Seoul hosts job fair to match foreign residents with local firms

Companies conduct on-site job interviews with applicants at last year's job fair for foreign residents in Seoul. / Courtesy of Seoul Business Agency

By Lee Suh-yoon

Seoul Global Center and the Seoul Business Agency (SBA), a city-run support center for small- and medium-sized businesses, will host the city's fifth job fair for foreign residents this Friday.

The job fair, an annual event started in 2014, will take place at COEX center in southeastern Seoul.

At last year's event, 1,686 on-the-spot job interviews were conducted, and 81 jobseekers landed jobs at the time. Considering the number of participants from previous years, organizers expect about 2,000 foreign residents to take part this year.

About 70 companies, including big names such as POSCO, Gucci Korea and Jeju Air, will set up booths at this year's conference. There will also be numerous startups such as Amuse Travel and Vision Works.

English speakers will not be the only attractive candidates at the fair as many of the participating firms are eyeing expansion into non-English-speaking countries.

“Many of the participating firms are small- and medium-sized businesses trying to expand into China or Southeast Asia. There will be lots of entry-level jobs looking for someone who can speak Chinese, Indonesian or Vietnamese,” Paul Carver, head of Seoul Global Center, told The Korea Times. “Last year, there were quite a few positions for people from India, Russia and Uzbekistan as well.”

About half the participating companies are in the service industry. There will also be around a dozen firms each from IT and manufacturing.

The fair is not just open to those with long-term residency permits as companies can directly sponsor visas for foreign workers. Some smaller companies, however, will only accept applicants who already hold long-term F-visas to begin with.

While the online reservation for job interview slots closed Wednesday, jobseekers can also sign up at the site for a job interview between 10 a.m. and noon or 4 p.m. and 5 p.m. Applicants must present a resume at the interview.

Free consulting services on resume writing, interview preparation and visa issues will also be available on the site. Around 60 volunteers will also be present to help participants navigate application forms.

Foreign residents who do not have some grasp of Korean, however, may have trouble navigating the fair.

“We are not providing a separate English brochure, because most of the firms are looking to hire foreign residents with at least some Korean communication skills,” Shin Su-min, the SBA assistant manager in charge of the event, said over the phone. “That's why most of the job ads by these individual companies — posted on our website — are only provided in Korean.”

Many of the firms require at least a TOPIK 4 level proficiency in the Korean language, according to organizers. Most of the on-site job interviews will also be conducted in Korean.

This year's job fair will be jointly held with a similar event catering to marriage migrants living in Korea. This separate job fair will take place at a separate location filled with mostly restaurants and hotel businesses looking to hire service workers. .

Kim In-sook, a city official in charge of foreign residents and multicultural policy in Seoul, hopes the event will be beneficial for both foreign jobseekers and domestic firms.

“I hope this job fair will help foreign residents find employment and improve their job-seeking capabilities. At the same time, this will be a good opportunity for domestic companies to hire talented foreign residents,” Kim said. “Seoul City will continue its efforts to help domestic firms and talented foreign residents develop hand-in-hand.”