Survey on job changes among office workers in the first half of this year .(Image courtesy of Saramin)
SEOUL, July 11 (Korea Bizwire) — Amid a tough job market, only a third of South Korean office workers who sought new positions in the first half of 2025 succeeded in making a job switch, according to a new survey.
Career platform Saramin reported Wednesday that just 28 percent of job changers were able to land a new role, based on a survey of 1,302 office workers. Despite 50.2 percent of respondents saying they actively pursued job changes, most did not achieve their goal.
By job level, employees at the assistant manager (56.2%) and manager (51.8%) levels were most active in job hunting, followed by entry-level staff (51.4%), senior managers (48.1%), and executives (34.7%).
This file photo from Nov. 20, 2024, shows job seekers checking an employment notice bulletin board at a job fair in Busan, some 320 kilometers southeast of Seoul. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
The desire to change jobs was highest among workers at large companies (61.6%), followed by those at foreign firms (54.8%) and public institutions (51.9%), with relatively lower rates among employees at mid-sized (47.3%) and small companies (49.6%).
Among those who did change jobs, 42.6 percent reported they moved to a company with better working conditions, while 33.9 percent made lateral moves and 23.5 percent accepted lower terms.
On average, job seekers spent 5.6 months preparing for a move. The most commonly cited factor for successful transitions was having relevant job experience (74.3%), followed by proactive job market engagement (24.6%), well-maintained résumés and portfolios (24.6%), and thorough interview preparation (16.9%).
Saramin advised workers to regularly update their career materials and strengthen their skillsets. “Self-branding — such as signaling job-seeking intent on recruitment platforms and through personal networks — can significantly boost the chances of a successful job change,” a Saramin official noted.
M. H. Lee (mhlee@koreabizwire.com)
