Recently, a survey data released by the South Korean Ministry of Education on the 5th has attracted widespread attention. This data shows that as many as 42.5% of foreign students in South Korea only focus on employment opportunities within the country, reflecting the unique appeal of the South Korean job market to foreign students.
This survey was conducted during the foreign student employment expo from June to October last year, covering 1207 international students. The survey results show that in addition to nearly half of international students focusing on employment in South Korea, 45.5% of international students tend to seek job opportunities in "South Korea or their own country", while 12% of international students expand their employment choices to "South Korea or other countries".
In terms of expectations in employment areas, over half (55.1%) of respondents are more inclined to start their career in their current residential area, believing that this can better utilize existing living resources and social networks; In addition, 37.2% of international students aspire to work in the capital region of South Korea. As the economic, cultural, and political center of South Korea, the capital region has a strong attraction for them with abundant employment opportunities and vast development space.
From the distribution of expected employment industries, manufacturing and mining have become the most favored fields for international students, accounting for 16.1%. This may be closely related to South Korea's advanced technology and strong industrial foundation in the manufacturing industry; The wholesale and retail industry, as well as the catering and accommodation industry, closely follow with a proportion of 10%, reflecting the attractiveness of the service industry to international students; The proportion of professional science and technology services is 9.8%, reflecting the attention of international students to industries with high technological content; The public and education service industry accounts for 9.5%, which also demonstrates the longing of some international students for stable and high social value jobs.
Further analysis of the sources of international students participating in the survey shows that Vietnamese students have the highest proportion, reaching 32.6%, becoming one of the main groups of international students studying in South Korea; Uzbekistan students account for 18.3%, ranking second; Chinese international students account for 13.1%, ranking third; Mongolian international students account for 6.5% and also hold a certain share in the group of international students.
At the same time, the survey results of 98 companies participating in this employment expo also showed multiple reasons for companies to recruit foreign employees. Among them, 57% of enterprises stated that due to difficulties in recruiting local talents, they had to turn their recruitment focus to foreign employees to meet their talent needs; 22% of companies aim to increase internal diversity by introducing employees from different cultural backgrounds, bringing new thinking and vitality to the organization; Another 17% of companies aim to expand into overseas markets, leveraging the advantage of foreign employees being familiar with the domestic market to support their internationalization strategy.
In order to better meet the employment needs of foreign students, the South Korean Ministry of Education has taken active action and plans to provide more comprehensive employment information and professional consulting services to international students through the "Korea Study Abroad Comprehensive System", helping them to have a more comprehensive understanding of the South Korean job market. In addition, the South Korean Ministry of Education will collaborate with the South Korean Ministry of Small and Medium Risk Enterprises to develop the "K-Work" platform, aiming to further promote employment connections between international students and enterprises and improve employment matching efficiency. It is worth mentioning that the "Regional Innovation Center University Support System" will also be promoted nationwide this year, providing more comprehensive support and guarantee for the employment of foreign students.
(Editer：admin)
