8 out of 10 Excellent SMEs Plan New Hires... Prefer Production and Experienced Positions

Korea Federation of SMEs Conducts Hiring Trend Survey... Average Plan of 4.3 Hires
57% of Companies "Experiencing Workforce Shortage"... Up 13.6p YoY
Majority Rely on Job Sites... "Need to Revise Hiring Procedures"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] Eight out of ten excellent small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) plan to hire new personnel this year.

The Korea Federation of SMEs announced on the 11th the results of a recruitment trend survey conducted from the 17th of last month to the 5th of this month targeting 1,000 excellent SMEs listed on the 'Cham Gwaenchanheun Small and Medium Enterprises' platform.

As a result, 76.6% of companies responded that they have plans to hire new personnel, with an average plan to recruit 4.3 new employees. In particular, recruitment plans for production positions (68.6%) in the manufacturing sector, which has recently been experiencing labor shortages, were relatively high, and there was also a preference for experienced workers (52.6%).

Regarding the current workforce status, more than half (57.0%) of SMEs responded that they are experiencing a shortage of personnel. This figure represents a 13.6 percentage point increase compared to the previous year.

It was found that 70.7% of SMEs operated with fewer personnel than needed last year. The proportion of employees currently working was about 82.9% of the required number, revealing difficulties in workforce supply and demand.

The majority of respondent companies (92.2%) rely on commercial 'recruitment sites' because they are easy and convenient when hiring talent.

When asked about difficulties during the recruitment process, companies cited 'lack of applicants compared to needed personnel (47.2%)', 'failure to retain employees due to resignation or job change after hiring (21.7%)', and 'misjudgment of applicants' job competencies and tendencies (18.0%)'.

For recruitment procedures used in talent selection, 'document screening such as self-introduction letters, certificates, and task submissions (82.0%)' and 'interview screening such as presentations, discussions, and in-depth interviews (40.9%)' were overwhelmingly chosen, while the use of 'separate verification methods such as NCS and AI interviews' accounted for only 0.8%.

The Korea Federation of SMEs analyzed, "It appears necessary to establish more advanced recruitment procedures to promote young talent's applications to SMEs."

SMEs also suggested support directions to alleviate labor shortages, citing 'objective information on applicants' tendencies and competencies (40.0%)' and 'broad promotion of job postings (33.3%)' for effective talent selection.

Lee Tae-hee, Director of the Smart Job Division at the Korea Federation of SMEs, stated, "We will strive to connect young people with excellent companies using the Cham Gwaenchanheun Small and Medium Enterprises platform and to establish recruitment infrastructure such as AI competency test-based job matching services for efficient talent selection by SMEs and easier employment success for youth."

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