InterviewKorean CEO in her 20s creates jobs for foreign workers amid high youth unemployment

Kim Jin-young, founder and CEO of Kowork, speaks during a foreign talent recruitment session for corporate human resources managers in southern Seoul, in this photo taken in June 2024. Courtesy of Kowork

Kim Jin-young is defying the odds at a time when many of her Gen Z peers in Korea are grappling with surging unemployment rates, not only by securing a job for herself, but also by creating jobs for others — specifically foreigners.

At just 26, Kim is the founder and CEO of Kowork, a fast-growing job platform dedicated exclusively to connecting skilled foreign professionals with employment opportunities in Korea.

She founded the company five years ago while still a junior in college, and according to her, Kowork is the first platform in Korea focused solely on serving this niche.

Today, the company has grown to a team of 12 employees and continues to expand its presence in Korea’s challenging job market.

Kowork founder and CEO Kim Jin-young, center front row, poses with employees and foreign job seekers during a company-hosted job fair in southern Seoul in this photo taken in November 2024. Courtesy of Kowork

“I’ve had a longstanding interest in creating a society where anyone — regardless of age, origin or background — can have a fair opportunity, and that interest naturally extended to foreign talent as well,” Kim said during a recent telephone interview with The Korea Times.

Much of Kowork’s work centers on helping companies in Korea hire people using the E-7 visa, meant for skilled foreign professionals in fields such as design, education, engineering and finance.

The E-7 visa is granted to foreign nationals who possess expertise not readily found in the domestic labor market.

“Because of the paperwork and regulatory complexity involved, many companies hesitate to hire foreign professionals directly — which is where Kowork steps in to bridge the gap,” the CEO said.

Kim said her interest in these issues began during college when she participated in Enactus, a global social venture club for university students.

She later began sharing job information for foreigners via Facebook — efforts that eventually laid the groundwork for a structured business platform.

Today, the platform is growing rapidly, with the number of Kowork users increasing by more than 7 percent each month and monthly active users rising even faster, at a rate exceeding 13 percent.

Most importantly, the platform has a 40 percent retention rate, indicating a high percentage of users who return after their first visit within a given period.

“All these figures show that we’re not just attracting users, but also building trust and delivering a positive user experience,” Kim said, adding, “I bet about 70 percent of foreigners living in Korea today are at least aware of us.”

The timing of her success is especially remarkable given the increasingly bleak employment outlook for Gen Z in Korea.

According to Statistics Korea, the number of people in their 20s classified as “taking a break” and not working, job-seeking or studying reached 421,000 in July, up 5,000 from a year earlier.

It marks the highest July figure on record, with the number consistently hovering around 400,000, including a peak of 460,000 in February.

This rise corresponds with a 33-month streak of declining employment among people in their 20s, dating back to November 2022.

“While many in my generation are struggling to find jobs, I realized I could make more impact by helping others get jobs — especially foreign talent, who face even more barriers than locals,” she said.

When asked what advice she would give to peers who feel stuck or afraid to start something new, her answer was simple: “Start anyway.”

“It was overwhelming at first,” she recalled, noting that starting a business with no prior corporate experience meant learning everything from scratch, including finance, human resources management and more.

“But I learned that building a company isn’t about doing everything alone — it’s about growing with the right people,” she said. “There’s never a perfect time. Just take action, because even small steps count. Execution creates momentum.”

Looking ahead, Kim said Kowork aims to become “the standard recruitment process for foreign professionals in Korea within the next three to five years.”

“And for a country grappling with a declining birthrate, aging population and urgent labor shortages, platforms like Kowork may not just be innovative businesses,” she said. “They could be part of the solution.”