Shinbo, San-eun, and Su-eun to Soon Finalize Hiring Schedule and Scale
Banking Sector All 'Undecided' on Accelerating Digital Transformation
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Jin-ho] Major financial public enterprises are opening the door to the recruitment market in the second half of this year. This is truly 'good news' for job seekers trying to overcome the increasingly narrow financial sector threshold amid accelerated digital transformation and prolonged COVID-19. However, it is reported that major commercial banks have not yet finalized the scale of recruitment for the second half. Considering the downsizing effects due to digital transformation, the industry consensus is that there will be no large-scale public recruitment this second half as well.
According to the financial sector on the 2nd, the Korea Credit Guarantee Fund (KODIT) announced that it will finalize the scale of recruitment for the second half around the end of this month. It is currently expected to be around 50 to 60 people.
Typically, KODIT's recruitment has been around 90 to 100 people only in the second half, but this year it will be conducted in two phases: the first and second halves. KODIT hired 90 people in the first half of this year. This is due to the financial authorities deciding to increase the recruitment scale compared to previous years, considering the government's youth job revival policy and the increased workload caused by COVID-19.
Other financial public enterprises such as KDB Industrial Bank and Korea Eximbank also announced that they will soon finalize their recruitment plans for the second half. These are also expected to expand their recruitment scale compared to previous years.
Korea Eximbank is expected to announce recruitment for the second half within this month. Although the specific scale has not yet been finalized, it is known to be similar to previous years when about 30 to 40 people were hired. Industrial Bank will announce recruitment in September. Like last year, Industrial Bank will also conduct new recruitment in two phases, first and second halves, instead of only in the second half as usual. Industrial Bank, which hired about 60 people in the first half, is expected to hire a similar number in the second half this year. Even last year, when recruitment was conducted in two phases, Industrial Bank hired 110 people.
The main reason major financial public enterprises are expanding recruitment scale this second half is the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. Financial support tasks such as corporate restructuring and guarantees have surged compared to previous years, and due to the inverted pyramid structure of personnel, there are many cases of manpower shortages in the field. A representative from a financial public enterprise explained, "With the prolonged COVID-19, the role of policy finance has been emphasized, and manpower demand has rapidly increased. The lukewarm attitude of major commercial banks toward recruitment has also somewhat influenced the expansion of recruitment scale."
On the other hand, major commercial banks have not yet finalized the scale or schedule of recruitment for the second half. This applies not only to banks that usually conduct regular recruitment in the second half such as KB Kookmin Bank, Hana Bank, and NH Nonghyup Bank but also to Shinhan Bank and Woori Bank.
This is analyzed to be largely due to physical difficulties in conducting large-scale public recruitment caused by the impact of COVID-19 and the accelerating digital transformation of banks. As of the end of March this year, the number of branches of the five major banks (Kookmin, Shinhan, Hana, Woori, Nonghyup) was 4,398, down 191 from a year earlier. This is about twice the decrease (96 branches) from March 2019 to March last year.
A banking industry official said, "Large-scale public recruitment requires group training, etc., but with COVID-19 continuing to spread, there are significant practical difficulties. The accelerated consolidation and closure of branches due to digitalization also likely had an impact." In fact, this year, the recruitment method of major commercial banks is trending toward on-demand recruitment for digital and IT personnel rather than large-scale public recruitment.
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
