Naver open to hiring liberal arts majors as developers in latest recruitment

[Photo by Park Hyung-ki]

Naver Corp., one of South Korea’s largest internet companies, is drawing attention with its large-scale recruitment of new employees despite the current employment drought in the local information technology (IT) industry. The company, in particular, is eager to hire developers regardless of their majors - even those that studied humanities in college but have extensive knowledge in computer science and IT-related activities.

Six Naver companies have plans to recruit more than 100 new employees combined this year. They are Naver, Naver Cloud, Works Mobile, SNOW, Naver Labs, and Naver Financial.

“Our recruitment aims to add diversity through the new perspective of young and millennial people beyond the concept of simply adding workforce, while securing the growth momentum to lead Team Naver in the future,” Song Suk-ho, lead of talent acquisition at Naver, told Maeil Business Newspaper.

Naver is well known among IT job seekers as a company that does not hire rookie developers even as new recruits. Song acknowledged this by saying that Naver evaluates whether the applicant has the basic skills necessary for the job and examines how the applicant has accumulated related experience. Thus, presenting his or her own growth story unique to the applicant at every stage of the application process is essential, he stressed.

“Naver reads every cover letter from the applicants,” Song said. “We evaluate the candidate‘s interest and preparation for the job they are applying for, as well as their own vision for Naver and the IT industry.”

Naver also examines applicants’ specifications, such as academic records, language proficiency, and certificates. However, Song said that the company’s recruitment process is not a quantitative evaluation system that divides applicants into pass and fail categories based on criteria such as academic achievement or certificate acquisition. He advised applicants with good specifications to emphasize them with stories related to their jobs, while those without them could explain their experiences that complement their low academic records, for example.

Naver does not impose major restrictions on recruitment.

“There are developers who have majored in business administration at Naver,” said Song, adding that “the major is not an evaluation factor, but the basic skills and experience necessary for the job are.”