For Grads, Small Firms Can Be Leg Up

Mr. Yang (28), who graduated in February 2003, now is in charge of Computing Management of “H” group. After graduating, he entered a small-sized venture enterprise. As he failed to enter a series of large corporations, he moved to one of the conglomerates after building his related career.

Yang said, “Job seekers would be better off if they were employed in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) rather than unemployed,” and added, “The work I put in at my former company was acknowledged at my current big-name company.”

Like Yang, a study found that cases of those who built their careers in SMEs and succeeded in moving to big businesses are increasing among four-year bachelor’s degree holders, rather than those who are unemployed rarely enter big enterprises.

Tracking new graduate employment-

A report from the Human Resource Development (HRD) Forum, sponsored by the Korea Research Institute for Vocational Educational and Training, traced the career changes of 58,576 four-year graduates in February 2001. This is the first research which revealed the actual conditions of career changes of youth between big and small companies.

According to the research, the rate of those who got jobs at SMEs (less than 300 employed) for the first time and worked there for more than two years before moving to a big company was 35.9 percent in March 2004. That rate is higher than the 32.1 percent of those who stayed unemployed and entered big enterprises.

In addition, if one builds their career experience at SMEs, they could get 5-10 percent more wages than those who have no career on the basis of a one-year employment period. It also showed that the number of career changes does not highly affect reaching out to big companies.

This report vividly proved that job hunters should seek reasonable ways to land a job in at SMEs .

Out of the total number of 58,576 respondents, 8,437 (29.2 percent) among 28,937 got their first job with a big company, and 20,500 (70.8 percent) started at a small company.

Moreover, the number of people who left their first big companies within two years was five out of 10 or 50.8 percent. In case of employed people in small companies, the number was about eight in 10 or 81 percent. It could be considered that out of a total of 10 people, 7 left their first job. These people called “Blue birds” quit their first job due to transfer to other company, government examinations, or studying abroad.

This moving has led to a newly emerging job market in which youth play a pivotal role in Korean society.

It also uncovered that among those who quit at big companies, 37.8 percent transferred to SMEs or stayed unemployed. Among those who quit at SMEs, 36.9 percent stayed unemployed. Among those who quit job at SMEs, 8.8 percent succeeded in entering big companies.

A senior researcher, LG Economic Research Institute (LGERI), said, “The labor market, which is based on youth as a core leader, will aggressively spread,” and added, “It is a turning point for enterprises to secure human resources and pay attention to blocking brain drain.”

Se-Jin Jung mint4a@donga.com