Presidential Office Designates This Week as "Youth Week"
Samsung, Hanwha, SK, and POSCO to "Expand Youth Recruitment"
Eleven Major Companies to Hold Large-Scale Job Fair
Major conglomerates such as Samsung, Hanwha, SK, and POSCO have all announced plans to expand new hiring. Industry observers interpret this as a response to the presidential office's recent message, ahead of Youth Day on September 20, pledging support for youth employment.
Previously, on September 16, the presidential office designated this week as "Youth Week" and announced plans for various youth-focused events, including encouraging youth entrepreneurship. On the same day, President Lee Jaemyung met with youth startup founders and emphasized, "The government will support the challenges of young people." The business community sees companies expanding youth recruitment in line with this policy direction.
On September 18, Samsung Electronics announced it would hire 12,000 new employees annually to foster future growth businesses and actively create youth jobs. The company stated that it plans to focus its hiring particularly on major component businesses centered on semiconductors, the bio industry, and the artificial intelligence (AI) sector.
Samsung continues to maintain its open recruitment system, which it first introduced in 1957 as the first of its kind in Korea, in line with its management philosophy of prioritizing talent. Currently, 19 affiliates, including Samsung Electronics, Samsung C&T, and Samsung Biologics, are conducting open recruitment for the second half of the year.
To further expand youth employment, Samsung is strengthening its internship programs linked to employment and recruiting more technical talent. The company plans to increase the scale of university student internships to provide more opportunities for job experience and to actively hire outstanding interns. Additionally, Samsung is leading efforts to broaden its technical workforce by actively recruiting Meister high school graduates and winners of the National Skills Competition. Since 2007, Samsung has supported both the National Skills Competition and the WorldSkills Competition, and has specially hired 1,600 winners from the National Skills Competition to date.
SK Group announced that its affiliates will recruit new employees in areas such as research and development (R&D), AI, and technology development. By December, the group plans to hire about 4,000 people, similar to the number hired in the first half of the year, for a total of approximately 8,000 new hires in 2025. The main targets are domestic and international science and engineering talent who will help strengthen SK Group’s competitiveness in AI, semiconductors, and digital transformation (DX), which are the group’s key focus areas.
SK Hynix will recruit new employees for the second half of the year from September 22 to October 1. The company plans to select and hire talented individuals who will contribute to the expansion of SK Hynix’s AI semiconductor business, including semiconductor design, device, R&D, and mass production technology. Thousands of new hires are planned just for the Yongin Semiconductor Cluster, which is under construction and scheduled to begin operations in the first half of 2027. As the next-generation DRAM production capacity at the Cheongju Campus M15 is also being expanded, SK Hynix’s recruitment activities are expected to grow further in the future.
SK is also opening its educational infrastructure to young talent. The group’s internal education platform, mySUNI, offers the "SUNI-C" program, which brings together university students, experts, and employees to discuss and solve real-world work challenges. Four cohorts have completed the program so far, and this year, the curriculum has focused on AI and semiconductors, which are popular fields among young job seekers.
In addition, SK Group plans to continue investing in programs that strengthen the capabilities of young talent, such as SK Hynix’s basic semiconductor job training "Youth Hy-Po," SK Telecom’s AI development theory and practice course "FLY AI Challenger," and SK AX’s AI developer training program "SKALA."
Hanwha Group is also expanding its new hiring for the second half of the year. The group announced that it has increased the number of new hires for the second half to about 3,500, up by 1,400 compared to the first half. In the first half of the year, Hanwha hired about 2,100 new employees, and once the second half recruitment is completed, the total number of new hires for 2025 will reach approximately 5,600.
Hanwha plans to hire about 2,500 people annually in the defense industry sector alone. Its financial affiliates will recruit about 700 people. The annual hiring numbers for major affiliates are as follows: Hanwha Aerospace, 1,100; Hanwha Ocean, 800; Hanwha Systems, 550; Hanwha Life Insurance, 300; Hanwha General Insurance, 250; and Hanwha Investment & Securities, 200.
A Hanwha representative stated, "By expanding new hiring in the second half of the year, we expect to create high-quality jobs, actively contribute to solving youth employment issues, and help revitalize the domestic economy."
POSCO Group is also increasing its new hiring for 2025 to about 3,000, up by 400 from the original plan of 2,600, to create more youth jobs. On September 18, the group announced its intention to expand new hiring to 3,000 this year, and to maintain a similar level of annual hiring after 2026 by expanding recruitment in safety, AI, and R&D, thereby creating 15,000 high-quality jobs over the next five years.
POSCO Group has traditionally conducted open recruitment mainly through POSCO and POSCO International, but starting next year, it plans to expand participation to more affiliates to provide more young people with fair opportunities to apply. Since 2019, the group has supported about 1,400 young people over six years through its public-private partnership "Youth AI·Big Data Academy," with about 800 of them successfully finding employment. The group will continue to support youth with practical job training through the academy, expanded internship programs, and other initiatives.
A POSCO Group representative stated, "Providing stable jobs that give young people hope is an important social responsibility for companies," and added, "We will contribute to national and local community development through fair recruitment and nurturing future talent."
The business community, together with the Korea Enterprises Federation, will also hold a large-scale job fair on October 21. Eleven major groups-including Samsung, SK, Hyundai Motor, LG, Lotte, Hanwha, GS, CJ, LS, Hyosung, and Poongsan-will participate, along with about 300 outstanding partner companies seeking to hire young employees (including both online and offline participants, with about 150 attending in person).
The Korea Enterprises Federation previously held a "Job Fair for Win-Win Growth with Partner Companies" at SETEC in 2010, with participation from the top 10 conglomerates. This is the first time in 15 years that the business community is jointly holding a large-scale job fair for mutual growth and recruitment.
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