"Early Economic Independence of Youth → Expected to Contribute to Increased Marriage and Birth Rates"
Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) has decided to significantly expand the proportion of high school graduate restricted recruitment over the next three years to up to four times the current level, creating a total of 200 jobs for high school graduates.
KEPCO announced on the 2nd that it has established a "Comprehensive Support Plan for High School Graduate Talent" containing these details. KEPCO expects that this comprehensive support plan for high school graduate talent will lead to innovation in the education system and early economic independence for capable youth, contributing to an increase in marriage and birth rates that can help prevent national population decline.
On the 30th of last month, Kim Dong-chul, President of Korea Electric Power Corporation, visited Sudo Electric Industrial High School, an Energy Meister High School operated by the Korea Electric Power Academy, and delivered a speech.
KEPCO plans to expand the proportion of high school graduate restricted recruitment from 2025 to 2027 to three to four times the previous level, creating a total of 200 jobs for high school graduates. A KEPCO official explained, "KEPCO has been making comprehensive efforts for substantial high school graduate recruitment by assigning the same rank and duties to high school graduate hires as to university graduate hires and operating customized specialized recruitment programs for current students. In addition, starting from the second half of this year, we have newly introduced a 'High School Graduate Experiential Intern' system to provide work experience opportunities and strengthen employment capabilities for high school graduate talent, and we plan to grant additional points in the public recruitment written exam to outstanding interns."
KEPCO will also support youth career development. Rather than simply increasing recruitment, KEPCO will establish the country's first energy public enterprise customized "Energy New Technology Convergence Contract Department" through industry-academia cooperation to ensure that employees can sufficiently acquire university-level expertise after joining, creating conditions to "study while working." In addition to obtaining a bachelor's degree, KEPCO will actively support acquiring job-related certifications such as industrial engineer and electrical engineer licenses that are actually needed in the field.
Furthermore, KEPCO will provide customized job training such as specialized courses for high school graduate employees at the KEPCO Talent Development Institute (located in Nowon-gu, Seoul), the nation's first employee training center. It will also systematically support stable organizational adaptation of high school graduate employees through on-site training to eliminate blind spots in job education and psychological counseling for new employees, including mentoring by senior employees.
To directly support the social advancement of high school graduate talent, KEPCO President Kim Dong-cheol visited Sudogwon Electric Technical High School, an energy meister high school operated by the Korea Electric Power Academy, on the 30th of last month to encourage students preparing to enter society. This visit, held about 45 days before the school's 100th anniversary (October 15 this year), was arranged to introduce KEPCO's expansion and nurturing direction for high school graduate talent recruitment and to explore practical methods to support students' capacity development.
President Kim said, "In the upcoming new energy era, it is more important to have the latest information and proven skills in the field and to achieve concrete results on-site than simply obtaining a university diploma. Early social entry and economic independence of skilled youth contribute directly to industrial development and reduce social costs wasted due to overeducation and delayed employment."
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