Computer Skills Certificate Still No. 1 for Jobseekers in AI Era

* Editor's note: AI PRISM (Personalized Report & Insight Summarizing Media) is an AI-based personalized news recommendation and summary service developed with support from the Korea Press Foundation. It selects and provides six customized news items for each reader type.

1. Even in the AI Era, Computer Proficiency Test Ranks First and Second Among Job Certificates

Summary: An analysis of the certificates held by young new hires at the top 500 listed companies found that the Computer Proficiency Test Level 1 (5,473 people) and Level 2 (3,967 people) swept first and second place. The lead was overwhelming, more than double that of the third-ranked forklift operator certificate (1,891 people). According to the 2026 National Technical Qualification Statistics Yearbook, the Computer Proficiency Test Level 2 (247,841 people) drew the most applicants among some 2.29 million test-takers last year, and a comparison of the periods before and after COVID-19 showed that applicants for Level 1 grew by an annual average of 23.4%. Experts stress that insight into data structures and flows determines the outcome of collaboration with AI, and from 2027, AI principles and use cases will be newly added to the written test standards for the Computer Proficiency Test.

2. Learn AI and Even Yoga After Work: 22 Free Courses for Seoul Workers

Summary: The Seoul city government is running 22 free programs in AI and IT, reemployment, and health and culture at the Seoul and Gangbuk workers' welfare centers. The reemployment academy proved its real effectiveness last year, with 61.5% (230) of its 374 participants finding jobs. AI and IT training and Pilates run from 7 p.m. on weekdays, allowing both office workers and jobseekers to take part, and job counseling on resume writing and interviews is also provided. As the courses are free, early closure of registration is expected, and second-half programs can be applied for on each welfare center's website.

3. Samsung Deploys Core Humanoid Talent; Roh Tae-moon Personally Reviews Technology

Summary: Samsung Electronics has deployed hardware, software and circuit development experts, recruited through mid-career hiring in March, to its Umyeon R&D Campus at the RX Business Development Office, which reports directly to the CEO. Internal experts selected through in-house job postings are also set to join soon. On the 10th, Roh Tae-moon, head of the Device Experience (DX) Division, personally observed an in-house demonstration of a humanoid prototype and reviewed its technical level, and the robot was reported to have carried out precise movements including directly operating a camera. Samsung Electronics plans to pursue a phased strategy of first deploying the robots at B2B manufacturing sites to gather data before expanding to B2C, so demand for robotics-related positions is expected to grow rapidly.

4. Cooperative Finance NPL Subsidiaries Bulk Up: Shinhyup and Suhyup Expand Staff

Summary: KCU NPL Loan, a subsidiary of the National Credit Union Federation of Korea, and Suhyup NPL Loan have posted job openings to expand their workforces, while MCI Loan of the Korean Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives has already secured more than 40 people. The moves come as the delinquency rate in the cooperative finance sector surged to 4.62% at the end of last year, up from 2.97% two years earlier, heightening the need for soundness management. The Financial Services Commission plans to submit a bill on a licensing system for the purchased-debt collection business to the National Assembly this month, and because the licensing requirements include at least 20 permanent employees, including five specialists, additional hiring is unavoidable. Jobseekers aiming for finance-sector jobs may want to note the niche hiring opportunity at cooperative finance NPL subsidiaries beyond the major banks.

5. "Small Firms That Hire Both Young and Older Workers Need Stronger Subsidies and Tax Breaks"

Summary: Last year, the share of wage workers aged 50 and over at small and medium-sized enterprises rose to 44.0%, up 12.4 percentage points from 31.6% a decade earlier, accelerating the aging of the workforce. Over the next five years, the number of SME permanent employees subject to retirement-age extension is estimated at 1.483 million, but only 13.2% of small firms with one to four employees operate a retirement-age system, leaving a large gap in the framework. Experts recommended expanding tax support for SMEs that hire both young and older workers and introducing measures such as an integrated employment tax credit and higher continued-employment subsidies for older workers. If incentives for SMEs to expand youth hiring are strengthened, opportunities may also grow for jobseekers considering employment at regional and small firms.

6. 30 Trillion Won in Annual Support, Yet SME Employment Turns Negative

Summary: According to the Korea Small Business Institute, the employment growth rate at firms that received Ministry of SMEs and Startups support from 2018 to 2022 fell sharply from 2.9% in the year of support to -0.1% a year later. The government invests more than 30 trillion won a year, but the analysis holds that the real job-creation effect is limited because the aid is dispersed across 780,000 firms at an average of 100 million won each (in loans). The researchers recommended shifting to a method of selecting firms whose revenue and employment have grown by an annual average of 5% or more over the past three years and concentrating long-term, large-scale support on them. If the government reorganizes its support framework around growth, new hiring by selected promising SMEs could rise, offering a signal jobseekers can use as a criterion for choosing target companies.