WHAT ARE KOREAN EMPLOYERS LOOKING FOR
(AND WHAT CAN AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTIONS DO)?
Ms Mary-Jane Liddicoat
Counsellor (Education, Science and Training)
Australian Education International, Australian Embassy, Seoul
This paper represents an early pre-view of research Australian Education International is
conducting this year. During 2007-08, AEI will survey over a hundred Korean organisations
to better understand their recruitment practices and will publish the findings in 2008.
The views presented in this paper have been distilled from a selected, but influential few
organisations and experts.
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Samsung Electronics – Korea’s leading large business (employs 85,000 in Korea and
70,000 around the world). It is one of the most desired employers and barometers of
change in Korea. It primarily employs engineering graduates and recruits 4,000
annually (double the number recruited in 1997); 25 per cent of these are ‘mid-career’
recruits of which over half have been educated in United States and Japan. Only 15
have studied in Australia. Samsung conducts 95 per cent of its training in-house and
annually sends 150 employees overseas to study to develop regional and other
specialists.
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Seoul Metropolitan Government – is representative of most Korean Government
agencies, employing 11,000 (including 9,800 permanent employees and 1,200
contract workers, most of whom are language and other specialists and have an
overseas education). Its permanent employees usually have little overseas education
owing to the time they need to spend preparing to sit the civil service exam.
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Sample members of the Federation of Small and Medium Enterprises, whose needs
are diverse;
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Representatives of recruitment and executive search agencies, including those
specializing in foreign-owned companies; and
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Long-term resident ‘Korea experts’ Tariq Hussein (author of Diamond Dilemma),
Michael Breen (author of The Koreans).
While this sample represents a fraction of the total Korean employment market, government
agencies and large and foreign businesses are considered by many to be the ‘highly
desirable’ employers in Korea. As such, parents strive to given their children the ‘best’
possible education to have the best chance to secure a job in one on these organisations.
So this means that these employers lay the course for the race to the ‘best education’ in
Korea and their views and practices are important to understand because they lead the
market and often cause change.
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MARKET OVERVIEW
Koreans of all ages are keenly focused on improving their knowledge, skills and expertise –
particularly English language – to increase their chances in a competitive job market, where
82 per cent of students continue on to higher education and unemployment among 15-29
year olds at 6.7 per cent is more than double the total unemployment rate. Many consider
they can gain a ‘competitive edge’ by studying overseas.
Enabling this off-shore flow, the Korean won has appreciated by 13.2 per cent against the
US dollar (2.5 per cent against the Australian dollar) since mid-2005 and the number of
affluent households has continues to increase. The Bank of Korea reported that in 2006,
430,000 Koreans spent over A$4.7 billion on overseas study and unofficial estimates the
number of students and the value to increase substantially.
Table 1: Snapshot of the Korean market
Population
49 million
Births per female
1.16
Percent continue to higher education
82%
Unemployment (total)*
756,000 (3.1%)
Unemployment (15-29 yrs)*
302,000 (6.7%)
No. purchased o/s education in 2006**
430,000
Amount spent on o/s education in 2006**
A$4.7 billion
Estimated to reach by 2011**
A$13 billion
*Source: National Statistical Office (August 2007)
** Source: Bank of Korea data (2006)
Korea continues to be Australia’s third largest source country for international students,
following China and India, and according to the Korean Government statistics, Australia is
the fourth most popular destination for Koreans, after the United States, China, and United
Kingdom.
Here is a summary of enrolments to give you an idea of the size of the Korean international
student market into Australia and its trends, which as you can see, has continued upward
over the last six years.
Table 2: Korean enrolments 2002-2006
ELICOS
Schools
VET
Higher Ed
Other
Total
2002
6,796
2,838
4,757
3,679
642
18,712
2003
9,348
3,805
3,843
4,473
734
22,203
2004
9,850
4,417
3,663
4,967
921
23,818
2005
10,744
4,558
4,577
5,336
1,105
26,320
2006
13,231
5,004
6,127
5,552
1,262
31,176
% increase
2006-07
23.15
9.79
33.87
4.05
14.21
18.45
Source: AEI International Student Data (August 2007)
In 2006, this represented 9 per cent of a A$10.7 billion industry and the market has again
grown 13.1 per cent year-to-date August. English Australia estimated that in 2006 another
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1,250 Koreans studied English on non-student visas, and spent more total weeks and money
on studying English than any other nationality.
So Koreans are highly driven to study, including overseas. While some, of course, just want
to have fun, the majority are seeking to secure the best, most prestigious career possible.
While this research mainly focuses on Korean employers, it also touches on foreign-owned
and operated companies in Korea. Many Koreans consider foreign companies, which are
continuing to increase in number and size, a ‘desirable’ place to work. They can also exert
influence over Korean business practices, particularly in sectors (for example, financial
services) where Korea is still maturing.
