Job seekers browse recruitment postings at the 2026 Startup Job Fair held at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. [Yonhap]
Job seekers browse recruitment postings at the 2026 Startup Job Fair held at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul. [Yonhap]

Cosmax adds AI proficiency to new-hire criteria; Kolmar Korea follows in August

Kyung Dong Navien lists AI platform skills even for entry-level R&D roles; AI-related entry-level job postings up 80% year-on-year

Bank of Korea: 94% of youth job losses concentrated in high-AI-exposure sectors

Companies are rapidly adding AI proficiency to the baseline requirements for new hires. While such skills were once confined to coding and software development roles, businesses are now listing AI capability as a preferred qualification in sales, procurement, human resources and R&D positions as well. The Ministry of Employment and Labor has added AI proficiency to its national core competency framework, and job-portal data show AI-related keywords in entry-level postings have surged more than 80 percent.

According to industry sources Wednesday, Cosmax Group added "AI utilization capability" as a preferred qualification in its first-half open recruitment for new hires this year — the first time the cosmetics manufacturer has done so. The requirement applied not only to AI development roles but also to research and innovation, marketing, overseas sales, strategic marketing, design, procurement and management positions. Applicants were also asked in their personal statements to describe any experience using AI tools to strengthen their skills or improve work efficiency. "Starting with this open recruitment, we added 'AI utilization capability' to our preferred qualifications," a Cosmax spokesperson said.

A similar shift is visible at Kolmar Korea. In its rolling recruitment last month for a vendor management position at its Sejong plant, Kolmar Korea listed "possession of AI utilization capability" alongside computer skills, ERP experience such as SAP, and data analysis ability as preferred qualifications. The requirement was absent from the same vendor management role in the company's first-half graduate recruitment in April but was added from August onward.

Kyung Dong Navien offers a notable example of AI proficiency being specified for general entry-level staff. In June, when recruiting an HR operations manager for its production facility Eco Hub in Pyeongtaek, the company listed "generative AI operation" alongside Microsoft Office skills such as Excel and PowerPoint. The preferred qualifications also explicitly named candidates with "excellence in HR tech and generative AI use" and "experience automating recruitment and HR tasks."

Kyung Dong Group similarly listed "excellence in AI platform utilization" alongside strong Microsoft Office skills as preferred qualifications in a recruitment-linked internship posting last month for an entry-level insulation R&D role. The move signals that even research positions focused on developing polyurethane boards, panels and next-generation insulation materials — not AI roles — are beginning to factor in AI proficiency.

Agricultural machinery maker TYM is currently recruiting staff for autonomous driving and AI-related R&D roles at its Iksan facility, covering both new graduates and experienced candidates. The trend suggests that AI-related hiring is beginning to carve out dedicated job functions even in traditional manufacturing sectors such as farm equipment, home appliances and cosmetics.

Education technology company i-Scream Edu conducted an integrated second-half recruitment drive for its AI Strategy Business Division this year, seeking candidates — both new graduates and experienced hires — for roles including AI development and data architecture, AI service development, AI service planning and AI engineering. The company has since broadened its hiring scope beyond development to include AI service planning, and is currently running a separate search for an AI and data organization leader.

Public institutions are also generating new hiring demand through AI transformation. Korea Industrial Complex Corp. is currently recruiting 22 new and experienced staff for the second half of the year. Its National Competency Standards-based public recruitment notice lists "industrial complex AX new business planning and operations" as one of the experienced-hire categories. The agency's full-time youth hiring this year totals 43 — 21 in the first half and 22 in the second — more than double the figure from a year earlier.

Hiring market data confirm the growing corporate appetite for AI talent. An analysis by job portal Jobkorea of postings on its platform from January through May this year found that listings with "AI" in the title numbered about 15,000, a 70 percent increase from the same period a year earlier, compared with a 10 percent rise in overall postings. Among entry-level listings specifically, those containing AI keywords rose about 80 percent year-on-year.

The government's own policy moves are partly credited with driving private-sector employers to treat AI proficiency as a core hiring criterion. In April, the Ministry of Employment and Labor revamped its "basic vocational competencies" framework — renaming it "common vocational competencies" — and added "AI utilization capability" as a new subcategory under digital skills.

Even as demand for AI-capable new hires strengthens, concerns persist that the overall job market may be shrinking. A Bank of Korea issue note published Aug. 18, titled "Youth Employment Slump — Is AI to Blame?", found that the number of jobs held by young people fell by 285,000 over the four years from June 2022 to June this year. Of those losses, 268,000 — or 94 percent — occurred in sectors with high AI exposure.


hong@heraldcorp.com