Let U and V be finite-dimensional vector spaces over an arbitrary field \mathbb{K}, and \mathcal{S} be a linear subspace of the space \mathcal{L}(U,V) of all linear maps from U to V. A map F : \mathcal{S} \rightarrow V is called range-compatible when it satisfies F(s) \in \mathrm{im}(s) for all s \in \mathcal{S}. Among the range-compatible maps are the so-called local ones, that is the maps of the form s \mapsto s(x) for a fixed vector x of U. In recent works, we have classified the range-compatible group homomorphisms on \mathcal{S} when the codimension of \mathcal{S} in \mathcal{L}(U,V) is small. In the present article, we study the special case when \mathcal{S} is a linear subspace of the space S_n(\mathbb{K}) of all n by n symmetric matrices: we prove that if the codimension of \mathcal{S} in S_n(\mathbb{K}) is less than or equal to n-2, then every range-compatible homomorphism on \mathcal{S} is local provided that \mathbb{K} does not have characteristic 2. With the same assumption on the codimension of \mathcal{S}, we also classify the range-compatible homomorphisms on \mathcal{S} when \mathbb{K} has characteristic 2. Finally, we prove that if \mathcal{S} is a linear subspace of the space A_n(\mathbb{K}) of all n by n alternating matrices with entries in \mathbb{K}, and the codimension of \mathcal{S} is less than or equal to n-3, then every range-compatible homomorphism on \mathcal{S} is local.