"I don't go below Pangyo"... Urgent need to introduce overseas college graduate professionals

[Financial News] "There are no young engineers to work here."
A representative of Company A located in Sejong City said, "Even if we offer salaries at the level of large corporations, young engineers do not come to local factories," and emphasized the need for a system to stably hire verified overseas professional engineers with at least a bachelor's degree. A representative of Company B located in Incheon also realizes the reality that domestic college graduates do not come to the production sites and is interested in hiring overseas professional technical personnel.
Due to the population decline and the trend of young job seekers preferring to work in Seoul, there is a growing voice that overseas professional technical personnel should be introduced, especially among medium-sized and small enterprises in regions where it is difficult to secure excellent personnel.
On the 29th, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry conducted a 'survey on the demand for overseas professional technical personnel' targeting 232 medium-sized and small enterprises to find ways to solve the regional manpower shortage last April. As a result, 6 out of 10 responding companies said they needed overseas professional technical personnel due to a lack of domestic applicants. According to the Chamber, companies hoped to hire an average of 3.4 overseas professional technical personnel, and the fields they wanted to hire in were △Electrical/Electronics (14.3%) △Systems/SW (13.6%) △Machinery/Robotics (10.3%) in order.
The first reason cited for needing overseas professional technical personnel was the lack of domestic applicants (61.5%), followed by △Expectation of long-term service (34.8%) △Reduction of labor costs (34.2%) △Preference for foreign personnel with professional skills (26.1%) △Sincere work attitude (21.1%) in order. A representative of a company located in Cheongju said, "In the semiconductor equipment field, there is a shortage of domestic applicants, so it is urgent to hire excellent overseas professional technical personnel with at least a bachelor's degree to secure the company's technological competitiveness."

67.7% (157 companies) of the 232 companies that participated in the survey responded that education to verify job-related skills should be conducted locally before hiring overseas professional technical personnel. They stated that a local education system is needed before entry to comprehensively verify job-related majors and bachelor's degrees, Korean communication skills, and the knowledge and skills necessary for job performance. A mid-sized chemical company in Incheon said, "To minimize mismatches between domestic companies and overseas professional technical personnel, it is necessary to select overseas talents with the capabilities desired by companies through local education reflecting corporate demand and to conclude employment contracts."
The fields where local education is needed before entry were △Korean language, Korean culture, etc. communication skills (54.6%) △Labor relations laws (27.3%) △Corporate demand jobs (18.1%) in order, indicating that while job training is necessary, communication skills education is the most important. 
There is also a suggestion that the visa system needs improvement. A semiconductor equipment company in Hwaseong said, "We tried to hire overseas professional technical personnel due to a lack of domestic applicants, but we couldn't proceed due to a lack of information on excellent foreign technical personnel and career restrictions when issuing visas."
Lee Sang-bok, head of the Human Resources Development Division of the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said, "The demand for overseas professional technical personnel is greatly increasing due to the shortage of professional technical personnel in regional medium-sized and small enterprises," and "The Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, as the comprehensive economic organization with the most members nationwide, will review the establishment of a new support system to introduce verified overseas technical personnel through industry-specific job training tailored to companies overseas." 

ehcho@fnnews.com Eunhyo Cho, Reporter