Applications accepted until 3 PM on the 13th
Planning to hire a total of 500 new employees by next year
Kia is starting its engineer (production) recruitment this year. Kia's production recruitment has been ongoing for three consecutive years.
On the 5th, Kia announced the 2024 engineer (production) entry-level recruitment notice through its talent recruitment website. Eligibility requires a high school diploma or higher, and those with experience or certifications related to electrical, mechanical, or automotive engineering are preferred. These recruits will be responsible for assembling automobile parts on the car assembly line and performing necessary inspections and adjustments before assembly.
Kia will accept applications from today until 3 p.m. on the 13th. Successful candidates will go through document screening, aptitude and physical tests, and interviews in order. After passing, they will receive onboarding training and be assigned to factories in Gwangmyeong and Hwaseong in Gyeonggi Province, and Gwangju.
Earlier, Kia labor and management reached a tentative agreement on wages and collective bargaining in September, agreeing to hire 500 new production workers by next year. This is a larger scale compared to the annual hiring of 100 to 300 workers since the 2021 labor agreement. Kia plans to hire the 500 workers in stages rather than all at once by next year.
Kia production workers, along with Hyundai Motor, are nicknamed "Kingsanjik" (king + production worker) due to their average annual salary in the hundred million KRW range and job security. According to the Financial Supervisory Service’s electronic disclosure system, Kia’s average annual salary per person last year was 127 million KRW. The retirement age for Kia production workers is 60 years old, and the reemployment period for retirees (contract workers) has been extended from a maximum of 1 year to 2 years. Additionally, Kia recorded its highest annual performance last year with sales of 99.8084 trillion KRW and operating profit of 11.6079 trillion KRW.
Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor conducted a public recruitment of technical entry-level employees last March for the first time in 10 years. This recruitment attracted tremendous social attention, with so many applicants that the website crashed on the first day of document submission. There were even unconfirmed reports that over 180,000 people applied.
Hyundai Motor production workers also earned the nickname "Kingsanjik" due to their high salary averaging around 100 million KRW, retirement age of 60, and various welfare benefits such as employee vehicle discounts. Hyundai did not disclose the exact number of applicants for this production recruitment. According to labor-management agreements, Hyundai plans to hire a total of 700 technical workers, including 400 last year and 300 this year. Accordingly, they also conducted a second half technical talent recruitment in July.
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