Lee Jae-yong Promises to Fulfill 'Domestic Job Creation'... The Only 'Samsung Second Half Recruitment' Among Top 5 Groups

[Financial News] "Apart from investment in the U.S., we will continue to create quality jobs domestically" (Lee Jae-yong, Chairman of Samsung Electronics, on the 19th)
The pioneer of the domestic public recruitment system, Samsung, continues its 70-year history of public recruitment in the second half of this year. Despite other companies abolishing group recruitment due to costs, Samsung, under the strong will of Chairman Lee Jae-yong, remains the only one among the top 5 groups to maintain a large-scale public recruitment system. Chairman Lee believes that a fair and transparent public recruitment system must continue to contribute to the creation of quality domestic jobs and the acquisition of excellent talent.
Samsung announced on the 26th that it will conduct the second half of the 2025 group recruitment from the 27th, with 19 affiliates including Samsung Electronics participating. The affiliates participating in this recruitment are △Samsung Electronics △Samsung C&T △Samsung Biologics △Samsung Life Insurance △Samsung Display △Samsung Electro-Mechanics △Samsung SDI △Samsung SDS △Samsung Bioepis △Samsung Heavy Industries △Samsung E&A △Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance △Samsung Card △Samsung Securities △Samsung Asset Management △Samsung Seoul Hospital △Cheil Worldwide △S-1 △Samsung Welstory, totaling 19 companies. The recruitment process will proceed in the order of job suitability evaluation (September), Samsung Aptitude Test (Global Samsung Aptitude Test, October), interview (November), and health check. Software (SW) applicants will take a practical SW competency test instead of the GSAT, and design applicants will be selected through a design portfolio review instead of the GSAT.



Despite major domestic group companies abolishing large-scale public recruitment systems and switching to occasional recruitment due to internal and external management uncertainties and flexible workforce supply, Samsung has maintained its public recruitment system for nearly 70 years since introducing the first domestic public recruitment system in 1957. Previously, Chairman Lee Jae-yong of Samsung Electronics stated before the Korea-U.S. summit on the 19th, "Apart from investment in the U.S., we will continue to create quality jobs domestically and foster high value-added industries through related investments." A Samsung official said, "Following Chairman Lee Jae-yong's intention to 'invest more and create better jobs,' we have expanded the recruitment scale despite difficult conditions." The number of domestic employees at Samsung Electronics has steadily increased from about 105,000 at the end of 2019 to about 129,000 as of the end of June 2025, an increase of approximately 23%.


Salaries at major Samsung affiliates are also on the rise. The 'average salary per employee in the first half of 2025' for Samsung Electronics employees increased by 11.1% (6 million won) to 60 million won compared to 54 million won in the first half of 2024. During the same period, △Samsung Electro-Mechanics (45 million won → 51 million won) △Samsung Heavy Industries (43 million won → 49 million won) △Samsung Life Insurance (53 million won → 57 million won) △Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance (57 million won → 55 million won) also increased. An industry official said, "If the salaries of Samsung affiliate employees, which number in the hundreds of thousands, increase, wouldn't it greatly contribute to the revitalization of the domestic economy, such as consumption?"
Samsung has been pursuing continuous innovation in its personnel system to implement ability-centered personnel management according to its 'talent-first' management philosophy. Following the philosophy of the late Chairman Lee Kun-hee, who emphasized 'female workforce,' Samsung established the first public recruitment for female college graduates in 1993 and has led the domestic recruitment culture with an open recruitment system that excludes △education △nationality △gender △age △connections from the entry requirements since 1995. In particular, this year marks the 30th anniversary of the introduction of the Samsung Aptitude Test (current GSAT), commonly known as the 'Samsung exam.' It has been noted as an efficient system for discovering talented individuals, and many large companies have since adopted evaluation systems similar to the GSAT.

ehcho@fnnews.com Cho Eun-hyo, Lim Soo-bin reporters