Job Match Seoul provides lifeline for international students in choppy career landscape

Job Match Seoul offers free career consultations for foreign students in central Seoul. The center helps with résumé and self-introduction feedback, job search strategies and finding relevant extracurricular activities and part-time jobs.

Ahn Hyo-jin, a career consultant specializing in international student consultations at Job Match Seoul, talks to a student that visited the center on Monday. [LEE TAE-HEE]

When submitting a hundred résumés seems insufficient to land a job in Korea as an international student, finding the right source to assist in a job search can drastically change results.

"There are university students in their senior year or those who've just graduated coming to the center, telling us they don't know why they keep getting rejected even though they've sent their résumés to over 100 companies," said Ahn Hyo-jin, a career consultant specializing in international student consultations at the Job Match Seoul center.

“We sit down with them to analyze their problem by asking which companies they applied to, then we look at their résumés and self-introduction to see if there’s anything crucial missing and teach them how to write those documents.”

Job Match Seoul in Jung District, central Seoul, is a career counseling center operated by Seoul since 2022, offering one-on-one consultations and guidance in a job seeker’s application journey.

After seeing some foreign nationals also visit for help, the center officially opened consultations for international students in March.

Being a center operated by Seoul, consultations are offered to foreign nationals aged 15 to 39 who are residing in Seoul. Consultations are offered in Korean and English, and are all free of charge. Job seekers can book sessions via the Job Match Seoul website.

The program has been running for around two months, with over 100 people having visited the center as of May 20.

Although Ahn is the only consultant in charge of offering consultations to international students, she packs her day with around three consultations that each take up to 50 minutes. The rest of the time is spent responding to additional inquiries from past visitors and giving feedback about their résumés and self-introductions.

One of the suggestions she gives to job seekers who come to visit is to tailor their résumé to fit what the company wants.

"Applicants need to study the job description and learn about the company to find skills the company is looking for," said Ahn. "Students can find the exact keywords the company uses in the job post or on the company's website and use those words to explain their skills."

She stresses that the self-introduction should focus on showing one’s job competency.

A common question that appears on self-introductions — asking the applicant about their personal development journey — also needs to be answered by how they developed professional career growth and skills rather than emphasizing personal growth. However, many international students make the mistake of answering it by describing how they decided to come to Korea.

Making it readable by editing the structure of the self-introductions is another area Ahn focuses on, recommending job seekers follow the STAR method, an acronym for situation, task, action and result.

When mentioning their past experiences in the self-introduction, to be more logical in their answer, applicants are advised to mention the situation, the task they executed, the specific action they did and what results they achieved.

Not finding jobs in the right place and through the right method may be another reason that makes job searching difficult for international students.

The Seoul Foreigner Portal is one of the websites that uploads positions for foreign nationals, and looking for job posts through the university's Office of International Affairs website is also a good option. Websites like Job Korea, Saramin or WorkNet don’t just have jobs that are specifically looking for foreign nationals, but searching with terms such as international student, one’s visa status or nationality is an easy way to find opportunities for foreigners.

Ahn also introduces visitors to internship programs for international students organized by Seoul or job fairs where students may find opportunities.

"But I also say that it's important to check if the company is able to sponsor necessary visas, and those companies specifically state it's a position for international students, or list what type of visa holders can apply,” said Ahn.

“But if the list only states that F-4 or F-5 visa holders can apply, rather than including the D-2 or D-10, it mostly means the company is looking for foreigners that have a status similar to Korean nationals and that it will be hard for international students to get the position.”

Although the center helps students throughout the process of applying for jobs, those who are looking to start working right away aren’t the only type of people who can book consultations.

Freshmen, or even those who aren’t sure of which field they want to go into, are welcome, and Ahn said it’s better for students to start developing their career path in these early stages.

Those young students don’t yet have to aim for internships or actual jobs, but participating in extracurricular programs or volunteer work that are related to fields they are interested in can help them prove they have job competency and relevant experience.

"Extracurricular activities aren't limited to Korean nationals these days, and organizations such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Korea Tourism Organization or global companies are offering programs to expand into overseas markets," said Ahn. "It's not just seniors that need to do them, but freshmen, sophomores and juniors also need to start creating their career road map early on."

"We introduce [people who come for consultations] to extracurricular activities and volunteer work that international students can participate in, and how they can use those experiences in their portfolio and résumé."

Much like jobs, extracurricular activities can also be found on the university’s Office of International Affairs website, with some on each organization’s social media channels.

Part-time jobs are another way to get work-related experience.

Translating and interpreting for events may help those who want to later work in translation or localization. Working at Olive Young or apparel stores can be helpful for those who are interested in working in the cosmetics or fashion industries.

“For those on a student visa, you do have to get approval from the university and immigration office to do part-time jobs,” said Ahn. “But if you do meet those requirements and get the chance to try working in fields you are interested in, they will be small milestones that you achieve, later becoming your career road map.”

Job Match Seoul hosts a special lecture explaining the overall job searching process in Korea to international students on May 9. [JOB MATCH SEOUL]

For those who can’t book one-on-one consultations, the center also offers special lectures and group programs.

A mentoring session for international students who want to work in marketing was held in March, with another session explaining the overall job searching process in Korea held on May 9.

Getting positive feedback, the center is currently working with global centers around Seoul to host more programs. One possible topic it has in mind is opening a résumé and self-introduction feedback session, where participants bring a draft of the two documents and get together with a mentor to edit it.

"I've had students reach out to me after a while, telling me they've been accepted for interviews a lot more after getting consultations," said Ahn. "They essentially develop confidence by going through the process as they craft their portfolio and résumé and find what areas they have strength in because improving applications will naturally result in a better acceptance rate."

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]