The Korea Herald

지나쌤

Jobseekers flock to KB Financial fair

By Chung Joo-won

Published : April 15, 2013 - 20:00

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Tens of thousands of job hunters, ranging from high school graduates to retirees, flocked to a job fair cohosted by two KB Financial Group affiliates in COEX, southeastern Seoul on Monday.

Organized by KB Financial Group and its two affiliates KB Kookmin Bank and KB Financial Foundation, “KB Goodjob” is the lender’s fifth-largest job convention and the largest one-day job fair, group officials said.

The group noted that this year’s KB Goodjob was designed to help job applicants ― regardless of former career, academic history, age and so on ― find jobs that best suit their abilities.
KB Goodjob Fair in COEX is crowded with job-seekers. (Kim Myung-sub/The Korea Herald) KB Goodjob Fair in COEX is crowded with job-seekers. (Kim Myung-sub/The Korea Herald)

Applicants busily browsed booths for individual firms and business associations. KB Financial Group also separately set up a KB Kookmin Bank tent to host KB-recommended companies, attended by 50 professional job consultants.

Various job-finding programs, including those for overseas immigrants and back-to-farming retirees, took place in the job information tent, where graduates of vocational high schools had interviews for KB Kookmin Bank as well.

The group’s officials expected a total of about 20,000 preregistered and walk-in visitors, more than 2,000 of which will be hired.

The group said it was able to secure about 250 companies with a positive outlook for Monday’s event, as it offered each participating firm free aptitude tests and a 500,000 won to 1 million won ($440-$880) subsidy per employee that they hire through the job fair.

“We will continue to support jobseekers’ dreams and aid recruiting firms,” KB Financial Group chairman Euh Yoon-dae said at the event’s opening ceremony, alluding to the group’s aim to help improve the country’s employment rate.

Since the first event in October 2011, KB Goodjob has given job information on 12,000 companies to about 33,000 registered members.

By Chung Joo-won (joowonc@heraldcorp.com)