Table 3: Korean employment market
Company size
No. of companies No. of employees
Total all
3,204,809
15,147,471
Includes foreign
23,458
14,397
Total small
3,171,259
10,361,899
1-4
2,678,656
4,769,714
5-9
299,104
1,888,627
10-19
124,705
1,651,627
20-49
68,794
2,051,931
Total medium
31,178
2,990,294
50-99
21,737
1,481,376
100-299
9,441
1,508,918
Total large
2,372
1,795,278
300-499
1,247
472,652
500-999
775
530,798
1000+
350
791,828
Source: Korean Statistical Information Service (2005)
RECRUITMENT PRACTICES
Traditionally, Korean organisations recruited young, fresh graduates straight out of university
who then remained with the organization for their lifetime, while foreign companies recruited
primarily through introductions and networking. Recruitment and executive placement service
companies were almost non-existent.
In 1997 – ten years ago – Korea suffered a financial crisis as did many countries in Asia.
Korea repaid its IMF debt quickly and embarked on a rapid period of economic reform,
deregulation and restructuring to ensure that Korea remained globally competitive. And with
this recruitment practices started to shift.
The first evident change is that the level of English of employees across the board –
particularly those under 40 – has risen, including those who have never studied overseas. In
the past, many Koreans may have had good scores on paper, but only those with a real ‘front
line’ need developed their skills to a functional level.
The Korean Government is now leading a campaign to raise the English competency of all
Koreans, starting at pre-school, and most Korean job applicants would list a TOEIC or
TOEFL score on an application to demonstrate English ability and overall academic
achievement. And that score has been rising.
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Furthermore, a high test score is no longer enough. Many leading businesses and
government agencies have introduced their own English-language tests and interviews to
independently assess English competency. These interviews are sometimes held in groups
to not only assess linguistic ability, but also the applicant’s ability to think, debate, persuade,
communicate ideas and to adapt to group dynamics all in English.
The second major shift is that today, both business and government have become more
flexible and diverse in the types of employees they are seeking to recruit. For example, in
addition to the traditional generalist fresh out of university, mid-career professionals,
specialists, non-Koreans and more women are increasingly being invited into the mix.
This has happened because Korean employers cannot always find what they are looking for
fresh out of university. For example, Samsung led other major corporations to start recruiting
directly from overseas institutions (usually in the United States). This way they can recruit the
top 10-20 per cent of Korean graduates who usually continue onto post graduate study
overseas after they graduate from one of Korea’s top universities.
However, many of these graduates are keen to pursue overseas work opportunities and it is
sometimes difficult to attract them back to Korea within 10 years of graduation. This has
resulted in a new flexible approach to recruiting ‘mid-career’ specialists.
The third evident shift is the changes to recruitment processes. Traditionally, Korean
application forms include a detailed range of personal information such as place of birth and
father’s name, and these personal connections, and even a university name alone, could
bear significant influence on the process.
The phenomenon in Korea of a person’s educational background and connections, rather
than their actual ability and career performance, carrying more weight, has become known
as ‘credentialism’.
Now, prominent corporate and government employers have announced that they conduct
‘blind’ recruitment, which means hiding such personal details, even university names, from
the selection panels to enable them to more objectively assess the real and potential abilities
of applicant without being influenced by the name value of personal connections.
While it is still too early to gauge to what extent these new processes have actually
influenced the recruitment process and outcomes, it is important to note that public debate
about ‘credentialism’ is growing and some are responding with new recruitment paradigms.
Another shift worth noting is that among SMEs, unlike in the past, holding a degree is often
no longer a ‘pre-requisite (although many do have degrees). Instead, these enterprises are
primarily interested in recruiting people with the actual field skills and expertise, particularly in
the ICT, gaming and associated industries.
This may be driven partially by the fact that SMEs are finding it increasing difficult to attract
the staff they need, despite high youth unemployment. Rather than taking a job at an SME,
many young Koreans choose to remain unemployed and spend their time training for
interviews, and/or obtaining additional degrees, skills and qualifications to help them secure
either a job with the government (the ‘most desirable’) or with a prestigious large or foreign
company.
This trend was reflected recently in a survey conducted by Korean recruitment company
Incruit, which showed that the number of respondents answering that they had secured their
first job after the age of 30 had double since 1997.
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Among foreign-owned companies, networking is still favoured to recruit sales and marketing
staff (ie people who know everyone), but for other staff, they now take a more balanced
approach when seeking specialists, and usually use recruitment services (which as a
profession is now recognised and growing).
WHAT ARE KOREAN EMPLOYERS LOOKING FOR?
Our initial sample research indicates that Korean employers are looking for much the same
thing as Australian and other employers worldwide:
- world’s – or at least Korea’s – best field-specific knowledge, expertise and skills; and
- flexibility, adaptability and the ability to think and communicate as appropriate.
This second point needs clarification. Globalization in Korea is focused on expanding Korea’s
international exports and does not necessarily mean that Korean companies operate
identically to Western companies.
An overriding consideration of Korean organisations is that their employees can fit into and
operate smoothly in a Korean workplace. So in this context, ‘flexibility’ and ‘adaptability’
means that employees can seamlessly switch between Korean and international style
depending on the demands of the situation.
