SEOUL, July 30 (AJP) -Generous bonuses and an extraordinary AI boom are not the only appeals that have made SK hynix South Korea's most sought-after employer for a second consecutive year, as the chipmaker continues to break hiring norms in search of AI-native talent.
SK hynix said Thursday it will scrap the traditional self-introduction essay and replace brief interviews with half-day competency assessments for new graduate recruitment beginning next month, introducing its biggest hiring overhaul in years as chipmakers compete for a new generation of AI engineers.
Applications for the rolling recruitment cycle will be accepted from Aug. 20 to 26 for positions in chip design, device engineering, research and development, manufacturing processes and production technology.
Openings are available at its major sites in Icheon, Cheongju, Bundang and Seoul.
The changes come a month after SK hynix abolished academic qualification requirements, allowing applicants to apply regardless of age or educational background.
Instead of the conventional 20- to 30-minute interview, candidates will spend half a day completing practical assignments and participating in in-depth interviews. Recruiters will assess not only technical expertise but also AI application skills, logical reasoning, humanities-based thinking and the ability to solve engineering problems from first principles.
The application itself is also changing. SK hynix has scrapped the conventional self-introduction essay in favor of a format requiring candidates to explain their AI capabilities and semiconductor expertise. Rather than polished resumes, the company said it wants applicants who can use AI to solve problems on semiconductor production lines.
SK hynix is also moving beyond campus recruiting. Instead of focusing on a handful of universities, it will hold recruitment sessions in Seoul, Cheongju, Daegu and Gwangju, opening participation to aspiring engineers and young people interested in semiconductors regardless of where they study.
The hiring overhaul echoes SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won's vision for the AI era. Chey has argued that future competitiveness will depend less on credentials than on what he calls "thinking muscles" — the ability to ask fundamental questions, cross disciplinary boundaries and design systems in which humans and AI work together.
The changes come as SK hynix enjoys the biggest windfall in its history from the AI memory boom. This week, the company reported another record quarterly profit, cementing its lead in high-bandwidth memory used in Nvidia's AI accelerators.
SK hynix is betting that its next competitive edge will come as much from people as from silicon, a HR official said.
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