A job expo for the financial services industry on September 13 attracted throngs of young men and women in their finest, some lining up hours before the event opened to get a chance for an interview with one of the top 6 banks (Kookmin, Shinhan, KEB Hana, Woori, Nonghyup and Industrial Bank of Korea). (Image: Yonhap)
SEOUL, Sept. 14 (Korea Bizwire) – A job expo for the financial services industry on September 13 attracted throngs of young men and women in their finest, some lining up hours before the event opened to get a chance for an interview with one of the top 6 banks (Kookmin, Shinhan, KEB Hana, Woori, Nonghyup and Industrial Bank of Korea).
The expo officially opened at 10 a.m., but by 7:50 in the morning, small pockets of job-seekers were already loitering in front of the entrance, poring over their notes with furrowed brows and silently mouthing their prepared self-introductions.
The Seoul event even enticed an applicant from Busan, who had hopped on a night bus and arrived at 5 a.m. The applicant said that among the available jobs outside of Seoul, working at a bank offered a good social standing and a good annual salary.
The Busan applicant’s proffered reason for attendance was shared by the rest of the hundreds waiting patiently, albeit a bit nervously, in line (the interviews were conducted on a first-come, first-serve basis).
The chance to submit one’s resume and have an informal sit-down with company representatives was a golden opportunity for the jobseekers, who if successful would bypass the preliminary round of the job application procedure. (Image: Yonhap)
When asked why the banks were noticeably more popular than other players in the financial services sector, an applicant who revealed himself to be a university student in his last year said, “Securities firms deal in products where the risk of losing the principal is a possibility, whereas there is a stronger sense of belief in the security of a bank’s products.”
The chance to submit one’s resume and have an informal sit-down with company representatives was a golden opportunity for the jobseekers, who if successful would bypass the preliminary round of the job application process. Applicants would otherwise have to apply through typical channels like the submission of resumes through the bank’s official website.
The large number of attendees was good news for the banks, but a major drawback for attendees farther away from the front. One such applicant said that she had arrived at nine in the morning. At four in the afternoon, she was still in line, waiting, practicing, and hoping.
S.B.W. (sbw266@koreabizwire.com)