Getting the balance right is a challenge and seemly best mastered by Koreans who have
done some study overseas either at school or undergraduate levels or both, but who also
have had a substantial schooling and higher education experience in Korea.
The introduction of ‘blind’ applications and other more complex recruitment processes
indicates that the Korean employment market is looking for ways to better assess the
knowledge, skills, expertise, personal characteristics and potential of applicants.
This is certainly an interesting development, but it is still too early to see in what way this
may influence the choices students and their parents make about their education.
‘Credentialism’ has a long tradition and according to the National Human Rights Commission
there are no legally binding measures against discrimination based on credentialism or
academic cliquism. The current intense competition to enter the best ranked universities is
likely to continue for some time as the perception – and reality – that names will open doors
persists.
Finally, a word about ‘creativity’, which is often raised by government and business leaders
as a skill needing to be developed more broadly to help Korea continue to lead its closing
competitors. It is not yet clear what ‘creativity’ really means or how education and/or
business structures might best support this.
STRENGTHS OF KOREAN AND OVERSEAS EDUCATIONS
Before addressing the real question of what this all means for the Australian education
industry, we must first clarify the strengths of a Korean and an overseas education for a
Korean.
Graduates of Korean institutions know exactly where they fit in and how to operate in a
Korean organisation and have a Korean network or alumni. These are clearly still very
important to success in Korea. Korean schooling also provides a very sound basic education;
according to the latest OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)
scores, one of the best in the world.
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In 2003, the PISA survey compared the knowledge and skills of 276,000 15-year old
students from 41 OECD countries. In this survey, Korea came 1st in problem solving, 2nd in
reading literacy, 3rd in mathematical literacy and 4th in scientific literacy; Australia ranked 7th,
4th, 11th, and 6th in these categories respectively.
Korea produces solidly educated and often very bright students at certain levels and is now
keenly focused on raising the quality of its higher education to produce more world-class
research and innovation. Korea is now pouring resources into this sector to help some of its
370 higher education institutions secure high places in the international league tables.
An overseas education can provide Korean students with a range of complementary benefits
such as an ‘international-standard’ curriculum, technical and other knowledge, professional
qualifications, skills and expertise which is either not available in Korea or is of a lesser
quality to that offered overseas, international networking opportunities, and a good level of
functional English.
In addition, Korean employers are increasingly recognising and valuing a range of personal
strengths students gain through the extended interactive experience of living and working
overseas, but outside classroom learning – strengths such as learning to think independently,
to function ‘out of the comfort zone’, and being able to see the ‘big picture’.
This is the point of differentiation particularly valued by foreign employers in Korea, for whom
English competency is no longer enough to guarantee a job. It is the ability to think, to
contribute to the business and to take the initiative, to have ‘common sense’ and a ‘global
mindset’, good communication and interpersonal skills.
Finally, the majority of the employment market (over 10.6 million people) work in enterprises
of less than 50 employees and nearly 5 million people work companies with fewer than four
employees. While the research has not yet drilled into this segment, the skills mentioned
above would certainly support setting up, running or managing enterprises of this scale.
WHAT CAN AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTIONS DO?
Understanding a little about the changing dynamics of the Korean employment market is
certainly interesting, but it is also an important step to understanding what practical
measures Australian organisations can introduce to attract and support Korean students.
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Distil and articulate clearly exactly how your institution can help Korean students
become what Korean employers are looking for and help them get the balance right
between both their Korean and overseas education.
Identify what your organisation does that is demonstrably world-class. Highlight your
achievements in research and innovation, your global networks, your international
influence and demonstrate real outcomes of your former Korea graduates. This will
help to reassure and attract potential Korean students.
Show how your organisation supports Korean students to gain an integrated and full
experience, including homestay, jobs, work experience, internships, and interaction
with students outside the Korean community comfort zone.
Highlight your organisation’s links to Korea (create them if you don’t have any) and
show students how they can use these linkages to establish Korean networks and
alumni even while studying in Australia, for example, through dual/joint degrees,
articulation programs, study abroad years (in particular, linkages with the top 10-20
Korean universities).
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Harness the power of the Korean-language media, internet, your Korean alumni, their
family and friends, your agents, and AEI Korea, to get these messages across to as
many people as possible.
Korea is not an easy market and success is not usual without strategically dedicating time,
energy and resources. We are very happy to support you devise strategies, select partners,
maintain and strengthen relationships, and enhance your knowledge of Korea’s business
culture.
Australia is not alone in recognising that the Korean competitive desire to excel offers many
opportunities for the international education industry. Korea is now a target market for many
countries, including new competitors from Asia and Europe. Korea itself is seeking to
become a competitor.
Further raising Australia’s profile as providing a quality, innovative and caring education
environment at all levels is the key to staying in the top of a highly competitive pack. This
paper and this year’s research project is a small part of what AEI is doing to achieve this aim.
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