Financial Sector Starts First Half Internships and Open Recruitment... Hiring Momentum Begins

Export-Import Bank and Other Policy Banks Recruit Over 100 Young Interns Each
Financial Public Enterprises Also Start Hiring
NongHyup Bank Begins First Half-Year Public Recruitment Ahead of Commercial Banks

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Sun-mi] Amid the freezing employment market caused by COVID-19, the financial sector has also opened the door to recruitment in the first half of the year by starting youth internships and new and experienced employee open recruitment.

According to the financial sector on the 6th, policy banks opened the recruitment market for the first half of the year with experiential youth internships. The Export-Import Bank of Korea closed applications for the 2021 first half youth internship on the 2nd. This youth internship, which recruits without academic restrictions for those under 34 years old, aims to hire a total of 123 people. The final successful candidates will work for five months from early April to early September, and if their work evaluation is satisfactory, the working period may be extended until the end of the year for those who wish. Youth internship graduates will be given preferential treatment or exemption opportunities in document screening when applying for the Export-Import Bank’s new employee open recruitment in the future.

KDB Industrial Bank is also accepting applications for youth internships until the 9th. The number of recruits is around 100, with a working period of about four months from the end of April to August. Interviews will be held in the last week of this month, and the successful candidates will be announced next month. Although these are temporary employees supporting banking operations, KDB Industrial Bank gives preference to those with youth internship experience when hiring new employees in the future.

Until last year, KDB Industrial Bank hired 100 youth interns each in the first and second halves of the year. This year, starting with this recruitment of 100 people, it plans to hire youth interns three times in total. Separately, KDB Industrial Bank is expected to soon announce open recruitment for new employees in general banking and digital job categories for the first half of the year. Specific recruitment numbers and schedules have not yet been finalized.

IBK Industrial Bank of Korea is expected to announce new employee recruitment as early as April, followed by youth internship recruitment announcements around May.

Public financial enterprises are also continuing to announce open recruitment for the first half of the year. The Korea Deposit Insurance Corporation plans to announce recruitment for new employees this month and hire about 15 people, and the Korea Asset Management Corporation (KAMCO) will also hire about 70 youth interns, with plans to convert over 90% of the interns to regular employees afterward.

Commercial Banks Also Start Open Recruitment
Internet Banks Actively Hiring Talent

Among commercial banks, NH Nonghyup Bank was the first to start open recruitment for the first half of the year.

Nonghyup Bank is conducting recruitment for 340 new employees to fulfill corporate social responsibility by securing excellent talent early and creating youth jobs. Applications closed on the 22nd of last month, and after online aptitude tests, written exams, and interviews, the final successful candidates will be announced in April.

Woori Bank plans a special recruitment of 20 people this month. Although those who were fraudulently hired due to recruitment corruption between 2015 and 2017 have been dismissed, it was difficult to identify the victims, so direct relief for those who failed at that time was not possible. Therefore, Woori Bank decided to conduct a special recruitment of 20 people this month separately from the annual recruitment plan. Other commercial banks have not yet finalized their first half open recruitment plans and are conducting recruitment through occasional hiring for necessary departments.

Internet banks are also starting open recruitment for the first half of the year. KakaoBank is accepting applications for open recruitment from the 5th to the 14th of this month. As KakaoBank is a technology-based bank, it is recruiting double-digit numbers of experienced developers in a total of 10 fields including customer platform development, service server development, financial IT (core banking, financial information), and iOS development.

A financial sector official explained, "Although commercial banks emphasize the importance of securing talent, due to COVID-19 continuing since last year and the reduction of offline branches, many have not yet set large-scale first half new employee recruitment plans and are increasing occasional hiring." The official added, "Policy banks, which must align with the government’s emphasis on employment stability, are stoking the fire by increasing youth internship recruitment, and with active hiring atmospheres centered on fintech and internet banks, the banking sector recruitment market in the first half of the year is expected to soon gain momentum."