KOTRA "Supported Overseas Employment for 939 Youths Last Year... Actively Promoting This Year as Well"

“Young Job Seekers Prefer Overseas Employment Despite COVID-19”

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Sun-mi] Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, young job seekers in Korea continue to pursue global experience and career development through overseas employment. KOTRA plans to actively promote customized overseas employment support that reflects on-site labor demand this year as well.

On the 3rd, KOTRA announced that it supported 939 young Koreans in securing overseas employment last year through various overseas employment support projects. By region, Southeast Asia, North America, and China ranked highest, while by occupation, office management and service jobs accounted for the majority.

KOTRA operates overseas employment support projects at 49 overseas employment hubs, assisting with the entire process of overseas employment, including discovering hiring demands from foreign companies, arranging recruitment consultations, and supporting local settlement. Since launching the K-Move project in 2013, KOTRA has supported over 5,600 young job seekers in finding overseas employment. In particular, the ‘Global Job Fair’ held biannually by KOTRA is the largest overseas employment support platform in Korea.

It provides job seekers interested in overseas employment with opportunities such as interviews with foreign companies, country-specific employment information, and recruitment briefings by overseas companies. Considering the importance of smooth local settlement in overseas employment, overseas trade centers offer post-support services such as counseling for employment difficulties, labor expert advice, and mentoring.

KOTRA also supports domestic small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in recruiting overseas professionals for overseas marketing, product localization, and research and development, areas where they face hiring challenges. Last year, KOTRA supported the recruitment of 219 overseas professionals, of whom 30.1% held master's or doctoral degrees. Their nationalities included Vietnam (30%), India (10%), the United States (9%), China (9%), and Russia (5.5%), with occupations mainly in engineering, management, and overseas sales.

Recently, countries preferred for overseas employment such as Australia, Singapore, and Japan have reopened their borders to foreign entrants, prompting KOTRA to plan an expansion of customized overseas employment projects that reflect labor demand. A survey conducted last year by the Human Resources Development Service of Korea targeting 1,400 young job seekers aged 18 to 34 nationwide showed that 50.1% of respondents hoped for overseas employment.

Kim Yoon-tae, head of KOTRA’s SME division, stated, “The global experience and career development of young job seekers through overseas employment will ultimately form the foundation of domestic companies’ competitiveness. We expect overseas employment conditions to improve this year and will actively promote customized overseas employment support that reflects on-site labor demand.”