Open Doors in the Financial Job Market... Financial Public Enterprises to Hire 780 in the Second Half of the Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Sun-mi] As the financial sector begins its second-half recruitment process earlier than usual, it is bringing a breath of fresh air to the frozen job market. Financial public enterprises and institutions that did not hire new employees in the first half due to the impact of the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) are successively announcing their second-half recruitment schedules. In addition, commercial banks that did not conduct large-scale public recruitment are participating in online recruitment fairs using non-face-to-face methods, leading to evaluations that the 'big match' in the financial sector job market has begun.

According to the financial sector on the 4th, the total number of hires for the second half from 10 financial public enterprises and institutions is expected to be around 780. Excluding Industrial Bank of Korea and Financial Supervisory Service, which have not yet finalized their recruitment scale or schedule, eight institutions have already announced plans to hire about 500 people. If Industrial Bank of Korea and Financial Supervisory Service maintain last year's hiring levels of 219 and 60 respectively, the total number of hires for the second half from financial public enterprises and institutions is estimated to be around 780.

The Financial Supervisory Service, Bank of Korea, KDB Industrial Bank, and Korea Eximbank have already closed document submissions last month or are set to start the public recruitment process within this month, with written exams scheduled for next month. Although the Financial Supervisory Service has not yet announced its public recruitment, it is expected to select new employees at a scale similar to last year and hold the written exam on the 12th of next month along with the Bank of Korea, KDB Industrial Bank, and Korea Eximbank. If interview schedules are completed by November at the latest, successful candidates can be decided within December. As financial public enterprises have moved their second-half recruitment schedules about a month earlier than usual, the announcement of successful candidates will also be expedited.

The institution hiring the most people is the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund, which did not open its recruitment market in the first half due to COVID-19. The Korea Credit Guarantee Fund hired 70 and 76 people in the first and second halves of last year respectively, but due to no new hires in the first half this year, it plans to hire 120 people in the second half. The Korea Credit Guarantee Fund will also announce recruitment at the end of this month, conduct written exams around the end of October, hold interviews in November, and announce successful candidates in December. Korea Asset Management Corporation (KAMCO) will hire 69 youth interns in the second half only, due to recruitment schedule delays caused by COVID-19 this year. After three months of work, more than 90% of them are planned to be converted to full-time positions. The Korea Technology Finance Corporation also plans to announce recruitment this month and hire 75 people.

With the support of the Financial Services Commission and the Financial Supervisory Service, a large-scale online joint recruitment fair involving many commercial banks is also scheduled, so the recruitment enthusiasm in the financial sector is expected to gradually intensify toward the end of this month.

The Korea Federation of Banks, Korea Financial Investment Association, Korea Life Insurance Association, Korea Non-Life Insurance Association, Korea Credit Finance Association, Korea Federation of Savings Banks, financial public enterprises, and 53 financial sector organizations will participate in the '2020 Online Financial Sector Joint Recruitment Fair' held over three days from the 26th to the 28th. Especially, since commercial banks that usually hire more than 1,000 people annually have not finalized their second-half recruitment schedules due to COVID-19, the online financial sector joint recruitment fair can serve as an opportunity for job seekers to open the door to employment at commercial banks.

This fair is characterized by commercial banks providing job seekers with opportunities for non-face-to-face interviews in line with the trend of expanding untact recruitment. A free 'Artificial Intelligence (AI) competency test' will be conducted for job seekers at the fair. Industrial Bank of Korea, NH Nonghyup Bank, Shinhan Bank, Woori Bank, Hana Bank, and KB Kookmin Bank plan to conduct non-face-to-face interviews over two days on the 26th and 27th for about 2,300 top performers in the AI competency test.

Among the non-face-to-face interviewees, outstanding interviewees will be granted the benefit of exemption from the first document screening in the second-half public recruitment. However, to allow more job seekers to have interview opportunities, applications for non-face-to-face interviews are limited to one financial company per person.

Job seekers can also participate in the 'Company-specific Online Integrated Recruitment Information Center' to expand communication between financial sector companies and job seekers, the 'Live Recruitment Briefing Session' where HR managers of each company conduct second-half recruitment process explanations and real-time Q&A, and the 'Talk Concert' where employees with 1 to 5 years of experience share their know-how on employment in the financial sector through the online recruitment fair.