Samsung to Ease Hiring Rule for College Graduates

The Samsung Group will abolish its rule of allowing only soon-to-be college graduates and those who graduated six months prior to apply for jobs in the second half of the year.

All college graduates can apply to Samsung if they meet the required score on the English test and grade point average regardless of when they graduated.

To prevent talented people from applying just to Samsung, the conglomerate has accepted soon-to-be college graduates and those who graduated less than six months ago. For example, only those who graduated in February and those scheduled to do so this month were eligible to apply for Samsung in the first half of this year.

A group source said, “We have limited the qualifications required of applicants because of criticism that Samsung takes all of the talented applicants since they tended to apply only for Samsung after graduation or continued applying for Samsung even after they began working for another company.”

The decision to change the rule stemmed from the revised law against age discrimination in employment and the promotion of older people. As a result, a company cannot bar someone from applying for a job because of age.

With Samsung’s lifting of its college graduate rule, many are looking forward to the opportunity of applying with the country’s leading conglomerate.

“Many seniors delayed their graduation to get into Samsung,” a 23-year-old college student said, “As the biggest employer in Korea, Samsung should give opportunities to more people.”

Skeptics say they have to wait and see. “There is no limit in applications now, but it remains to be seen whether Samsung will select more college graduates,” a 28-year-old college graduate seeking a job said. “It makes no sense if Samsung eases an applicant’s required qualifications but shuns those who have long graduated.”

A group source said, “We are preparing to prevent a dramatic increase in the number of applicants this time.”

Samsung’s recruitment will start early next month and second-half hiring is expected to reach 3,400 employees, up from 2,100 in the first half of this year.

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