First Samsung Recruitment After Lee Jae-yong's Return... Eyes on the Scale

Early next month, second half open recruitment begins... Semiconductor and bio workforce expected to increase

[Asia Economy Reporter Han Ye-ju] Samsung will begin its 2022 second half new college graduate recruitment early next month. This is the first recruitment since Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong's reinstatement, and with the recent emphasis on 'talent-centered management,' it is expected that the hiring scale will be significantly expanded. The large-scale employment plan announced by the new government to directly hire 80,000 people over the next five years also supports this expectation.

According to industry sources on the 26th, major Samsung affiliates including Samsung Electronics, Samsung Display, Samsung SDI, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, and Samsung C&T are in the final stages of preparations for the second half level 3 (college graduate) new employee recruitment. It is expected that related announcements will be posted on their websites and major recruitment sites as early as next month.

Despite many companies moving towards abolishing open recruitment in favor of 'rolling recruitment' strategies, Samsung remains the only one among the top five conglomerates to maintain the open recruitment system first introduced domestically by founder Lee Byung-chul in 1957.

Samsung's open recruitment process involves document screening, a written test called the 'Samsung Exam' (GSAT - Global Samsung Aptitude Test), and interviews to select the final successful candidates. The GSAT will again be conducted online this time. Since the first half of 2020, Samsung has been administering the written test online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In the business community, there are expectations that Samsung will significantly increase its hiring scale. Earlier in May, when the new government took office, Samsung announced a large-scale investment and employment plan to invest 450 trillion KRW over the next five years in semiconductors, bio, artificial intelligence (AI), 6G, etc., and to directly hire 80,000 new employees. Based on Samsung's hiring plan, this means about 16,000 hires per year on average.

Vice Chairman Lee's determination is also clear. Upon his reinstatement through the special pardon on August 15th Liberation Day, he emphasized, "I will contribute to the economy through continuous investment and youth job creation."

Currently, Samsung Electronics remains the company with the largest number of employees in Korea. As of the end of last year, Samsung Electronics had 113,485 employees, an all-time high, increasing by about 4,000 compared to the previous year.

Samsung also conducts rolling recruitment for experienced professionals. Currently, there are job postings for experienced hires at Samsung SDI, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, and Samsung Engineering.

An industry insider said, "Based on the management philosophy of 'Talent First,' Samsung plays a major role in the job market by maintaining open recruitment and large-scale hiring," and predicted, "This time, the hiring scale will expand mainly in key businesses such as semiconductors and bio."

Meanwhile, there is also interest in what types of questions will appear on this year's GSAT. Last year, questions such as "If 40g of salt is added to 5% saltwater, resulting in 25% saltwater, what was the initial amount of 5% saltwater?" known as the 'saltwater problem,' and questions like "Select the countries that invaded Joseon during the late Joseon period in chronological order" attracted attention.

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