100 Million Stock Options as Standard... Internet-Only Banks Striving Hard to Secure Talent (Comprehensive)

KakaoBank Announces Large-Scale Experienced Hiring
Toss Also Plans to Hire Over 330 in Q1 with Exceptional Benefits

[Asia Economy Reporter Sung Kiho] Internet-only banks have rolled up their sleeves for talent recruitment starting from the new year. Internet banks, which have been growing amid the non-face-to-face trend following the COVID-19 pandemic, are aggressively expanding their workforce by offering unprecedented compensation and conditions.

According to the financial sector on the 25th, Kakao Bank announced that it will hire a large number of outstanding talents such as IT developers and service planning managers as digital contact accelerates.

The recruitment fields include eight areas: ▲Financial IT Development ▲Server Development ▲Risk ▲Business ▲Service Planning ▲Compliance Monitoring ▲Audit ▲Customer Service, covering 43 job positions, with the hiring scale in the triple digits. With this recruitment, the number of employees is expected to surpass 1,000 in the first half of this year.

Applicants with more than one year of experience can apply for Financial IT Development and Server Development positions. The final selection will be conducted through document screening, practical interviews, and executive interviews. For development roles, coding tests will be conducted during practical interviews depending on the job.

The Kakao Bank talent acquisition site provides various information for applicants, including Kakao Bank’s working methods, welfare systems, and job interviews. Frequently asked questions are also organized. Inquiries can be made through one-on-one online consultations.

Kakao Bank offers one month of paid leave and a vacation allowance of 2 million KRW after three years of continuous service. It operates a flexible working system based on flexible working hours, and has established various systems to support employees’ balanced lives, such as medical expenses and health checkups for employees and their families.

A Kakao Bank official said, "This large-scale recruitment is to secure core talents who will lead Kakao Bank’s future and continue innovative services," adding, "In March, a separate career recruitment for developers will also be conducted apart from this career hiring."

Leading the Industry with Unprecedented Conditions and Top-Level Compensation

Viva Republica (Toss), which operates the mobile financial platform Toss, is also launching a large-scale recruitment of over 300 people in the first quarter of this year.

All Toss affiliates have designated the first quarter of this year as a "large-scale recruitment period" and plan to hire about 330 people by March. By field, 120 developers and 210 non-developers will be recruited.

As Toss expands its business into various financial sectors, it has rapidly increased its workforce. The number of employees at the five Toss companies was 780 at the end of 2020, nearly 12 times more than five years ago. Especially, the overall organization size more than doubled in the past year alone.

Toss’s recruitment process is completed within a maximum of three weeks from application submission to final acceptance announcement. Applications can be submitted at any time, and the process proceeds in the order of document evaluation, job interviews (including some task assessments), and cultural fit interviews. For some design positions, a portfolio is not mandatory, and for some development roles, tasks and interviews are conducted on the same day, simplifying the process according to job characteristics.

During this large-scale recruitment period, the reapplication restriction period has been removed, allowing applicants who were rejected within the last six months to apply for the same job or other affiliates, expanding opportunities. Toss’s compensation policy, which has offered up to 1.5 times the salary and stock options worth 100 million KRW to all regular employees, will be maintained until March. This is the last chance to join as an early member of the five Toss companies and grow together.

Lee Seung-geon, CEO of Viva Republica, said, "Through the launch of mobile securities and internet banks this year, Toss will completely transform even the areas traditionally considered conventional finance into customer-centered mobile financial services."