Hanwha Aerospace apologizes over controversial hiring guidelines

Hanwha Aerospace has apologized for hiring guidelines that restricted experienced-hire applicants based on age and educational background, pledging to discipline those responsible and overhaul its recruitment process to prevent similar incidents. CEO Lee Boo-hwan issued an apology on the company website on Sunday, saying it was unacceptable to restrict applicants’ opportunities based on personal attributes. “There should never have been guidelines that could limit applicants’ opportunities based on personal factors such as education and age, which are unrelated to job performance,” Lee said. The labor ministry launched an inspection on Sept. 16 over allegations that Hanwha Aerospace had prepared and distributed guidelines specifying age ranges and universities for experienced-hire positions to human resources executives and hiring managers. Lee said the guidelines “directly violated” the company’s principles of open hiring and equal opportunity, adding that he took the matter very seriously. “This was a clear failure on our part, as incorrect guidelines were distributed to