YouTuber Former Head of Recruitment at a Major Corporation Breaks Down 'Information Imbalance' for Job Seekers

[Solution Report] Their Startup and Future
④ Boksunghyun, CEO of D3 Company
Expansion of Non-face-to-face Hiring Requires Selective Focus in Online Interviews
Launch of Audio Job Training Platform OZIC

Bok Seong-hyun, CEO of D3 Company and operator of the YouTube channel 'Inssa Damdangja' with 170,000 subscribers, advises that in the post-COVID era, job skills will be a necessity rather than an option in the recruitment market. Photo by Yoon Jin-geun PD

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is changing corporate hiring trends. The proportion of hiring talented individuals with job skills on a rolling basis has increased, rather than selecting new employees through open recruitment. According to the 2019 sustainability management reports of major conglomerates such as Samsung Electronics and Hyundai Motor Company, the hiring rate of people in their 20s has significantly decreased. So, where and how should college students preparing for employment aiming at open recruitment acquire job skills?

Bok Seonghyun, CEO of D3 Company and operator of the YouTube channel "Inssa Damdangja" for job seekers, points out that university and corporate employment programs, which have been centered on open recruitment, need to shift to internship-centered programs that enhance job understanding. As a YouTuber with 170,000 subscribers and a former recruitment team leader at a major corporation, CEO Bok provides concrete and vivid information necessary for job seekers through videos covering job analysis, self-introduction letters, aptitude tests, AI interviews, and interviews with current employees.

Essential for Job Seekers: Experience, Not Specs

A survey conducted by the employment portal site JobKorea targeting 480 corporate HR managers on "evaluation factors when hiring employees" found that 52.3% answered that major-related expertise is important, and 36% said internship experience in the major field is important. CEO Bok explained, "What job seekers should prepare for in the future is not specs but accumulating various experiences to enhance job understanding."

Inspired by the role of bridging information between job seekers and companies, CEO Bok launched the audio job training platform OZIC based on the know-how of operating Inssa Damdangja and ventured into entrepreneurship. CEO Bok said, "The information imbalance problem among job seekers that I observed while working in the HR team was serious," adding, "We started Inssa Damdangja and OZIC with the purpose of breaking down that barrier and sharing diverse knowledge with everyone."

COVID-19 has also changed the landscape of aptitude tests and interviews. In May, Samsung conducted its job aptitude test online. The business community predicted that fundamental changes would occur in the domestic corporate hiring system, led by Samsung. Earlier, global companies such as Google and Microsoft switched all face-to-face interviews to online interviews due to COVID-19. CEO Bok analyzed, "As non-face-to-face recruitment expands, companies will adopt more sophisticated monitoring systems," adding, "Due to concerns about online cheating, the difficulty level will increase, and as a result, the document pass rate will significantly decrease." Furthermore, he emphasized, "Compared to face-to-face interviews where nonverbal elements had a high proportion, online interviews require selection and concentration," and "Cases where nervousness causes disadvantages will decrease, and it will become important to confidently present oneself on screen."

CEO Boksung Hyun leverages his experience as a recruitment team leader at a major corporation to provide job seekers with various knowledge and information through YouTube videos. Photo by Insadamdangja

Audio Job Training Service Launched with Direct Explanations from Current Employees

Why produce job training programs in audio rather than video? CEO Bok explained, "We invited current employees in job areas that job seekers are curious about, but it was difficult for them to show their faces," adding, "Audio content also has the effect of increasing concentration in information acquisition, so we provided audio training content about the job, explaining what kind of work they do during the nine hours from commuting to leaving work."

In an employment market where job skills are increasingly emphasized, companies aim to hire talent who are efficient during their tenure rather than those who stay long. As a response method for job seekers, CEO Bok advised aiming for indirect experience if direct effort is difficult. He said, "If you are applying for sales management, it is necessary to gain experience by working part-time at the site to understand the roles and tasks of management positions on-site," adding, "For those applying for jobs where even such indirect experience is difficult, it is important to enhance job understanding through content containing the experiences and information of current employees." He advised, "Lifetime employment is disappearing, and in the era of multiple jobs where people recognized by organizations change jobs under any conditions, job learning will become a necessity, not an option."