Banks are stepping up open recruitment for the second half of the year. With young job seekers showing strong interest because of high pay levels, banks this year are recruiting new hires with finer segmentation by job. They are keeping the basic framework of securing large-scale finance and sales staff, while separating needed roles into distinct hiring categories, including regional sales and corporate finance, artificial intelligence (AI) and platform development, financial security and accounting. Analysts say each bank's business strategy and the type of workers it needs are becoming more specific from the recruitment stage.

From regional sales to AI and security... tailored hiring by bank

On Sept. 9, the financial sector said KB Kookmin Bank will recruit about 160 entry-level employees in the second half across six categories: UB (Universal Banker), officers scheduled for discharge from the military, professional qualifications (certified public accountant), ICT, specialised high schools and ESG shared growth. UB is further divided into corporate customer finance and customer asset management, and regional talent. The bank plans to select at least 25 percent of total UB recruits as regional talent and have them work in those regions. It aims to develop them into sales professionals with an understanding of local customers and companies.

It also distinguished roles in digital fields. It split the ICT category into IT and AI and platform development, and will select personnel through coding tests and interviews. Separately from entry-level recruitment, it plans to recruit about 20 experienced professionals on a rolling basis, including those with expertise in AI and lawyers.

Woori Bank will recruit entry-level employees across seven categories: corporate finance, retail finance, Woori Together, TECH, global, professional and special hiring for veterans. Those selected in corporate finance and retail finance will receive support benefits for a fast-track pre-training programme for next-generation RM (corporate finance), CM (retail finance) and PB (asset management).

A key feature is the creation of global and professional categories. Under global, it will recruit talent with overseas experience and foreign language skills. Under professional, it will select holders of professional qualifications such as lawyers, certified public accountants and tax accountants, as well as specialist interpreting staff. In the TECH category, it will also select talent specialised in information protection and financial security alongside existing IT development staff.

NH Nonghyup Bank will recruit about 120 people by dividing hiring into a finance category and a professional category. The professional category is further divided into accounting, security, and AI and digital. The bank plans to select suitable talent in each field based on job competence and expertise, and deploy staff with specialised knowledge and practical capabilities to work sites.

IBK Industrial Bank of Korea will run both large-scale open recruitment for entry-level employees and rolling recruitment of specialists. Of 175 entry-level hires planned for the second half, it will select 130 for general finance, 25 for IT, 15 high school graduates and 5 for digital roles.

Separately, it will also recruit 15 regular staff specialists on a rolling basis. In digital and IT, it will hire for IT project management and consulting, platform architecture design and operations, and cyber threat analysis and response. In finance, it will select for global investment banking, global finance, asset management, insurance actuaries and certified public accountants. The bank's total second-half regular hiring, including entry-level open recruitment, is 190 people.

Hana Bank and Shinhan Bank, which have not yet announced second-half open recruitment, have also begun preparations.

Hana Bank expects to recruit about 230 people in the second half this year. Even within its comprehensive finance category, it plans to divide six specialised jobs, including pensions and trusts, risk and funding, global and IB, into desired growth fields. Applicants will be able to apply based on their desired career path and related capabilities.

As demand has increased for personnel with verified expertise in areas such as AI, data analysis and new digital technologies, it has created a regular experienced-employee group since last year. It plans to continue recruiting specialists in line with staffing needs for new business 추진. Shinhan Bank plans to finalise and announce its second-half hiring plan in September.

The hiring approach is shifting toward specifically distinguishing needed jobs and expertise rather than selecting general personnel in one batch.

Clearer focus on whom to hire than last year... more detailed specialist roles

Compared with the second half of last year, changes in bank recruitment are becoming clearer in the composition of recruitment categories.

Last year, the main focus was that major banks reduced entry-level hiring 규모, influenced by branch reductions and digital transformation. This year, while maintaining an open recruitment framework centred on finance and sales staff, the trend of separating needed capabilities such as AI, security and professional qualifications into distinct recruitment categories has become clearer.

Kookmin Bank also separated UB and ICT last year, but this year it specified a goal of recruiting at least 25 percent of total UB hires as regional talent. It also changed the ICT recruitment category from IT and IT platform development to IT and AI and platform development, putting AI at the forefront.

Woori Bank reorganised its recruitment categories from 8 last year to 7 this year, creating the global and professional categories. In the professional category, it separately selects lawyers, certified public accountants, tax accountants and specialist interpreting staff, and in TECH it also secures information protection and financial security personnel.

Nonghyup Bank also reorganised its recruitment categories from last year's level-5 hiring, which was divided into finance and IT and digital, into finance and professional categories this year. By further subdividing the professional category into accounting, security, AI and digital, it moved beyond the broad IT and digital category to present needed specialist capabilities more specifically.

Hana Bank is also refining recruitment by dividing six specialised jobs within the broad comprehensive finance category into desired growth fields. The intent is to identify desired career paths from the application stage and select applicants with related capabilities. It explains that it is placing weight on securing talent with job-specific expertise as digital transformation accelerates and the financial environment becomes more sophisticated.

Hiring 규모 is expected to be similar to last year. Hana Bank hired a total of 410 people last year: 155 entry-level hires in the first half, 150 entry-level hires and 45 experienced hires in the second half, and 60 specialised high school hires. This year, it hired 150 entry-level and 30 experienced workers in the first half, and is expected to hire about 230 in the second half. If it proceeds as planned, annual hiring will be about 410, similar to last year.

Industrial Bank of Korea also shows a trend of strengthening specialists in changes in headcount. Of 180 entry-level hires in the second half of last year, it selected 140 for general finance, 25 for digital and IT, and 15 high school graduates. This year, it reduced the overall total by 5 to 175, while increasing digital and IT positions to 30 from 25. General finance fell to 130 from 140.

Overall entry-level hiring fell 2.8 percent from a year earlier, but digital and IT hiring rose 20 percent. In addition, it is securing specialists such as IT project management and consulting, platform architecture, and cyber threat analysis and response through rolling recruitment separate from entry-level open recruitment.

A banking industry official said, "The trend is becoming clear that banks are maintaining core finance-business personnel while more precisely selecting talent needed for business strategies, such as AI and digital, security and professional roles."