Back in June, President Moon
Jae-in spoke at the National
Assembly, stressing that the
government will ambitiously
push ‘J-nomics’. Under this plan, Moon
stated that job creation was a requirement—and not a result—of growth. In this
regard, he strongly vowed to increase the
number of quality jobs for young people
during his term in office.
With job creation being a top priority for
the Moon administration, KOTRA’s 12th
Job Fair for Foreign-invested Companies
2017 came at an especially important time.
Held from October 12 to 13 in Seoul, an
estimated 14,000 jobseekers and 136 foreign companies participated in the two-day
event. Included in the rosters were 31
companies from the Fortune Global 500,
including 3M and Siemens.
Since 2006, the Job Fair for Foreign-
invested Companies has provided countless job opportunities for Korean youth
and helped foreign-invested companies
find premier talent in the country. This
year’s opening ceremony was attended by
labor and business leaders from the
Presidential Committee on Jobs, the
Federation of Korean Trade Unions and
major foreign chambers of commerce.
“I was here last year to learn more about
the companies I was interested in. I had a
great chance to meet HR managers in person and hear about the companies, what
they actually do and who they are looking
for,” said Miee Kim from Agilent Technologies
Korea. She joined the
American analytical instrument firm this
year, after weighing all her options last
year. “Working in a Fortune 500 company
is a satisfying experience, as it offers an
open and rewarding environment with a
range of employee benefits from language
training to arts and entertainment discounts,” she explained, encouraging jobseekers to make the most out of the career
fair.
The job fair offered a broad spectrum of
programs including meetings with HR
managers, recruitment seminars, special
lectures for job seekers and resume writing
and interview coaching sessions. One HR
manager advised potential employees to
convince employers with confidence,
without overly worrying about their limited experience or language skills.
“We’re looking for energetic, passionate
people who do what they love,” says Kiwi
Chi, talent acquisitions coordinator for
WeWork. Founded in 2010, the American
company provides shared workspaces and
services for entrepreneurs and innovators.
Although still a relatively new company in
Korea, WeWork hopes to
expand its presence in the country by hiring talented
Korean youth through the job fair.
“Foreign-invested companies already
take up 6 percent of Korea’s national
employment. They will continue to create
decent jobs and contribute to our economy by hiring highly educated workforce,”
said KOTRA’s President and CEO
Jaehong Kim. He added that the job fair
will provide invaluable opportunities for
young and competent Koreans to work in
global firms.