The Hiring Freeze in the Financial Sector Frozen by COVID-19 Thaws

[Asia Economy Reporter Haeyoung Kwon] Hiring in the financial sector, which had been halted due to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), is gradually resuming.

According to the financial sector on the 3rd, NH Nonghyup Bank will conduct interviews for candidates who passed the written exam from the 13th to the 15th. This comes about three months after the interviews were postponed due to the rapid spread of COVID-19, mainly in the Daegu and Gyeongbuk regions, immediately following the written exam in February. Nonghyup Bank will hold interviews by region nationwide. In Seoul, interviews will be held four times in total, divided into morning and afternoon sessions on the 13th and 14th.

Policy banks such as IBK Industrial Bank of Korea and KDB Industrial Bank have also recently started their hiring processes. IBK Industrial Bank has been accepting applications for new employees from the 27th of last month until the 11th of this month. After document screening, written exams, practical tests, and interviews, the final successful candidates will be announced between July and August. The hiring scale is 250 people.

KDB Industrial Bank is currently accepting applications and plans to conduct document screening, a written exam on the 16th of this month, interviews in June, and to onboard new employees in July. They plan to hire 50 people.

Woori Bank plans to conduct open recruitment in the second half of this year, and Shinhan Bank is also leaning towards hiring in the second half. Currently, Woori Bank is conducting continuous recruitment in four sectors: Digital, IT, IB, and Treasury, while Shinhan Bank is recruiting continuously to secure outstanding talent in Digital, ICT, and Corporate Finance fields. KB Kookmin Bank and Hana Bank traditionally proceed with new employee recruitment procedures in the second half of the year.

Other financial public institutions have also started preparing for recruitment. Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Korea Inclusive Finance Agency plan to announce new employee recruitment notices within this month. The Financial Security Institute will accept applications for new employees for 2020 from the 7th to the 15th.

Public institutions such as the Bank of Korea, Financial Supervisory Service, Export-Import Bank of Korea, and Korea Asset Management Corporation (KAMCO) have traditionally conducted open recruitment only in the second half of the year.

Meanwhile, the government has decided to maintain the number of public institution hires this year at the previously announced level of 26,000. Considering that hiring procedures were suspended from February to April, discussions are underway to either expedite the hiring process in the first half of this month and next month or to combine the first half’s hiring quota with the second half’s to increase the total number of hires.

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