An anonymous Pusan National University (PNU) student A, who wanted to work at the marketing company, applied for a "day marketing external activity" hosted by a company but was frustrated. It is because he used external activities for an experience of practical work, but all he was given was simple tasks like cleaning and paper crushing. Student A said, "I had applied to improve my résumé by receiving a marketing external activity certificate, but I didn't know I would do something completely unrelated to marketing."

The employment shortage is getting worse, and because of this, external activities use the promise of “improving your resume” as bait to attract college students. University students engage in an external activity by writing an application to fill in their cover letters and improve their résumé. But there is no specific system to protect them.

■Using Them as a Tool for Meaningless Tasks

According to a survey of college students in Busan from September 19th to October 1st by Channel PNU, of the 316 respondents, 200 respondents (63.3%) responded, "I think external activities are essential," and 150 respondents (47.5%) have experienced more than one external activity. 31 respondents (20.7%) of them have experienced unfairness during the external activities, and specifically were expected to suffer from heavy workload (52.6%), insufficient compensation (39.5%), theft of results (10.5%), and verbal abuse (7.9%).

We could easily find the case of performing work that is meaningless or unrelated to the original announcement. After promoting that "non-face-to-face press corps are available,” the successful applicants are used to promote the company’s activities as “writing comments part-time job." An anonymous student B said, "I applied for the external activity of press corps because I thought the non-face-to-face tasks were available, but the organizer forced us to upload the promotional post on SNS and press the likes. I did not learn how to write articles."

The standard for issuing activity certificates was also irrelevant in real work. According to the table provided by the organizer to the participants, the issuance criteria were different depending on the type and number of SNSs, including one hour per like and comment, two hours per blog post, and six hours for sharing in KakaoTalk chat rooms with more than 50 people. This is how the organizers provide volunteer time depending on the promotional article, not actual activity time.

■"*Gap-jil" Such as Verbal Abuse or Coercion of Patronage

​Using a certificate of completion, many people suffer from "gap-jil," including verbal abuse and forced sponsorship. An anonymous Kyung-Sung University student C participated as a team leader in a volunteer activity for college students hosted by the Korean branch of an international organization for five months from February. The organizers announced, "You can participate in the activities if you pay sponsorship" on the day of the launching ceremony. Student C said, "non of my colleagues received this fact from interviews or announcements. They said they would not give me a certificate of completion unless I paid the sponsorship fee. About 100 participants, including myself, were forced to fill out a sponsorship agreement at the launching ceremony and paid up to 50,000 won per month."

​Some students were verbally abused during their external activities. An anonymous Dong-A University student D, who has seen his colleague being verbally abused, said, "One of the organizers told a student who wanted to work in the correspondent industry that ‘I have a wide network in this field, so I won't let you work in this organization.’ There was another case that another organizer insulted students who has been infected with COVID-19 and cured, not to come too close, saying that the student was dirty."

■Acquiescence Due to Youth Employment Difficulties

​Students have no choice but to seek out external activities, even though they are absurd, because of an unprecedented employment crisis. According to the "2020 Employment Statistics of Graduates of Higher Education Institutions" released by the Ministry of Education in September, the employment rate of graduates of higher education institutions (university・technical college・graduate school) was 65.1%, the lowest ever since 2011. In particular, the employment rate of graduates in Busan was 59.6%, the only area which recorded less than 60% in the country. Structural youth unemployment problems lead to competition for "Building Qualification" through external activities and conniving issues that arise here.

​Some point out that blind recruitment of public officials, which has been cited as the reason for breaking down the importance of academic background, increases the importance of qualifications. Since it is impossible to write graduate college, grade, language grades, and so on, in résumés and cover letters, they are busy adding a line of specifications through external activities. Student E (Dept. of Industrial Engineering, 18) said, "It is not that easy to get a job in Busan. Still, there are many things I can't specify (in my résumé), including my university. I need special specifications to show that I am different from others."

■Public Efforts such as Universities Are Needed

​Accordingly, it is argued that human rights centers that strengthen labor education and specialize in young people's labor are needed. Park Jin-Hyun (Director, Busan Labor Rights Center) said, "Busan's youth employment rate is at the bottom, so young people are bound to be socially disadvantaged in the relationship. We need to establish a youth labor rights center at the university's labor education and local level." Currently, universities are conducting follow-up consultations through human rights centers, but only when they are aware of their rights in advance can they be corrected smoothly through follow-up problem-raising. Director Park said, "In particular, it is necessary to implement education on youth labor rights from the lower grades of college."

​Director Park also said, "If the university cannot correct this, the local community's ability to correct it is important. It is also a way for the Busan Metropolitan Government to establish a youth labor rights organization for regional relief." The solution to external activity problems can be improved when social issues can be enhanced, and social concerns can be raised and alleviated through system construction in universities and local communities.

*Gap-jil : A Korean Expression of abusing or overusing someone’s power.

Reporter Shin Yu-Jun & Im Ha-Eun & Jun Hyung-Seo & Hong Yun-Woo

Translated by Choi Ye-won