21 Months Become a Time for “Real Growth,” Not an Obligation or a Pause, as Young People Tune In to the World

[Financial News] Fulfilling the duty of national defense is evolving into a time for “growth and value creation,” rather than a period of disconnection or a gap in young people’s lives. As South Korea enters a super-aged society, demand for workers in care, health and education is surging. In these fields, there is an urgent need for personnel at an “expert” level who can build emotional connections, rather than simply provide support. The MMA’s program linking service placements to majors and aptitudes is effectively helping fill gaps in these social services while also creating opportunities for young people to broaden their career prospects and grow.
According to the MMA on the 1st, the “program for assigning personnel to service institutions related to their majors,” introduced in 2020, is transforming military service into “a time when social contribution and personal growth coexist” by combining it with big data on young people’s occupational preference profiles.
The program reflects an innovative approach that minimizes the time needed to adjust to the workplace and maximizes service expertise by matching personnel with institutions based on their majors and aptitudes. Its central aim is to improve the quality of social services nationwide while giving individuals the opportunity to apply their majors directly in practice during their service.
■ Using major and aptitude test results to match personnel with social service fieldsTo improve the efficiency of the program, the MMA has divided social services into seven fields—welfare, education, public health, medical care, culture, environment and safety. Since last year, it has also classified social service personnel into six occupational preference types and recommended the best-fit institutions.
According to the MMA’s matching guidelines for each field, △ in “welfare” (social welfare facilities), personnel who majored in areas such as social welfare, aging, children, disability and rehabilitation are placed, with the “Social” occupational preference type matched to the field. △ The “education” field (education offices, special-needs schools, etc.), favored by young people, mainly takes in graduates who majored in education, elementary and secondary education, or special education, and is linked to “Social” and “Artistic” aptitudes.
In addition, △ the “public health” field (public health centers, quarantine stations, etc.) is matched with personnel who majored in public health, quarantine or life sciences, while △ the “medical care” field (hospitals, regional public medical centers, etc.) is linked to majors in medicine, dentistry, Korean medicine, pharmaceuticals (pharmacy) and nursing, drawing on “Social,” “Enterprising” and “Conventional” aptitudes. Other matches include △ culture with majors in culture, museum studies and archaeology; △ environment with majors in environmental studies, green space, landscape architecture and forestry; and △ safety with majors in firefighting, disaster prevention, disaster management, transportation and policing. Placements are matched to both majors and occupational preference types.
■ “Even helping requires keeping a distance that matches the other person’s pace”: Young people find a future in the fieldThe program’s greatest achievements can be seen in stories that reflect young people’s personal growth. After majoring in history education at university, Kim Min-seong was assigned to Korea Seonjin School, a special-needs school in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province. Drawing on his knowledge of the subject, he supported students’ participation in class and their school life more broadly. Kim said, “The sense of fulfillment I felt when, after sustained support, a student with delayed language development managed to express their thoughts in complete sentences was irreplaceable.” He added that the experience led him to set a new career goal of pursuing graduate studies in special education.
The story of Kim Min-su, a social service worker serving in a special-needs class at Namwon Noam Elementary School after choosing it in line with his “Social” result on an occupational preference test, is also deeply moving. Early in his service, when a child suddenly ran out through the school gate, Kim instinctively chased after the child, thinking the behavior was dangerous. He gained a profound insight from the homeroom teacher’s advice: “Some children need you to go up close and soothe them, while for others, watching from a distance is what really helps.” Afterward, Kim quietly waited by the school gate for the child to move at their own pace. He said, “It was a shining moment that taught me, in life, the precious value that even helping requires a distance suited to the other person’s pace.”■ Major- and aptitude-based matches surpass 14,000; satisfaction ratings of 9 or higher out of 10The policy achievements of the program linking service placements to majors are also borne out by the data. Since the program began, a total of 8,395 people have been assigned to placements related to their majors. Education and culture (3,994 people) and social welfare (3,307 people) account for a large share, supporting the conclusion that the program has taken hold successfully. In addition, at least 5,720 personnel have benefited from tailored matches through big-data matching based on aptitude (occupational preference), introduced last year. The cumulative total of matches stands at 14,115.
In a detailed satisfaction survey conducted by the MMA among personnel assigned to placements linked to their majors and aptitudes, as well as staff at those service institutions, the “alignment between major and work” category received an exceptionally high score of 9 or higher out of 10, demonstrating the tangible impact experienced in the field. This suggests that both social service personnel and their service institutions are seeing positive effects from the program.
The MMA plans to continue improving the program’s effectiveness by further strengthening the links between social service personnel’s duties and their majors, and by ensuring that their service experience can serve as a stepping stone to a successful transition into society.

[email protected] Lee Jong-yoon Reporter