Is Landing a Job at a Major Company Possible This Fall?...More Confirmed Hires, But Rolling Recruitment Prevails

Large Companies Increase, Mid-Sized Firms Decrease
62.2% of Companies Plan "Rolling Recruitment"
Triple-Digit Hiring at Large Firms Reaches 20.9%... Zero Last Year

Job seekers are visiting the job posting board at the Gangnam-gu Job Fair held on June 5 at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul (photo for article illustration). Photo by Dongju Yoon

A recent survey found that six out of ten large companies have finalized their hiring plans for the second half of this year, indicating a rebound in recruitment among major corporations compared to last year.

On August 19, HR tech company Incruit released the results of its "Second Half Recruitment Trends" survey, conducted with 591 domestic companies (72 large enterprises, 107 mid-sized companies, and 412 small businesses). The proportion of large companies that have confirmed their hiring plans for the second half of the year was 59.7%, up 24.5 percentage points from the same period last year.

Last year, the hiring plans of large companies hit their lowest level in the past decade, but this year, a rebound is underway, bringing optimism to the large corporate job market. However, the hiring confirmation rate among mid-sized companies fell by 7.4 percentage points over the same period, reaching 43.0%.

Large companies are not only confirming their hiring plans but are also expected to increase the scale of recruitment compared to last year. While no companies planned to hire in the triple digits last year, 20.9% of large companies plan to do so in the second half of this year. Double-digit hiring also rose to 51.2%, up 5.0 percentage points from last year.

Mid-sized companies, on the other hand, are expected to reduce their hiring scale. Triple-digit hiring stands at 2.2%, down 0.2 percentage points from last year, and double-digit hiring dropped to 28.3%, a decrease of 12.2 percentage points, indicating an overall downward trend. In contrast, single-digit hiring increased to 69.6%, up 12.4 percentage points.

Since 2022, rolling recruitment has become the dominant hiring method and continues to account for a high proportion. Among companies with hiring plans, 62.2% said they would conduct rolling recruitment. Regular open recruitment accounted for 20.8%, a decrease of 1.8 percentage points from last year, while internships (both conversion-type and job experience-type) increased by 1.5 percentage points to 17.0%.

However, there were differences in hiring methods depending on company size. Among large companies, regular open recruitment accounted for the largest share at 63.5%. For mid-sized companies, rolling recruitment was most common at 52.7%, followed by regular open recruitment at 30.9% and internships at 16.4%. Among small businesses, rolling recruitment was the most prevalent at 72.2%.

Seo Miyoung, CEO of Incruit, stated, "As the hiring confirmation rate among large companies rebounds, job seekers targeting these firms will encounter a more favorable recruitment environment than last year. However, the decline in the hiring confirmation rate among mid-sized companies, where new job seekers typically build their careers, is likely to impact the overall job market."