Despite the COVID-19 Hiring Freeze... Major Companies' Battle for Key Talent

Hyundai Motor Group Highlights 'Talent Black Hole' in Next-Gen UAM Food Industry
Hyundai Motor Appoints Scott Drennan as Executive Director for New Business UAM Development
Samsung Launches Large-Scale Experienced Recruitment... New Hiring Possibly This Month
SK, Lotte, POSCO Resume Delayed Talent Recruitment

[Asia Economy reporters Changhwan Lee and Suyeon Woo] Despite the hiring market being hit hard by the aftermath of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), major companies such as Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor Company, and SK Group are accelerating the recruitment of key talents to lead future promising businesses.

According to the automotive and aviation industries on the 6th, Hyundai Motor Group recently appointed J. Scott Drennan, Vice President of Innovation at Bell Textron, as Executive Director in charge of development for Hyundai Motor Group's Urban Air Mobility (UAM) business division.

Executive Director Drennan has worked for over 25 years at Bell Textron, a U.S. helicopter manufacturer, leading the development of vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft such as the V-22, AW609, and V-280 for commercial and military purposes as an engineer. In 2018, he also served as an aviation commissioner on the advisory board of the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

It is known that the role of Jae-won Shin, Vice President in charge of Hyundai Motor Group's UAM business division and a former NASA member, was instrumental in Drennan's joining Hyundai Motor Group. Vice President Shin stated on the company's global website, "We expect Executive Director Drennan to lead development based on his extensive experience in VTOL and UAM fields."

Executive Director Drennan will be responsible for developing personal air vehicles (PAV) for urban air mobility alongside Vice President Shin. He expressed his aspirations, saying, "I am honored to contribute to Hyundai Motor Group's future mobility vision," and "Through new UAM, I want to give back the precious time many people have lost in their daily lives due to traffic congestion."

Scott Drennan, Executive Vice President in charge of Development at Hyundai Motor Company UAM Division

Hyundai Motor Group is nurturing the UAM business as a core next-generation growth engine and is hastening bold global talent recruitment in related fields. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has contracted not only overseas but also the domestic hiring market, the group is steadily attracting UAM-related personnel both domestically and internationally.

According to aviation specialized media on this day, Hyundai Motor Group is currently pursuing the recruitment of Michael Whitaker, former Deputy Administrator of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and Diana Marina Cooper, Vice President of Strategy from the drone analytics startup PrecisionHawk. In addition, they are recruiting experienced professionals in the UAM field domestically.

The recruitment areas include UAM airframe design and testing, UAM battery system development, control and avionics software and system reliability, UAM hybrid propulsion system development, and UAM load analysis, seeking experts in various aspects of UAM. Furthermore, Hyundai Motor is conducting new graduate and experienced hiring in 62 positions within its R&D headquarters, actively sourcing talent both domestically and abroad.

Samsung Electronics has also started a large-scale experienced recruitment. They are recruiting experienced employees for 51 positions across 10 organizations within the DS (Device Solutions) division, which handles the semiconductor business. Samsung Electronics usually conducts occasional experienced hiring by organization within the semiconductor division, but this year they are hiring experienced personnel across the entire division. The number of planned hires is said to be the largest ever. Last year, Samsung Electronics hired more than 2,000 people in the semiconductor division alone.

The reason Samsung Electronics is aggressively recruiting semiconductor experienced talent is the expected surge in semiconductor demand due to the development of new industries such as artificial intelligence (AI), autonomous vehicles, 5G, the Internet of Things, and remote video conferencing. Samsung Electronics plans to invest 133 trillion won to become the world's number one system semiconductor company by 2030. As large-scale investments are underway, it is analyzed that they are also accelerating talent recruitment.

In particular, they are focusing on developing future semiconductor technologies by recruiting world-renowned scholars. Separately, Samsung Electronics is expected to start new recruitment soon. It is anticipated that applications will be accepted and the hiring schedule will begin as early as this month.

Major companies such as SK, Lotte, and POSCO are also gradually resuming recruitment that was postponed due to COVID-19. SK Group is conducting recruitment for new college graduate employees for the first half of the year until the 10th. Lotte and POSCO have also recently announced large-scale recruitment notices. Choo Kwang-ho, head of the Economic Policy Office at the Federation of Korean Industries, emphasized, "In an economic crisis situation, companies tend to significantly reduce new hiring initially due to employment rigidity," adding, "Active hiring efforts by companies are necessary."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.