'Seoul-style Youth Intern Job Camp' Expands Participating Companies This Year... Internship Matching and Hiring Connection

267 Participants of 1st Cohort Intern at Global Companies and Startups like Coupang and Qualcomm... 55.4% Hired as Full-time Employees
Matching 350 Young Job Seekers with 70 Companies for Internships This Year... Recruiting Participating Companies from 7th to 18th

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 7th that it will conduct the 2nd Seoul-type Youth Intern Job Camp this year as well, matching internships between about 70 companies and 350 young job seekers and linking them to employment.

This year's Seoul-type Youth Intern Job Camp focuses on four major aspects: ▲expanding recruitment of participating companies ▲emphasizing job training in non-digital fields ▲relaxing participant support conditions ▲assigning dedicated consultants and strengthening communication. These changes actively reflect the satisfaction survey results from last year's participating youth and company HR managers.

The participation conditions for companies have been relaxed from a minimum of 50 regular employees to 10 employees, and from investment attraction performance of 1 billion KRW to 300 million KRW, lowering the entry barrier for promising startups experiencing rapid growth. The goal is to encourage participation from various companies to broaden the selection options for youth interns. Last year, only companies with 50 or more regular employees and startups or fintech companies that attracted investments of 1 billion KRW or more in the past three years could participate in the program. Additionally, to enable young people to accumulate practical work experience at companies they want to work for, the Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to closely cooperate with partner organizations such as the American Chamber of Commerce in Korea (AMCHAM) to encourage participation from excellent global companies.

This year, special emphasis is placed on strengthening employment capabilities and linking employment for humanities graduates who face difficulties in finding jobs, focusing on job training and internship matching in non-digital fields.

IT/SW fields such as web development and app development will be unified under Seoul's 4th Industrial Revolution technology talent training center, the ‘Youth Employment Academy,’ while the Seoul-type Youth Intern Job Camp will focus on education and internships in areas accessible to humanities graduates, such as general management, public relations, and marketing.

To allow more young people to gain work experience, participation conditions for youth job seekers have also been relaxed. Last year, only unemployed youth could apply, but this year, youth working part-time for livelihood reasons can also participate, as employment status is excluded from the eligibility criteria. The proportion of reserve candidates will also be expanded from 10% (35 people) to 20% (70 people), selecting a total of 420 people (350 youth interns + 70 reserve candidates). If there are dropouts, reserve candidates will be allowed to participate in job training.

Even after being selected as youth interns, individuals can receive personalized management. Starting this year, dedicated consultants will be assigned to manage the entire process of ‘job training - internship - employment linkage,’ providing employment information, counseling, and communication support with educational institutions and companies, helping youth interns focus solely on education and job activities.

Support will also be provided to build networks among youth job seekers who participated as youth interns. A mentor group will be formed from the 1st cohort (participants in 2021) to share internship experiences and job-related information, and meet-up events for the 1st and 2nd cohorts will be held to foster a sense of belonging and motivation among graduates.

Companies wishing to participate can submit applications and related documents via email, mail, or in person from the 7th to the 18th. The recruitment announcement can be found on the Seoul Metropolitan Government website’s public notice section and the Seoul Job Portal’s notice board. The Seoul Metropolitan Government will comprehensively evaluate company size and financial status, the feasibility of youth intern job fields, the appropriateness of application scale, and the adequacy of internship operation plans to select about 70 participating companies and finalize internship demand by February.

Once participating companies are confirmed, specialized educational institutions for each job field will be selected in March, youth participants will be selected in April, and job-specific training (3 months) and company internships (3 months) will be conducted starting in May.

Hwang Bo-yeon, Director of Economic Policy at the Seoul Metropolitan Government, said, “With new hires drastically reduced due to COVID-19, young people find it difficult even to gain work experience, and companies struggle to hire talent with practical skills. The Seoul-type Youth Intern Job Camp can help resolve this mismatch.” He added, “Since the program has been improved in 2022 to expand participation opportunities for both companies and youth, we expect Seoul’s young people to gain work experience in a wider variety of companies.”

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