⚡ SPF Key Summary
With 19 Samsung Group affiliates kicking off their second-half open recruitment for entry-level employees, Samsung remains the only one among South Korea's top four conglomerates to maintain the tradition of large-scale regular open recruitment.
Amid intensifying global competition to secure semiconductor and AI talent, Samsung's large-scale open recruitment has become a crossroads where corporate demand for cutting-edge talent meets young job seekers' desire for "good jobs."
Corporate-led talent incubation through proprietary training infrastructure, such as SSAFY, is drawing attention as an alternative to bridging the skill mismatch in South Korea's labor market.
1. The Last Remaining '70-Year Traditional Gateway' Amid the Shift to Year-Round Hiring
On September 8, application submissions opened on Samsung's recruitment website, "Samsung Careers." Nineteen affiliates, including Samsung Electronics, Samsung C&T, Samsung Biologics, and Samsung SDI, simultaneously launched open recruitment for entry-level positions in the second half of the year. Applications will be accepted through September 15, followed by job suitability assessments, the Global Samsung Aptitude Test (GSAT), interviews, and medical checkups. Software applicants will take a coding competency test instead of the GSAT, while design applicants will undergo a portfolio review.
Samsung has sustained this recruitment system for 70 years since pioneering South Korea's first open recruitment for new graduates in 1957. Among the country's top four conglomerates—Samsung, SK, Hyundai Motor, and LG—Samsung is the only one maintaining regular open recruitment. With most major corporations having scrapped open recruitment in favor of rolling, on-demand hiring, Samsung stands alone.
Samsung has maintained its position that it will continue expanding youth employment alongside investments for future industries. At a business leaders' meeting in August last year, Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong stated, "We will continue making relevant investments so that we can consistently create quality jobs in South Korea and nurture high-value-added industries."
Earlier in 2022, Samsung announced a massive employment plan to directly hire 80,000 people over five years, averaging 16,000 recruits per year.
2. Structural Reasons Young Job Seekers Flock to 'Samsung Open Recruitment'
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) points to the mismatch between education and the labor market, as well as the disparity between conglomerates and small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs), and between regular and non-regular workers, as structural challenges in South Korea's youth employment. According to the National Data Agency, non-regular workers accounted for 37% of all wage earners in 2023.
The OECD analyzes that the significant gap in wages, job stability, and welfare benefits between South Korean conglomerates and SMEs leads many young people to prefer stable positions at large corporations or in the public sector over SMEs. This has also led to a trend where youths delay entering the labor market altogether to land their preferred jobs.
In this context, Samsung's open recruitment is not merely a hiring announcement by an individual company; it represents one of the largest and most predictable gateways into regular, permanent jobs at major corporations for young job seekers.
3. Semiconductor and AI Facilities Investment and Global Talent Race
The industrial environment surrounding this second-half recruitment drive is also evolving rapidly, driven by the recovery of the semiconductor market and the explosive expansion of the artificial intelligence (AI) sector.
The OECD recently assessed semiconductor exports as one of the key driving forces fueling South Korea's economic growth. Samsung Electronics is also continuing large-scale investments in cutting-edge semiconductor manufacturing facilities and research and development (R&D) to secure competitiveness in the AI semiconductor era.
For investments of this scale to translate into actual production and technological competitiveness, talent capable of designing, developing, and manufacturing these products is essential. In the semiconductor and AI industries, securing talent is not merely a cost issue, but a core factor that transforms investment into competitive advantage.
The talent shortage is not unique to South Korea. The U.S. Semiconductor Industry Association (SIA) and Oxford Economics projected that approximately 115,000 jobs would be added to the U.S. semiconductor industry by 2030. However, based on current trends, an estimated 67,000 of those positions are expected to go unfilled due to a lack of qualified workers. The European Court of Auditors (ECA) similarly noted that the EU semiconductor industry is struggling to secure skilled personnel.
The AI sector faces a similar situation. According to the OECD, 53% of South Korean SMEs that have not adopted generative AI cited their employees' lack of relevant technical skills as the biggest obstacle.
