[Interview] Kwon Intaek, CEO of OpenNol
Lowering Barriers with Practical Corporate Experience... 2-Week Job Trial 'Mini Intern'
Matching Solution Connecting Companies and Talent
"Hiring people cannot be based solely on specs or academic background." The concern that Kwon In-taek, CEO of OpenNol, had when starting his business in 2012 was closely related to the structural problems of South Korea's recruitment market. Amid the employment crisis, applicants inevitably focus more on building specs rather than developing their capabilities, while companies find it difficult to hire talent suitable for the job based only on specs. To solve this problem, he has built a bridge called ‘work experience’ between companies and applicants. He believes that both the verified data companies see during recruitment and the criteria applicants use to choose jobs should be based on experience.
In an interview with Asia Economy on the 5th, CEO Kwon said, "We are trying to change the trend from jobs and tasks to ‘work experience’." OpenNol’s representative service that makes this possible is ‘Mini Intern.’ It is a matching solution connecting companies and talent, centered on a two-week online job experience internship program. Job seekers perform tasks presented by companies online for two weeks, gaining practical experience. Through this, companies can obtain fresh ideas with new perspectives on their tasks, and job seekers can have their capabilities verified by professionals and potentially proceed to hiring.
The advantage of Mini Intern is that it opens the door wide for anyone to experience actual company work. The reality of the recruitment market was that applicants applying for internships to gain experience were asked about their experience. CEO Kwon thought it would be more helpful for job seekers if they could receive practical tasks online and gain work experience. He also recognized the companies’ need to verify whether applicants fit the job well. CEO Kwon said, "We also use the Mini Intern method for OpenNol’s own recruitment," adding, "We are satisfied and confident that this direction is right."
Last year, as non-face-to-face recruitment increased due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Mini Intern became more active. The number of subscribers grew from 11,000 in 2019 to 24,000 last year, and the number of companies presenting tasks expanded from about 640 to 1,180 cumulatively. CEO Kwon explained that this growth was possible because a virtuous cycle structure was established. He emphasized, "Even if recruitment fails, the platform allows users to receive education again and develop their capabilities, creating a virtuous cycle platform where hiring can eventually happen."
However, OpenNol’s business is not solely focused on the recruitment market. Since it encompasses career, employment, and entrepreneurship education, it also operates space projects for these purposes. Every year, it collaborates with various institutions to support youth entrepreneurship. Notably, it has participated in operating the Seoul Youth Startup Academy for the past three years. This is why OpenNol is called a ‘startup that nurtures startups.’ Some startups have been founded within the company and now collaborate with OpenNol.
Additionally, OpenNol is an ‘edutech’ startup combining education with IT solutions, applying artificial intelligence (AI) technologies such as machine learning to Mini Intern. It plans to introduce blockchain technology for payments and is developing a service where users can experience jobs and education in virtual reality as if working in real life. CEO Kwon emphasized, "We will develop this platform into one that accumulates data to develop capabilities to find individual value and enables life planning through it."
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