Hyundai Motor hiring first production line workers in a decade

Hyundai Motor's career page with a queue of some 13,000 people at 4 p.m. on Thursday. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Hyundai Motor began recruiting employees for the production line for the first time in 10 years, and there’s a queue just to access its careers website.

Hyundai Motor and its labor union agreed last year to hire 400 new production line workers this year and 300 more next year. It is the first time since 2013 that the carmaker opened recruitment to the public.

The average annual salary for Hyundai Motor’s production line workers was 96 million won ($73,000) in 2021. It may have broken the 100-million-mark last year.

One of the most well-known employee benefits for line workers is discounts on buying new cars. Employees can have up to a 30 percent discount every two years, and those who have worked for more than 25 years are entitled to a 25 percent discount for the rest of their lives. New employee benefits let new recruits receive 20 percent discounts.

Some other benefits are financial support for medical fees and children’s tuition. Those who work for 10 years receive a 7.5-gram gold souvenir and are paid 50 percent of their salary during leave. For 20 years and above, an overseas trip and a month-long break are provided.

Production line workers are also virtually guaranteed full-time employment until they are 60 years old due to the labor-management meetings held every year.

When the online application website opened Thursday, job seekers flooded the site and created a waiting list of some 10,000 people.

When Kia recruited 138 new production line employees for the first time in 5 years in 2021, 49,432 people submitted their applications.

After Hyundai Motor announced plans to recruit new line workers, the labor union released a statement on Jan. 11 saying that it will eradicate corruption in the hiring process and punish anyone who is illegally involved in the process with all available legal measures. It released the statement in response to reports claiming the labor union colluded with the company in the selection process, the union added.

“The hiring process will be fair and transparent,” a spokesperson for Hyundai Motor also said.

The deadline for applications is March 12. Interviewees are announced later in the month and interviews are held April to June.

BY JUNG SI-NAE, SOHN DONG-JOO [sohn.dongjoo@joongang.co.kr]