Ultimately, competition in advanced industries is not only about building larger fabrication plants and investing greater sums of money, but also about how reliably companies can secure the skilled talent they need.
4. Corporations Stepping Up as Providers of 'Practical Skills' Beyond Credentials
Beyond open recruitment, Samsung operates diverse talent development programs. The most prominent is the "Samsung Software & AI Academy for Youth (SSAFY)." Across five campuses nationwide in Seoul, Daejeon, Gwangju, Gumi, and Busan, the program provides free software and AI training to young people. Around 2,000 individuals receive training each year, and among program graduates since 2019, approximately 9,400 have secured employment across some 2,600 domestic and international companies. Recently, eligibility for the program was expanded from college graduates to graduates of Meister high schools.
The significance of this program directly intersects with another structural problem identified by the OECD in South Korea's labor market: the "skill mismatch" between the capabilities acquired in educational institutions and the skills actually demanded by businesses. Corporations are moving beyond merely hiring needed talent to taking on the role of directly educating personnel and supplying them to industrial fields.
5. Advanced Talent Competition and the Dual Labor Market Structure
Samsung's hiring practices have evolved over time. In 1993, Samsung established an open recruitment track specifically for female college graduates, and in 1995, it expanded "open hiring" by eliminating academic background restrictions from application qualifications.
The composition of required talent is also shifting. According to Samsung Electronics' sustainability report data, its global workforce in development roles grew from about 84,000 in 2023 to about 89,000 in 2025. Over the same period, personnel in manufacturing roles decreased from about 110,000 to about 103,000. While manufacturing staff still outnumber development personnel, the trend highlights the surging importance of R&D talent as competition in advanced industries intensifies.
When connecting the popularity of Samsung's open recruitment to the structural issues in South Korea's labor market highlighted by the OECD, another dimension emerges. While open recruitment may be an open and equitable hiring channel from an individual company's perspective, the phenomenon of countless young people waiting for recruitment opportunities at a handful of conglomerates may itself signal a "shortage of good jobs" in South Korea's labor market.
Because of the stark disparities in wages and employment stability between regular jobs at conglomerates and positions at SMEs or non-regular roles, young job seekers increasingly choose to extend their job preparation periods aiming for "jobs like Samsung" rather than taking just any job.
The fact that Samsung's open recruitment has survived for 70 years illustrates more than just an individual corporation's unique talent selection method. It showcases the types of talent required by companies in the semiconductor and AI era, while simultaneously revealing why young South Koreans continue to stand in long lines before a scarce few "good jobs."
Deep Dive Q&A
Q1. Why did the other top four conglomerates (SK, Hyundai Motor, LG) abolish open recruitment and transition to rolling hiring?
They shifted to rolling hiring to quickly secure talent tailored to specific roles as needed in response to a fast-changing market environment, allowing personnel with role-specific expertise to be deployed promptly. In contrast, Samsung maintains the method of selecting candidates through large-scale open recruitment and cultivating them through internal corporate training. Samsung emphasizes that the rationale for retaining open recruitment lies in securing talent for future industries and providing quality employment opportunities to young job seekers.
Q2. Can corporate-led training programs like SSAFY solve the youth employment problem?
They represent a meaningful alternative in that they can swiftly bridge the skill mismatch between university education and real-world industrial demands. The OECD has also highlighted the skill mismatch between education and industry demand in South Korea's labor market. SSAFY has established itself as an effective talent incubation model where a company directly teaches practical skills needed on the ground, recording an employment rate exceeding 80% among its past graduates. However, corporate training alone cannot resolve the entire youth employment issue. Structural labor market problems, such as the wage and job security gaps between large corporations and SMEs, must be addressed concurrently.
Q3. What does Samsung's large-scale R&D investment and retention of open recruitment mean for the South Korean economy?
In the global semiconductor and AI race, securing a reliable supply of skilled personnel to develop and operate technologies and facilities is just as critical as the hardware itself. Samsung's massive investments, open recruitment, and proprietary talent training serve to maintain this talent supply foundation. At the same time, the reality that a multitude of young people gravitate toward Samsung's open recruitment reflects the employment divide between large corporations and SMEs—the so-called dual structure of the labor market.
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