Imagine Having to List Your Weight and Height on a Job Application

In what may be the world's most awkward job application process, right up there with trying out to be Miley Cyrus's Christmas tree, South Korean companies routinely ask prospective employees for personal details like height, weight, and blood type. Korea Investment & Securities Co., the Wall Street Journal reports, also asks applicants for information about their parents' employment. Additionally:

Rubber-product maker Nexen Corp. asks an applicant to reveal his native place, family root, weight and height, eyesight, blood type, religion, and civil state. Applicants are also asked to reveal their parents' names, ages, educational achievement, the names of companies they work for and their positions there, whether the applicant lives with them, and information on each applicant's siblings.

The South Korean government just passed a bill designed to curtail the collection of such personal details from potential employees. Because honestly, as if applying for a job weren't nervewracking and awkward enough, can you imagine: "What are your biggest weaknesses? And HOW MUCH do you weigh again?" Encouraging stuff, right there.