Recruitment platform operators in South Korea are developing various services tailored to the growing number of foreign job seekers.

JobKorea has signed a memorandum of understanding with HireDiversity, which supports the administrative procedures necessary for international students to stay in Korea. Accordingly, the two parties will share HireDiversity's visa verification capabilities and JobKorea's information on Korean companies' recruitment activities.

Previously, JobKorea launched KLiK, a platform that displays recruitment information in Korea in 28 different languages. JobKorea said it plans to introduce direct consultation services for foreign job seekers and provide AI-based talent search services for recruitment companies in the near future.

Meanwhile, job search platform Wanted Lab has opened a beta version of Wanted Global for foreigners looking for jobs in Korea. Wanted Global makes job hunting easier for foreigners and allows users to choose job opportunities into three categories: positions that require Korean, positions that do not require Korean, and positions where Korean proficiency is an advantage.

Wanted Lab believes that foreign employees can bring creativity to companies based on their deep understanding of global markets and cultural diversity. Saramin, one of Korea's largest job search platforms, is targeting corporate clients who have difficulty recruiting foreigners.

Last month, the company partnered with visa service startup K-Visa to help corporate clients avoid visa issues for their foreign employees. The number of foreigners hired by Korean companies hit a record high of 923,000 in 2023.

The move by recruitment platforms comes as the Ministry of Employment and Labor is looking to increase the number of industries that can accept foreign workers. Korea will pilot licensing for four industries: restaurants, hotels and apartments, forestry and mining. In order to meet the labor shortage of domestic businesses, the Korean government has continuously increased the quota for accepting workers.

The foreign worker quota of 60,000 in 2022 has been increased to 120,000 in 2023. From the end of 2023, the Ministry of Employment and Labor of Korea announced its decision to issue non-professional work visas (E-9 visas) to 165,000 foreign workers to work in industrial parks under the EPS program. This is the largest number of E-9 visas issued in a year since Korea implemented the EPS foreign worker recruitment permit system in 2004.

In addition, the Korean government is also stepping up efforts to attract overseas Koreans and excellent foreigners to work in public positions. Increasing the quota for recruiting foreign workers will greatly contribute to filling vacant positions, jobs that are difficult to recruit Koreans.

The government also plans to improve the visa system to prioritize income and other requirements when foreigners settle in localities, and increase support for foreigners to start businesses.

SOUTH