Samsung Says No to Those Seeking Employment Once Again

Job seekers who already graduated from universities are outraged at Samsung Group’s decision to restrict job applicants to only university students who graduated this summer or are graduating next February for its recruiting of university graduates for the second half of this year. Regarding this, Samsung explained that it was an inevitable decision to curb confusion in the labor market.

According to Samsung Group on October 5, the company publicly announced job offerings for the first time since the financial crisis in early September. While it did not have any restrictions on universities or majors, it limited applicants to those who “graduated in August or are expecting to graduate next February.”

It has become known that among the 55,000 applicants, a large number of the 20,000 who failed to pass the primary screening were excluded because they did not meet the conditions of the graduation period. This led the unsuccessful applicants to protest strongly to Samsung that it was “discriminating those who were trying to find jobs the second time around.”

On this issue, Director Lee Jong-jin of the restructuring headquarters of Samsung Group explained, “It is also more advantageous for Samsung to employ with no restrictions because we can select more talented workers. However, if the graduation period of applicants is not restricted, small- and mid-sized enterprises’ workers can apply for Samsung, hiding their career records, thus causing other companies to suffer.”

Regarding this matter, Samsung announced that, of the new recruits picked during the irregular recruiting last year, which put the required graduation period of applicants six months earlier than this year, 17 percent had turned over to other companies.

Joong-Hyun Park sanjuck@donga.com