Hiring Trends Shifting at Colleges, Brokerages
By Kim Tae-gyu
Staff Reporter
A growing number of Korean colleges have prioritized managerial skills when they pick their presidents, a criterion typically used for selecting chief executive officers of private corporations.
Over the past year, some 10 university heads were newly appointed across the country, at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, Jeonju University and Duksung Women's University to name a few.
Observers say many of them have demonstrated CEO-style characteristics in their tenures so far, rather than merely worth as a scholar.
``We've become accustomed to the tradition of distinguished scholars taking charge of the ivory tower. But the reality is quite different, particularly at private universities,'' said an official at a Seoul college.
``Ever since former Korea University head Euh Yoon-dae showed the qualities of successful CEOs, many colleges have tried to follow suit. The trend is expected to continue for the time being,'' he said.
Under the stewardship of Euh, Korea University raised a huge amount of funding for the development of the Seoul-based school and was ranked 150th in a list of top universities by The Times of London in 2006.
Euh became the inaugural chairman of the Presidential Council on National Branding and is currently considered a strong contender to take the helm of either the Bank of Korea or KB Financial Group in months to come.
Ahead of Euh, former president of Yonsei University Song Ja is said to have introduced a CEO-like spirit to the campus in the early 1990s.
Academia is not the only field to be experiencing a change of trend. When it comes to selecting analysts for domestic brokerage houses, salesmanship has become a highly sought after skill.
Traditionally, analysts were evaluated based on their capacity to delve into the financial status of listed companies. They focused primarily on balance sheets and income statements.
But such competence may now just be the minimum requirement to enter the world of analysts. Now they are forced to make money by drawing fund managers to trade stocks via the specific brokerage for which they work.
``In the past, we just arduously studied corporations to come up with best reports. It was enough to become a good analyst. But the atmosphere has changed abruptly of late,'' said a Seoul analyst who asked not to be named.
``Now, salesmanship is the single-most important criteria. Analysts are required to produce a magnetic attraction to lure fund managers to make money for their firms.''
He added that some analysts even wine and dine fund managers using their own money to convince them to trade through their company.