Carmaker wants to hire expatriates

The Hyundai Automotive Group is planning to hire English-speaking expatriates living in Korea to work at its headquarters in Seoul, a first for the country’s largest automaker.
The group, which produces Hyundai and Kia vehicles, has made efforts in the past to hire Koreans who had returned after being educated in other countries.
“The recruiting at first will be very experimental because it is something we have never tried,” a Hyundai spokesman said in a telephone interview. He declined to say just how many foreign employees were being sought.
The official also said the new hires would not be required to be fluent in Korean as well as in English.
The automotive group posted a recruiting notice on its Web site in English, saying applicants should be foreigners living in Korea, hold at least a four-year undergraduate college degree and have good communications skills in English.
The spokesman said the new employees would be assigned to jobs according to past career experience and educational background, but that the pay would be the same as that offered to Korean employees. They will work in existing Hyundai units alongside Korean colleagues.
The spokesman said that the decision to seek out expatriates was based on a need for English communications, adding that such skills were important to the automaker because of its network of foreign subsidiaries and dealers.
There are now about 10 expatriates working at Hyundai headquarters, including the group’s spokesman, Oles Gadacz, a native of Canada. Most of the others, however, work in the company’s research and development organization.
The spokesman said the new employees would work for some time at the company’s headquarters, but would eventually be offered opportunities for foreign postings, such as the company’s subsidiaries in the United States, Europe, China, India and Turkey.
Recruiting began on Jan. 22 and will conclude on Monday. Hyundai said it wanted to fill positions in corporate planning, finance, overseas sales, marketing, human resources and procurement.

By Seo Ji-eun Staff Writer [spring@joongang.co.kr]