[K-Women Talk] Graduating Executives: Focus on 'Vocation' Over 'Position'

The season of chilly winds has arrived. The pinnacle of the profession of being a company employee is undoubtedly becoming an executive. Although there have been recent talks that executives have lost popularity among the MZ generation, in reality, few MZ generation workers on the ground actually hesitate to become executives.

Just as flowers eventually wither after blooming, as the cold wind begins to blow, the executive appointment season is approaching again this year without fail. With numerous official promotion announcements for executives, it is also the season when many retired executives contact me, a headhunter.

According to a survey by Unico Search, where I am employed, among 3,297 inside directors of Korea’s top 30 conglomerates, 1,087 will have their terms expire in the first half of next year (early January to late June). Besides inside directors, companies have many non-registered executives, and according to the L.E.A.S. Index by the Corporate Analysis Research Institute, there are over 8,500 executives (inside directors and non-registered executives) in 215 listed companies of the top 30 groups, so the number of retiring executives is likely even higher.

I often tell many people I meet this: every employee retires. In this era of longevity reaching 100 years, it has become difficult to meet even those in their 60s and 70s who say they have fully completed their work, not just retirees in their 40s and 50s. Facing the 100-year life era, let us think of retirement from the current company as a ‘graduation’ (卒業) for the next ‘entry into a new vocation’ (入業). In a way, the company is creating an opportunity to open a new chapter.

Here are some pieces of advice I offer to executives about to ‘graduate.’

First, quickly come to terms with it and pay more attention to ‘offboarding.’ When receiving a retirement notice, feelings of anger, emptiness, and anxiety are inevitable. The sense of betrayal toward the organization is also strong. However, an ungraceful farewell will not help your reputation later. Remember how much care was put into a beautiful onboarding when you joined? For the sake of the next entry after graduation, you must pay attention to the closing. To add, if your goal is entrepreneurship, sufficient preparation time may be needed, but if you want to be re-employed, the sooner you start job hunting, the better.

Second, inform those around you about your retirement and meet many people. According to sociologist Mark Granovetter’s paper The Strength of Weak Ties (1973), the power of weak ties is known to be effective for job searching. The analysis showed that 16.7% of people found jobs through contacts they met or contacted more than twice a week, while 27.8% found jobs through contacts they met once a year or never contacted. In other words, more people got jobs through introductions or help from acquaintances who were not very close rather than close friends.

Third, update your resume. Executives who have worked long at one company often have seen many employees’ resumes but have rarely written their own. It is recommended to update your career on recruitment platforms like Remember or LinkedIn and communicate with a few trusted headhunters.

A profession (職業) is defined as a job continuously engaged in for a certain period according to one’s aptitude and ability to maintain a livelihood. To executives about to graduate, I want to advise that it is time to stop clinging to the ‘position’ (職) and start thinking about the ‘vocation’ (業). Now is the time to prepare your own lifelong ‘vocation’ that you can enjoy.

Moon Seon-kyung, Executive Director, Unico Search

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