By Kim Rahn
A college professor has submitted job applications to more than 100 companies with fake identities. He told police that he did so for research about what qualifications companies assess highly when screening applicants.
Police officers at Seocho Police Station in southern Seoul said Wednesday that the economics professor at a private university in Seoul, surnamed Kim, voluntarily presented himself on Tuesday afternoon, saying he submitted the fake applications.
The voluntary appearance came after police launched an investigation earlier this month following a request from Hyundai Motor Group’s human resources team, which found out a male and a female candidate submitted 80 application forms to the group’s affiliates with different names, addresses and resident registration numbers.
Kim, along with nine students and assistant instructors, submitted 1,900 fake application forms to 121 companies from last month, including Hyundai, according to police.
“He said he was studying domestic firms’ recruitment systems, to see what criteria they apply to applicants’ appearance, academic career and test scores when screening,” a police officer said.
The professor and the students created eight sample men and eight women by slightly changing academic backgrounds and English test scores. Using the photos of one man and one woman in their 20s, they added glasses or changed the hairstyle on the photos with Photoshop. The original photos were of friends of one of the students.
They also fabricated resident registration numbers.
Five affiliates of Hyundai Motor Group and some large-sized banks were included in the companies that received the fake forms.
Kim said before conducting the research, he consulted a lawyer on whether such an act is against the law. “The lawyer told the professor that it could be seen as interference with business but might not be a big problem,” the officer said.
“We will book Kim and further investigate on that suspicion. The nine students and instructors are accomplices but they are unlikely to be punished,” he said.
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