After the holidays, job seekers in Korea get down to business: JobKorea data

For many in Korea, the end of a major holiday means back to business — literally.

In the days immediately following a major festive break, job seekers across the country launch into an intense hunt for their next career move, according to data released Monday by the hiring platform JobKorea, operated by Worxphere.

Looking at resume postings and job applications around the last two years of Chuseok and Seollal — Korea's autumn harvest and Lunar New Year holidays, both multiday breaks when many workers return to hometowns — JobKorea found new resume registrations consistently spike on the first Monday after each holiday.

The sharpest jump came after Chuseok 2024, when resume postings on Sept. 23 that year more than doubled the average weekday rate, and ran about 3.7 times the average daily rate during the holiday itself. Similar patterns followed: resume postings rose 46 percent above the weekday average on Feb. 3, 2025, the Monday after that year's Seollal; 20 percent after Chuseok 2025; and 29 percent after Seollal 2026.

Job applications followed the same pattern, peaking on the first post-holiday Monday in all four recent holidays, up roughly 20 percent from weekday averages each time — a sharp rebound after dropping to about 40 percent of normal weekday levels during the holidays themselves.

A related JobKorea survey of 1,158 office workers found 44.3 percent planned to prepare for a job change during the Chuseok holiday, with unmarried respondents (83.4 percent) far outpacing married ones (16.6 percent) and workers in their 30s the most likely age group (63.9 percent). Writing résumés and cover letters (25.1 percent) and organizing career histories and portfolios (23.0 percent) were the most common holiday prep activities.

"Holiday breaks are an ideal time for job seekers to step back from their busy routines, reflect on their career trajectory, and map out a job-change strategy," said a JobKorea official. "In line with the second-half open recruitment drive and experienced-hire hiring that gain full momentum right after the holidays, we will continue to strengthen our differentiated services so job seekers can successfully prepare for their desired career transitions."

To support that post-holiday hiring push, the platform said it is expanding its artificial intelligence-driven job matching and cross-promoting corporate reviews through its sister platform Jobplanet.

This article was published with the assistance of generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.