By Ryu Jin
Staff Reporter
Yuhan-Kimberly was ranked as the most popular foreign-invested company among young jobseekers in South Korea, elbowing aside Google Korea, which had long been in the top place, a poll showed Tuesday.
According to a survey by Saramin, an online job portal site (www.saramin.co.kr), 11.2 percent of the total 1,803 jobseekers in their 20s and 30s selected Yuhan-Kimberly as the best workplace among foreign-invested firms.
Google Korea came in second with 9.3 percent, followed by P&G Korea (5.8 percent), 3M Korea (5.1 percent), Sony Korea (3.9 percent), Loreal Korea (3.7 percent) and IBM Korea (3.3 percent).
A number of respondents cited the excellent working environment and various benefits for employees as reasons to choose the top four companies, according to Saramin.
Yuhan-Kimberly, a joint venture between U.S.-based Kimberly-Clark and South Korea-based Yuhan, is well known for its benefits package, which covers a flexible work shift system, lifetime education and family-friendly management among others.
``A growing number of people appear to think more highly of other values such as time with family members than salaries, for example,’’ said a spokesman for the portal site.
Those who chose Sony Korea, Loreal Korea and IBM Korea picked the good company image and recognition in the country.
In the meantime, every one in two respondents had applied for foreign-invested companies at least once.
A little more than half of the respondents (50.3 percent) believed that ``foreign language capability’’ is the most important factor required to enter foreign firms.
Work performance came next (16.7 percent), followed by ``various experience’’ such as internship and training at home and abroad (7.4 percent), ``educational background and major’’ in related fields (6.6 percent) and ``passion’’ (5.8 percent).