Applicants Flock to Large Distribution Corporations... Self-Employed Left Waiting Anxiously

Homeplus, Over 4 Times More Applicants Than Expected
Part-time Job Postings Up, Applications Down

Last September, 24 new employees who were finally selected after completing the first half public recruitment internship process received their appointment letters at the Homeplus headquarters in Deungchon-dong, Seoul.

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Chun-han] #Job seeker Kim, who had been preparing for a civil service exam, gave up and jumped back into the job market. The joy of escaping the 'Gongsisaeng' (civil service exam taker) life, which he judged was not his path, was short-lived as he found that due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there were virtually no job postings from companies. Opportunities for those from humanities backgrounds rather than business-related fields were even more limited. He said, "These days, there aren't many job postings at all, so it has been very tough," adding, "Distribution seems to be almost the only industry that non-business majors can enter."

◆ Explosive Number of Applicants for Large Distribution Companies = On the 15th, a large number of applicants flocked to the new employee recruitment being conducted by major distribution companies. This contrasts sharply with the severe labor shortages faced by self-employed businesses after the phased recovery of daily life (With COVID). As large companies began full-scale hiring, many people seeking stable jobs instead of part-time work increased.

According to Homeplus, 3,888 applications were received for the second half of August recruitment-linked new graduate intern selection. The number of applicants for Homeplus's triple-digit scale open recruitment, conducted for the first time in 11 years, exceeded initial expectations by more than four times.

At Lotte, which recently implemented voluntary retirement for organizational culture reform, the number of applicants also increased. A Lotte official stated, "Since this year, regular open recruitment for new university graduates has been abolished and replaced by rolling recruitment, making exact comparisons difficult," but added, "The number of applicants is increasing." Lotte Department Store is recruiting new employees for the second half of the year until the 21st, while Lotte Mart and Lotte Super recruited new employees and recruitment-linked interns in September. Shinsegae Group publicly recruited new employees last month for 14 companies including E-Mart, SSG.com, and Starbucks Korea. GS Retail also hired new employees for its convenience store division in September, with the number of applicants similar to previous years.

◆ On the Other Side, Severe Labor Shortages Cause Distress = Small and medium-sized enterprises and self-employed businesses are struggling to find workers. This is due to increased youth employment support policies, including various government subsidies, which have led to a growing aversion to simple jobs. Jo, who runs a restaurant in Gwanak-gu, Seoul, said, "With With COVID, customers have increased, so we need to hire workers again, but there are no applicants," adding, "The burden of rent and food costs is high, and we cannot raise wages any further, so it is very difficult," with a bitter smile.

According to Alba Heaven, a job and recruitment platform, the number of job postings registered on Alba Heaven from January to August this year increased by 44.2% compared to the same period last year. However, the number of applications for part-time jobs decreased by 8.4% compared to last year and by 12.7% compared to the year before last.

Professor Seo Yong-gu of the Department of Business Administration at Sookmyung Women's University said, "With the disappearance of corporate open recruitment, the job market is changing into a completely different form than before," adding, "70% of young people are university graduates and have high expectations for jobs. So, it's not that there are no jobs, but because they don't go to small businesses or part-time jobs, a mismatch phenomenon occurs."

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