Over 2,000 Young People Gather in Gwangju for 'Dream Meeting Day'

420 “Dream Youth” Selected at Event Held from 17th to 19th
Job and Experience Opportunities Provided at 310 Companies Including Korea Power Exchange

Job-seeking youths are lined up waiting for their turn at the 'Dream Meeting Day' event held from the 17th to the 19th on the first floor citizen hall of Gwangju City Hall. Photo by Gwangju City

Gwangju City’s “Dream Meeting Day” event, which connects local job-seeking youth with hiring companies to address job market mismatches, attracted 2,132 young job seekers.

According to the city on the 20th, the “Dream Meeting Day” event was held from the 17th to the 19th for three days at the Citizen Hall on the first floor of City Hall, targeting applicants for the “Gwangju Youth Work & Experience Dream” program.

“Gwangju Youth Work & Experience Dream” is a flagship youth employment project of Gwangju City that supports unemployed youth residing in Gwangju with jobs and experiences suited to their aptitudes, salaries, job competency training, and related activities. “Dream Meeting Day” is an event where businesses (Dreamter) participating in the program and young job seekers meet to obtain information about the businesses and receive job counseling.

This year’s event featured 310 Dreamter, including public institutions such as Korea Power Exchange, Gwangju Credit Guarantee Foundation, Alps Korea Co., Ltd., Haeyang Energy Co., Ltd., and Mudeung Enterprise Co., Ltd., as well as local small and medium-sized enterprises, startups, social economy enterprises, and social welfare organizations. At over 300 booths set up in the Citizen Hall, job counseling and interviews were conducted, and Gwangju City’s ongoing youth policy promotions were also provided.

Among the young job seekers who participated, 420 will be selected as the “17th Dream Youth.” Dream Youth will be eligible for job and experience support in the first half of this year through the Gwangju Youth Work & Experience Dream program. They will begin their job experiences at their matched Dreamter for up to five months from March to July. The selection results will be posted on the Gwangju Youth Integrated Platform, Gwangju Youth Work & Experience Dream, and the Gwangju City website on the 26th.

The selected Dream Youth will receive common training from April 4 to 6. The common training is onboarding education to help them adapt to their Dreamter before starting work and experience, focusing on basic labor knowledge, workplace communication skills, and understanding of job duties such as office work, planning, development, and design.

During the work and experience period, “Dream Managers” (dedicated managers) will regularly visit and counsel participating youth and businesses to help youth adapt to their jobs and check on job duties and working conditions. In addition, a mentoring program with current professionals will be operated to help participating youth grow within the local community.

Kim Kisuk, Director of the Education and Youth Bureau, said, “Since 2017, the Work & Experience Dream program has been implemented annually, providing more than 7,200 young people in Gwangju with opportunities to explore job aptitudes and strengthen their competencies. Having witnessed the passionate job-seeking spirit of youth at this year’s ‘Dream Meeting Day,’ we will continue to pursue policies to enhance the employability of young people.”

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