KOREAN NET

A launching ceremony for supporters of the K-Work Platform on March 20 is held at Hanmaru Building in Seoul's Yeongdeungpo-gu District. Shown is Cho Han Gyo (second from right), vice president of the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency's SME Workforce Development Division, explaining the platform. (Lee Jung-woo)

By Margareth Theresia

What is the biggest concern for international students in Korea after graduation? Most would say employment.

Yet such students have limited access to information on finding jobs, and searching for the work they want on related platforms is not easy.

To alleviate this problem, the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and the Korea SMEs and Startups Agency (KOSME) last year launched the K-Work Platform to provide foreign personnel with customized employment data.

The program (www.k-work.or.kr) offers one-stop service to international students looking for jobs. Simply registering a resume to the site allows a student to receive job recommendations based on artificial intelligence (AI) customization, plus other services like assistance in changing a visa.

The benefit for companies is finding foreign staff with proven skills and experience more easily for efficient human resource placement.

Cho Han Gyo, vice president of KOSME's SME Workforce Development Division, on March 20 talks to Korea.net on the K-Work Platform's role and plans ahead of the launching ceremony for the platform's supporters in Seoul's Yeongdeungpo-gu District. (Lee Jung-woo)

K-Work is more than a simple system that connects job seeking and hiring; it seeks to build a database of foreign job candidates in cooperation with universities. Using data verified by schools based on the students' resumes, the platform also plays matchmaker between such students and suitable companies and allows those landing jobs to change from a student (D-2) or jobseeker visa (D-10) to a work visa (E-7-1).

Though in its beta version, K-Work is continuously streamlining its functions by reflecting user opinions. The plan is to offer data quickly by linking each nationality's community and further advancing the AI-based system for customized job support.

Cho Han Gyo, vice president of KOSME's SME Workforce Development Division, said, "An estimated 200,000 foreign students are in Korea as of late last year but this number is expected to jump to 300,000, underscoring the importance of effectively matching foreign workers needed by small and medium companies and startups."

The K-Work Platform offers one-stop service to help international students look for jobs in Korea. (Screenshot from platform's site)

margareth@korea.kr