University Job Center Actively Supports Online and Contactless Youth Employment Amid COVID-19

Ministry of Employment and Employment Information Service Hold 'National University Job Center Seminar'
Operated by 108 Universities... Discovering Excellent Services and Publishing a Casebook

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[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the employment support services provided by university job centers to overcome youth unemployment are drawing attention.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Korea Employment Information Service held the '2020 National University Job Center Seminar' on the 19th. This seminar was organized to review the current support services for young people facing difficulties in finding employment due to the impact of COVID-19 and to discover and spread service cases such as non-face-to-face programs at various universities.

To prevent COVID-19 infection, only some presenters attended on-site, while many counselors and other stakeholders participated online or through non-face-to-face methods.

The university job centers, established and operated at 108 universities nationwide, play a role in strengthening university capabilities and supporting smooth entry of youth into the labor market.

This year, with the delay of the semester start and replacement by online classes, face-to-face and group counseling and programs have not been able to operate normally. Accordingly, various non-face-to-face methods are being used to provide career and employment support services to young people without service gaps.

Looking at major operational cases of university job centers, Yeungnam University in Gyeongsan, Gyeongbuk, offered various programs to youth such as employment special lectures via video, job-specific employment mentoring, industry-specific job academies, video mock interviews, and relay talk concerts with company HR managers.

Gyeonggi University in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, established the 'On-tact Job Studio Zone' and operated 37 types of real-time employment support programs. The On-tact Job Studio Zone refers to a space within the university equipped with two dedicated studios capable of providing real-time employment programs, as well as AI and VR interview rooms and related systems.

Gyeongsang National University in Jinju, Gyeongnam, is conducting an 'Online Job Fair' in collaboration with 15 university job centers in the Gyeongnam region. A total of 43 current professionals in IT, spatial design, and pharmaceuticals serve as mentors, providing job and employment mentoring online to about 400 young people.

In addition, Bucheon University (Bucheon, Gyeonggi) held overseas employment briefings combining face-to-face and non-face-to-face methods; Sejong University (Gwangjin-gu, Seoul) collaborated with Gwangjin District Office to offer non-face-to-face job-specific employment lectures targeting local young job seekers and North Korean defectors; Kyongbok University (Namyangju, Gyeonggi) provided career and employment program content through a mobile app (UP+); and Yonsei University Future Campus (Wonju, Gangwon) supported self-directed employment activities through the operation of an 'Online Employment Study Group.'

The Ministry of Employment and Labor plans to publish and distribute a casebook next month, discovering excellent cases from each university beyond those introduced at this seminar. Vice Minister Lim Seo-jung stated in a video congratulatory message, "We will discover excellent cases from each university to ensure that young people can continuously receive employment support services even during the COVID-19 situation."

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