hankyoreh

By Heo Seung, staff reporter

Kim Sun-young studied tourism management at a college in the U.K. After years of study, he gave up on his plans to land a job with a U.K. hotel in August. In April, a few months before his graduation, the UK government abolished the PSW (post-study work) visa policy, which allowed foreigners who came to the U.K. to study in preparation for work. Since the global financial crisis in 2008, the U.K. government has been pushing an anti-immigration policy and tightening requirements for visas and citizenship to foreign students with the aim of protecting the jobs of its own citizens.

Kim, 27, returned to Korea, but no domestic companies came calling. This fall, he sent his resume to 20 firms, including well-known hotels and big corporations involved in the resort business, but he failed to pass through a single company’s first-round document screening. His command of English and background abroad were not enough to earn him a new job. “I gave up on finding a job this year. I’m planning to start over by getting a computing certificate,” Kim said bitterly.

Seo Dong-hyeon, 27, who graduated from a university in Australia and had considered settling permanently there, had to return home in July, as the Australian government strengthened requirements for acquiring permanent residency in 2010. In July, the government sharply cut the number of groups of “jobs suffering from labor shortages,” which qualify for permanent residency, from 408 to 181. The U.S. government also enacted its Employment Law in February 2009 to set a limit on the hiring of foreigners by firms that had received public bailouts.

Like Kim and Seo, the number of so-called “returnees” who traveled abroad to study but have returned home after failing to find a job, has seen a sharp increase. This is due to anti-immigration policies that have spread worldwide since the global financial crisis of 2008. The number of those aged 21-30 who came back to Korea after more than one year’s stay abroad has doubled to 40,113 in 2010 from 23,710 in 2002. Notably, the number of returnees surged to more than 40,000 in 2008 when the global crisis broke out after hovering at around 30,000 up through 2007.

Returnees find a chilly reception in the domestic labor market when they return. A human resources officer at Doosan Heavy Industries & Construction said, “While Korean graduates jump into the labor market with a grasp of the characteristics of domestic firms, returnees lack information on domestic companies due to a lack of personal network.”

An HR officer at another big corporation said, “Since these days those who studied at home have a strong command of English, merely studying abroad is no longer a big advantage. The recruiting process of domestic companies is different from foreign companies, focusing on document screening and interviews. Returnees seem to experience difficulties, especially in personality and aptitude tests, which are similar to the type of university scholastic aptitude test that require the ability to answer many questions in various fields in a short amount of time.”

Under this set of circumstances, institutes specialized in preparing returnees for finding a job at home have started to spring up. One opened last August in Seoul‘s Gangnam district and is offering courses to guide returnees in writing cover letters, preparing for interviews, and personality and aptitude tests. Tuition fees amount to 1 to 3 million won (USD$915-2750) for an eight-week course. There are currently 40 returnees taking the course. A source at the institute said that there is high demand for such courses among returnees who have a hard time finding a job.

Dr. Nam Jae-yang from the Korea Labor Institute said, “As the number of returnees has increased, it has become a sort of social phenomenon. Previously, society took no notice of them. Recognition and awareness of their situation needs to spread.”

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