The Samsung Group's "regular recruitment system," launched in 1957, has now spanned a full 70 years. Why is it that among major South Korean companies, only Samsung continues to maintain this regular recruitment system? From a corporate perspective, operating flexible hiring systems tailored to management conditions and market fluctuations can be advantageous. In fact, due to such reasons, all business groups except Samsung have been flexibly managing their recruitment systems.
In this process, Samsung alone has stubbornly (or perhaps foolishly?) insisted on regular recruitment for 70 years. Looking at it from another angle, this means that a reliable large-scale job market through Samsung employment has consistently remained open to South Korean youth. A business insider stated, "Samsung's semiannual recruitment drives may feel like something taken for granted," but emphasized, "The fact that Samsung continues to do what no one else does is actually not something to be taken for granted."
The prevailing view inside and outside Samsung is that the company's unwavering commitment to its business patriotism spirit and its management philosophy of prioritizing talent form the foundation of its insistence on regular recruitment. Founders Ahn Lee Byeong-cheol (Chairman) and Lee Kun-hee Seon Dae (Chairman), as well as Lee Jae-yong, Chairman of Samsung Electronics, all regarded "job creation" as a core mission for Samsung, which has grown on the soil of South Korea.
Lee Jae-yong has consistently expressed this conviction whenever opportunities arose. In his "Reflections and Determination" posted on the internal bulletin board after assuming the chairmanship in 2022, he stated, "Since its founding, the most valued values for Samsung have been talent and technology," adding, "We must recruit and nurture individuals who can change the world, regardless of gender or nationality." During a meeting with entrepreneurs at the Presidential Office last August following the inauguration of the Lee Jae-myung administration, he also promised, "Regardless of investments in the U.S., we will continue to invest domestically to sustainably create high-quality jobs and foster high-value-added industries."
Especially as the so-called "semiconductor supercycle (booming period)" has fully taken off this year, with forecasts of record-breaking performance, Lee Jae-yong reaffirmed his determination to expand job opportunities. In February, at a meeting with entrepreneurs on youth employment and regional investment held at Cheong Wa Dae, he publicly stated, "Performance has risen significantly, giving us the capacity to hire more people this year."
Most importantly, in a situation where youth employment conditions are deteriorating as they are now, Samsung's measures have been described as nothing less than "a timely rain during a drought." According to statistics from the National Data Office, the number of employed youth (aged 15–29) in July was 3.441 million, marking a decline for 45 consecutive months, while the employment rate (44.2%) has also fallen for 27 consecutive months.
Samsung plans to uphold its principle announced last year of "hiring 60,000 people over five years," while adjusting specific recruitment numbers in consideration of various conditions. Of course, it will maintain the stance of hiring as many people as possible, provided that business conditions allow.
Additionally, Samsung will continue to pursue "open recruitment." In 1993, Samsung introduced regular recruitment for female college graduates, and since then, it has continued efforts to recruit diverse talent by removing educational requirements from eligibility criteria in 1995, among other measures.
Separately, Samsung continues its efforts to nurture diverse talent. To support the strengthening of youth software competitiveness, Samsung operates the "Samsung Youth SW (Software)·AI (Artificial Intelligence) Academy (SSAFY)," which provides high-quality education free of charge, across five campuses nationwide: Seoul, Daejeon, Gwangju, Gumi (North Gyeongsang Province), and Busan. Since 2019, approximately 9,400 SSAFY graduates have secured employment at over 2,600 domestic and foreign companies.
Recently, Samsung has expanded its educational target group from university graduates to include graduates of Meister high schools and has completely restructured the SSAFY curriculum to focus on AI education in order to contribute to national-level AI talent development.
in INDUSTRY
