Steel Industry Expands New Graduate Recruitment Amid Business Recovery

POSCO to Pilot AI Interviews Starting First Half of This Year
Dongkuk Steel and SeAH Steel to Slightly Expand Hiring Scale This Year

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] The steel industry is collectively conducting new employee recruitment. With an expected recovery in the market conditions, this year’s hiring scale is expanding compared to last year.

According to the industry on the 8th, POSCO is closing the application period for new employee recruitment document screening by the 19th. Final candidates will be selected through the Personality Aptitude Test (PAT) and first and second interviews. This year, the first half recruitment will pilot the use of artificial intelligence (AI) video interviews. Applicants who take the video interview will be given preferential treatment during document screening.

Both university seniors and graduates can apply, and about 200 new employees will be hired at a similar level to previous years in various fields such as production technology, environment, safety, marketing, purchasing, and finance. All of them will work in Pohang and Gwangyang.

Hyundai Steel is also conducting rolling recruitment in production management, research and development, sales, purchasing, and business management fields. The hiring scale is flexible, ranging from 10 to 100 people.

Dongkuk Steel recruited about 20 people through the first half recruitment in February and is conducting junior employee recruitment in the second half. The junior employee recruitment, targeting university seniors, hires interns. All interns hired are converted to full-time employees under Dongkuk Steel’s recruitment system. The expansion of new employee recruitment is known to have been directly instructed by Vice Chairman Jang Se-wook of Dongkuk Steel. SeAH Steel and SeAH Besteel are also conducting first half recruitment for April entry in roles such as accounting, production, business support, and sales.

The steel industry’s expansion of recruitment, contrary to expectations, is due to the anticipated improvement in market conditions this year. The price of iron ore recorded an all-time high of $178.45 per ton last week. As steel demand, which sharply declined due to the COVID-19 impact, increases, the price of hot-rolled steel in the Asia region rose from $652 to $690 per ton within two weeks.

An industry official said, "As market conditions improve with increased product demand and price rises, the capacity for recruitment has increased, leading to an expansion in hiring scale," adding, "Along with this, the ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) management commitment to create youth jobs also influenced this decision."