Hyundai Helping Suppliers Hire 10,000 New Workers

Hyundai Motor Group hopes to hire 10,000 workers for its key suppliers through a series of job-fair recruitment events launching this weekend in Seoul.

The initial job fair was held Friday at the Convention and Exhibition Center, with some 430 suppliers to Hyundai and Kia standing by to screen and sign up new employees.

Hyundai Group planned, organized and financed the event, leaving on-site recruitment as the suppliers’ sole responsibility.

Speaking at a launch ceremony for the event, Kim Eok-jo, Hyundai Group vice chairman-labor and employment issues, says the program will help small and medium-sized suppliers “solve problems they face in recruiting talented new employees because they are not so very well known.

“We expect this event will create many new jobs in the nation’s automotive industry and will ease the skilled labor shortage of our suppliers,” he says. “Hyundai and Kia will continue to devote more resources to similar job-creation programs in our efforts to foster shared growth with our suppliers.”

Hyundai Group will launch similar job fairs later this month in the major cities of Daegu and Kwangju, as it seeks to reach its official goal of recruiting 10,000 workers.

Following the auto maker’s lead, the Korea Automotive Importers and Distributors Assn. announces it also will hold a job fair in early April for 37 of its member companies.

KAIDI Executive Managing DirectorYoon Dae-sung says there is “skyrocketing demand” for service jobs stemming from 20% growth in sales of imported cars. Member companies face worker shortages in a wide range of areas, he adds.

The KAIDA recruitment effort will be held as part of the Seoul auto show (March 29-April 7) at the Korea International Exhibition Center in the Seoul suburb of Ilsan. If it is successful, Yoon says, another such event will be held in 2014 at the Busan auto show.