"Now Confident in Customer Service"... The Job-Seeking Challenge of Slow Learners in the 'Employment Blind Spot'

Youth Foundation Promotes Job Experience Program
Career Consulting Followed by Workplace Placement
Positive Effects Such as Increased Job-Seeking Motivation

Lee Seon-ju (20), an employee at the salad cafe 'Oldoeda Farm' located in Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, commutes to the smart farm facility every day at 10 a.m., the opening time.

Oldoeda Farm is a place that makes and sells salads using vegetables grown directly in the smart farm, and every step from the sprouting to the harvesting of the vegetables is touched by Lee’s hands. While checking the growth status of the salad vegetable butterhead lettuce, Lee lifted the leaves and began to remove the cotyledons. This is an essential process to promote vegetable growth. After lifting the leaves of about 10 vegetable plants for 20 minutes, Lee smiled proudly, saying, "Working is fun."

Lee Seon-ju (20), who participated in the Chaeum Project, is removing the cotyledons of vegetables at Ol Doda Farm Smart Farm in Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul on the 3rd.
[Photo by Heo Young-han]

Although Lee appears to be an ordinary young adult in their twenties, there is one difference. Lee is a slow learner (borderline intellectual functioning) with an intelligence quotient (IQ) between 70 and 85. Having experienced multiple failures in part-time job searches, Lee was able to enter their first workplace through the 'Chaeum Project' by the Youth Foundation.

Assigning Job Assistants and Providing Job Training... Chaeum Project, a Catalyst for Youth Independence

For young slow learners like Lee, employment is perceived as an insurmountable wall. Slow learners are not classified as intellectually disabled, so they are not subject to mandatory employment by companies, and individual businesses hesitate to hire them due to insufficient work ability. In response, the Youth Foundation, together with the Seoul Borderline Intellectual Functioning Lifelong Education Support Center (MIM Center) and the Korea Employment Agency for the Disabled Employment Development Institute, launched a work competency enhancement project for slow learners. Over the first and second halves of the year, 100 job-seeking youths are selected and provided with job experience and career consulting.

Participating youths go through a stage of exploring desired occupations based on job-seeking desire diagnostic tests for people with disabilities. In the second stage, professional instructors teach interpersonal skills and time management methods. This is a process to acquire self-management skills for smooth work performance. Among them, 14 youths with strong job-seeking intentions are placed in six workplaces over the first and second halves of the year to gain five weeks of job experience. Job coaches are also assigned on-site to help them adapt to the workplace. From career exploration to job training and job experience, all services are provided in a one-stop manner.

Lee Seon-ju (20), who participated in the Chaeum Project, is making a drink at Oldelda Farm Cafe in Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul on the 3rd.
[Photo by Heo Young-han]

Effect on Improving Independence... Government Institutional Support Remains a Challenge

The Youth Foundation’s Chaeum Project is producing positive effects in enhancing the independence of slow learners. As they build a sense of accomplishment through work, the participating youths’ desire to seek jobs has also increased. Lee, who is undergoing job experience at Oldoeda Farm, has come to dream of opening a convenience store through this job experience. Through interacting with customers and managing crop cultivation, Lee has gained confidence as social skills and work processing abilities have improved.

Lee said, "I wanted to run a convenience store, but before working, I hesitated because I thought dealing with customers would be difficult. Now, even if customers have many requests, I am not as flustered as before. I have also gained confidence in packaging goods."

Kim Geunyong, CEO of Olddaeda Farm, is sharing his views on hiring slow learners during an interview with Asia Economy at the farm in Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, on the 3rd.
[Photo by Heo Younghan]

However, there are criticisms that the foundation’s project alone is insufficient to solve the independence issues of slow learners. Due to inadequate government employment incentives, hiring them becomes solely a burden on companies. In fact, in the workplace, there are problems where slow learner employees cannot handle all the work, and business owners have to bear the burden. Kim Geun-yong, CEO of Oldoeda Farm and a participating company in the Chaeum Project, emphasized the need for employment support measures for both slow learners and employers.

CEO Kim said, "If conditions permit, I want to work together with slow learners, but there is a realistic problem that general companies find it difficult to fully bear the employment of slow learners. I believe that employers who hire them also need some employment benefits." He added, "To help coworkers understand and accept their characteristics, awareness education about slow learners should also be conducted in industrial workplaces."