Seoul to hold job fair for married immigrants

By Lee Kyung-min

The Seoul city government will hold a job fair for marriage immigrants today between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. at Seoul City Hall, the city government said Tuesday.

More than 10 immigrants who landed jobs through the city-organized program will share their experiences to help others like them.

Among 100 marriage immigrants who have landed jobs this year, 12 did so through this job fair and the rest through Yeongdeungpo Multicultural Village Center in southern Seoul.

Many became interpreters at police stations, courts, prosecutors’ offices and other government organizations as well as coordinators at medical institutions, duty free shops and financial institutions.

Others got jobs as consultants at multicultural centers in the city.

Based on each jobseeker’s capacity, the city government will offer in-depth, tailored consultations on interview preparation, writing self-introduction papers (resume), as well as fashion and makeup tips. Visitors will be able to take a resume profile photo for free at City Hall during the three-hour event.

The event offers one-on-one interviews with 15 employment agencies and information on 50 employers.

Over 10 interpreters fluent in both Korean and other languages will be at the fair to help those who are not fluent in the native language here. Available languages will be Vietnamese, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, Thai and Mongolian.

“We expect this job fair will provide a much-needed chance for marriage immigrants by helping them get jobs through which their strengths in language skills would shine,” a city government official said.

“We recommend marriage immigrants participate in this event to increase their chances of employment. The city government will continue efforts to help marriage immigrants shine their best in various sectors in Korea.”

The SMG launched the job fair program in 2013 and has run the event up to twice a year since.

Call Yeongdeungpo Multicultural Village Center at 02-845-5433 or Danuri call center at 1577 1366 for more information.

Websites such as liveinkorea.kr and mcfamily.or.kr offer other detailed information that would help land a job including Korean language classes. Other state support programs for marriage immigrants are available there.

Currently, there are around 270,000 foreign spouses in Korea, 85 percent of them women.