South Korean companies will be required to hand back application documents to job seekers who are not hired, starting from January next year, according to a new rule approved at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor said that the materials submitted by job seekers include academic transcripts, certificates of TOEIC or TOEFL scores, diplomas and resumes.

When any failed applicant demands the return of his or her application materials, the recruiter should give the records back to the applicant within 14 days. Companies, however, will have the right to designate a time limit on when job seekers can make the claim.

When the claim period expires, companies will be obliged to destroy the unclaimed documents according to the law on protection of personal information.

The Labor Ministry said a large portion of local companies had declined to return the materials involving original certificates even if failed job seekers’ claimed them back, as there was no legal obligation.

“But from next year, firms violating the (new) law will be subject to fines of 3 million won ($2,700),” the ministry said.

In addition, recruiting firms posting bogus job openings will be placed under thorough regulatory oversight.

“Firms posting false job advertisements could be subject to a jail term of under 15 years or fines under 30 million won,” said the ministry.

Companies will also be banned from charging job hopefuls application fees, while job seekers will only have the burden of delivering their materials to the recruiters.

If a firm has no choice but to charge jobseekers additional fees, it should seek endorsement from regional offices for employment and labor.

Firms with 300 employees or more will be subject to the new regulation from January 2015. This will be expanded to all firms with 100 or more employees from 2016 and those with more than 30 employees from 2017.

Meanwhile, economic policymakers are considering introducing a fresh recruiting process for some state-funded agencies, which would not take previously sought requirements, such as educational background and English proficiency scores, into consideration.

The so-called “spec-free” recruitment system has been adopted by several conglomerates that officially place little significance on applicants’ credentials in their assessments.

According to officials at the Finance Ministry, the recruitment process could be applied at a portion of 295 state firms as early as the first half of next year.

Instead of initially singling out a group of applicants based on their alma mater, or academic performance or TOEIC/TOEFL scores listed on their resumes, public agencies may call for job seekers to submit only basic personal information including age, sex and name through an online process.

By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)