Interview with Kim Heedong, CEO of SmartSocial
Goal to Establish 'JobEasy' as 3rd Generation Platform
AI Analyzes Job Seekers' Skills... Recommends Jobs and Aptitudes
Career Counselors Make Final Decisions... Remote Consultations Available Anytime
[Asia Economy Reporter Junho Lee] "If we divide job search platforms by generation, the 1st generation is Byeolguk Market, the 2nd generation is Saramin. The 3rd generation will be AI-based platforms like ours."
Artificial Intelligence (AI) not only finds the jobs you prefer most but also discovers aptitudes you were unaware of. It even organizes a list of currently hiring companies that match your aptitude. This is not a story of the distant future. It is what ‘SmartSocial,’ which has introduced AI and big data into the job search system, is doing.
CEO Kim Heedong’s goal is clear. He aims to establish SmartSocial’s job search platform ‘JobEasy’ as the 3rd generation platform. Kim emphasized, "The 2nd generation platforms focus on companies, not job seekers," adding, "As the job structure shifts to project-based, the focus must now move to individual capabilities."
He created the concept of a ‘Competency Resume.’ It is a resume centered on quantitative evaluation. He judged that existing resumes, which fit job seekers into company-required molds, cannot fully show their true capabilities. Subscribers write all the work they have done throughout their lives on the competency resume without being limited to a standardized format. AI analyzes this information through big data and recommends jobs ranked accordingly.
A user of the job search platform 'JobEasy' conducting a remote consultation with a career counselor. [Photo by SmartSocial]
AI does not do everything. The core of JobEasy is the harmony between AI and career counselors. Career counselors decide on job recommendations based on AI analysis. If subscribers want, remote counseling is also available. JobEasy has a pool of about 80 career counselors.
CEO Kim felt the limitations of AI technology and completed a model involving human intervention. He said, "It is a lesson learned from operating the career management platform ‘FirstJob,’ launched in 2016," adding, "AI still cannot consider subtle contexts such as cultural characteristics." He further explained, "AI acts like an assistant, and humans make the final decisions."
JobEasy emerged after several trials and errors since the company was founded in 2012. Meanwhile, FirstJob achieved some success, but CEO Kim was not satisfied. FirstJob is a business-to-business (B2B) platform. Dozens of universities nationwide, including Busan University of Science and Technology and Yeungnam College of Science and Technology, use this platform for student career management.
The know-how gained from developing FirstJob in 2015 was reflected in JobEasy. The memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed with the National Institute for Mathematical Sciences the following year also greatly helped in developing AI and big data technologies.
SmartSocial received social enterprise certification from the Ministry of Employment and Labor five years ago. It is recognized for contributing to solving employment issues such as youth unemployment. This year, it was selected as an operator of the National Employment Support System. CEO Kim said, "Social enterprises are rare among IT startups," adding, "We will grow beyond a simple job search service to become a social platform that manages lifelong careers."
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