More than half of South Korea's large companies have set plans to hire new college graduates in the second half of this year, a survey showed, as the number of firms finalizing hiring plans rose sharply and fewer moved to cut recruitment. Analysts say the long-frozen hiring market at big companies is showing some signs of thawing.
The Korea Enterprises Federation (KEF) said on the 29th that 51.2% of the 121 companies it surveyed among the country's top 500 firms by revenue had set plans to hire new graduates in the second half. That was up 14 percentage points from 37.2% a year earlier. The share that had yet to decide fell to 28.1% from 38%, while those with no hiring plans dropped to 20.7% from 24.8%.
Among firms that finalized plans, half said they would hire roughly the same number as last year. Those planning to cut hiring fell to 25.8% from 37.8%, a decline of 12 percentage points. Companies planning to increase hiring stood at 24.2%, little changed from 24.4% a year earlier. That suggests the market has not entered a genuine expansion phase but rather that the push to cut hiring has eased.
Recruitment methods also shifted. The share of companies planning to use both open recruitment and rolling hiring jumped to 54.9% this year from 37.8% a year earlier, while those relying only on rolling hiring fell to 14.5% from 24.4%. Among firms using both, the portion of total hires filled through open recruitment rose to 62.7% from 43.5%. Companies appear to be expanding batch hiring of entry-level staff again even as they continue to recruit for specific roles on a rolling basis.
Asked what they weigh most heavily in selecting new hires, companies cited fit with the organization most often, at 23.4%. Job experience and general job competency each drew 18.4%, followed by role-specific expertise at 12.4%. The results point to a growing emphasis on actual work experience and the ability to work within a team, rather than academic credentials alone.
The picture varied widely by industry. The combined share of companies with no hiring plans or undecided plans was highest in wholesale and retail at 71.5%, followed by construction and civil engineering at 61.5% and distribution and logistics at 55.5%. The KEF said companies in domestic-demand sectors and construction remain cautious about new hiring because the recovery there has been relatively slow.
