make changes in its corporate culture, often criticized as hierarchical and monolithic. 

It is aimed at securing young talents capable of leading their drive for future growth, the company said. The carmakers have been seeking a change in its corporate culture as well as in product development to take a leadership position in the era of the fourth industrial revolution.

The companies will make announcements on job openings with specified requirements for positions so that college graduates can apply for jobs they have been preparing for.

For decades, the Korean carmakers have hired new employees twice a year -- usually in Spring and Fall -- and assigned their posts after they finish weeks of training programs.

They said the new system will allow them to “put the right people in the right place,” without having to spend weeks of preparation, noting that it is the way of coping with changes in the industry where manufacturing converges with ICT technologies.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)