Even if the salary is lowered, it doesn't have to be Seoul... Just pass
- Input
- 2025-08-22 06:00:00
- Updated
- 2025-08-22 06:00:00
In the second half, 82% 'will lower it further'
Average desired salary reduced by 7.27 million won
More than half plan to change jobs within 2 years after acceptance
[Financial News] It was found that 7 out of 10 job seekers lowered conditions such as salary or employment type during the job application process in the first half of the year. More people responded that they plan to lower their expectations in the second half to increase their chances of employment.
On the 22nd, the career platform Saramin surveyed 919 job seekers about 'job application expectations', and 70.5% said they had experience lowering conditions in the first half. The most lowered condition was 'salary level' (64%, multiple responses), followed by 'employment type such as contract' (40.7%), 'work location' (39.8%), and 'company type such as large corporations' (38.4%).
Among the 415 respondents who said they lowered their salary, the initial target average salary was 45.34 million won, but it was reduced to 38.07 million won at the actual application time. Job seekers lowered their desired salary by an average of 7.27 million won.
In the second half, 82.2% of respondents said they plan to lower their expectations, which is 11.7%p higher than in the first half. The most common reason was 'because there may not be many recruitments due to economic slowdown' (49.4%, multiple responses), followed by 'because I need to earn money quickly' (45.7%), and 'because I am tired of long job searching' (44.6%). Among them, more than half (56.6%) said they plan to attempt to change jobs within an average of 2 years and 1 month after acceptance.
On the other hand, 164 people who said they would not lower their expectations in the second half cited reasons such as 'because I want to work long at a place I like' (54.9%, multiple responses), 'because I have a strong advantage in capabilities' (24.4%), and 'because I haven't been job searching for long' (22.6%).
The condition that job seekers most cannot compromise on when applying was 'work location' (24.8%), followed by 'salary level' (22.1%), 'work-life balance' (16.9%), 'employment type' (15.2%), and 'company stability' (8.5%).
jimnn@fnnews.com Shin Ji-min Reporter