The foundation said it held its “Youth Working-Professional Job Mentoring” sessions on April 14 and 15 and again on April 23 via the Zoom video platform. Assistant manager- and manager-level finance employees served as mentors, offering guidance on job preparation, understanding day-to-day work and even consultations related to changing jobs.
The April program, themed on the financial industry, was divided by role, including information and communications technology, universal banker and investment banking tracks. About 100 young people took part. Sessions covered job overviews, hiring preparation strategies, workplace case studies and how to respond to job changes tied to the shift to artificial intelligence. Counseling was tailored using questions submitted in advance.
Working professionals from KB Kookmin Bank participated as a talent donation, the foundation said. With digital transformation and the expansion of non-face-to-face services, demand is rising for workers with ICT skills and data analysis capabilities, increasing the need for practical, workplace-based advice.
Participants said they valued hearing concrete accounts of mentors’ work experience, industry trends and how tasks flow by role. As finance hiring places greater weight on role-specific expertise, access to information through networks of working professionals is increasingly important in job preparation.
Over the past two years, the foundation said it has run the mentoring program 32 times, with about 600 participants. A post-program survey showed an average satisfaction score of 4.68 out of 5.
Starting this year, the foundation expanded operations by shifting from every other month to a regular monthly schedule and extending each session from two hours to three. It also plans to add in-person mentoring alongside online sessions to broaden access.
An in-person mentoring program focused on culture and the arts is scheduled for next month, the foundation said, citing growing demand for new roles across planning, production and distribution as the culture and content industry shifts toward platform-centered structures.
Chairman Oh Chang-seok said sharing working professionals’ experiences provides practical help as young people explore careers and prepare for jobs. “We will continue to expand job training and mentoring opportunities based on public-private cooperation,” he said.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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