"Experienced Over Newcomers" Internet Banks Barely Hired Any New Employees

'No.1 Preferred by Job Seekers' Internet Banks 3 Companies, New Employees Only 2.8%

Internet banks seem to only hire experienced professionals, but where can one gain such experience?

[Asia Economy Reporter Bu Aeri] Recently, ahead of the second half open recruitment season, a post like this appeared on a community where job seekers preparing for financial sector employment gather. Internet banks are continuously described as having an 'extremely narrow door' for inexperienced job seekers.

According to the 'Status of Employees by Internet Bank' data received by Asia Economy on the 27th through the office of National Assembly member Kang Min-guk of the People Power Party, as of the end of August, among 2,149 employees of Kakao Bank, K Bank, and Toss Bank, only 60 were new hires, accounting for just 2.8% of the total.

Looking at each bank, Kakao Bank had 24 new hires (1.79%) out of 1,335 total employees. K Bank had 25 new hires (5.29%) out of 472 employees, and Toss Bank had 11 new hires (3.21%) out of 342 employees. Notably, Kakao Bank ranked first as the most desired financial company to work for among 569 job seekers preparing for entry-level positions in a recent JobKorea survey, yet it had the lowest proportion of new hires among the three internet banks.

The workforce composition of the three internet banks has also somewhat changed. At the end of last year, the highest proportion was from the ICT (Information and Communication Technology) sector at 35.9%, but as of the end of last month, private sector employees numbered 706 (32.9%), the largest group. Next were ICT company employees at 519 (24.2%), and bank employees also accounted for a significant 446 (20.8%). Employees from other financial sectors such as savings banks, card companies, securities, insurance, and capital companies numbered 401 (18.7%). Particularly, many bank employees have moved to the three internet banks. Compared to the end of last year, the proportion of employees from the banking sector increased by about 1.4%. At the end of last year, employees whose previous workplace was a bank numbered 327 (19.4%) out of a total of 1,687 employees at the three internet banks.

The preference for experienced hires at internet banks contrasts with the large-scale new graduate recruitment by commercial banks in the second half of the year. Shinhan Bank recently announced plans to hire around 400 new employees, and Woori Financial Group is also conducting open recruitment for 360 new hires. Hana Bank is hiring double-digit numbers by department. KB Kookmin Bank is also preparing for a second half open recruitment of several hundred employees. In contrast, except for Toss Bank, which is currently recruiting up to 300 employees across all Toss affiliates, Kakao Bank and K Bank do not have open recruitment for new hires. They explain that they only hire employees through occasional recruitment.

Because of this, there are calls for internet banks to broaden their new hire recruitment. Assemblyman Kang pointed out, "The low proportion of new employees at internet banks ultimately means a preference for experienced hires who can be immediately deployed to work rather than nurturing talent through new employee recruitment."