Delayed Hiring in Major Commercial Banks for the First Half of the Year Due to COVID-19 (Comprehensive)

IBK Industrial Bank Announces Recruitment Plan
250 Positions to be Filled in First Half of This Year
Written Exam Scheduled for June 13

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Min-young] Banks are repeatedly deliberating over their recruitment schedules for the first half of the year. As preferred workplaces for job seekers, a large number of applicants are expected to apply, but due to concerns over the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), they have not even been able to set announcement schedules. Some national policy banks, which cannot delay any longer, have started recruiting new employees, but major commercial banks are waiting for the COVID-19 situation to calm down further before finalizing their schedules.

According to the banking sector on the 14th, Industrial Bank of Korea (IBK) was the first among banks to announce its recruitment plan for new employees for the first half of the year after the COVID-19 outbreak. Typically, IBK began recruitment procedures at the end of February or early March, but this year’s schedule is delayed by about two months. IBK will accept applications from the 27th of this month until June 11th, hold the written exam on June 13th, and conduct practical exams from late June to early July. The number of recruits planned for this year is 250, which is 30 more than the first half of last year.

KDB Industrial Bank is also accepting applications for about 50 positions. The recruitment fields are general banking (management, economics, law) and digital (IT, big data). After document screening, written exams (in May), and first and second interviews (in June), successful candidates will join the bank in July.

On the other hand, commercial banks have yet to set any concrete open recruitment schedules. Woori Bank announced its recruitment on April 12 last year, and Shinhan Bank on April 25. A Woori Bank official said, “This year’s recruitment plan will be finalized and announced soon.” Shinhan Bank plans to review the timing and scale of new employee recruitment while monitoring the COVID-19 situation.

The biggest reason commercial banks hesitate to start recruitment procedures is the written exam. Since the written exam is part of the recruitment process, there is a risk of a COVID-19 cluster infection. Following a recruitment corruption scandal, the “Model Recruitment Procedure for Banks” was established in 2018, making the written exam virtually mandatory.

The written exam dates for IBK and KDB Industrial Bank are June 13 and May 16, respectively, leaving one to two months, so there is a possibility that the COVID-19 situation will improve. Nevertheless, IBK plans to secure as many test centers as possible to maintain wide distances between examinees during the written exam. IBK expects up to 12,500 candidates, which is 50 times the number of recruits, to take the exam, and KDB Industrial Bank expects about 1,000 candidates.

Earlier this year, NH Nonghyup Bank, which had started recruitment together with the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, postponed its written exam once. Nonghyup Bank announced recruitment at the end of last year and announced successful document screening candidates at the end of January, planning to hold the written exam on February 9. At that time, COVID-19 was in its early stages of spread, but Nonghyup Bank postponed the written exam by two weeks. As COVID-19 spread nationwide, the interview process has been indefinitely postponed.

As a desperate measure, Shinhan Bank decided to conduct rolling recruitment for digital and ICT positions. Shinhan Bank stated, “Despite the impact of COVID-19, we are conducting rolling recruitment to secure excellent personnel in necessary fields,” adding, “This recruitment will be conducted as an untact process to practice ‘social distancing.’” They plan to conduct AI competency assessments online and video interviews with practical staff.

KB Kookmin Bank, Hana Bank, and Export-Import Bank of Korea, which usually conduct recruitment only in the second half of the year, have ample time. Kookmin Bank and Hana Bank recruited 500 and 400 people respectively (including rolling recruitment) in the second half of last year. Export-Import Bank plans to select 35 people in the second half of this year.

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