ISF Spring 2024 job fair hosts 600 international students, next event slated for November

International students attend the ISF Spring 2024 career fair held at Sejong University in Gwangjin District, northern Seoul, on May 9. [SEJONG UNIVERSITY]

Sejong University announced Tuesday it successfully held the ISF Spring 2024 career fair for international job seekers, and plans to come back with the same event in November.

A total of 30 companies, such as Hanwha Foodtech, Hyosung Goodspring and FG Korea, which is in charge of operating Five Guys in Korea, attended ISF Spring 2024 to do job interviews with international students, according to the university on Tuesday.

The fair was held at Sejong University's campus in Gwangjin District, northern Seoul, on May. 9.

Students who want to start their own business were also welcome, with Kyung Hee University's Campus Town, the university's entrepreneurship center, setting up a booth to offer consultations. Agencies that offer legal help, patent assistance for startups and investment assistance also attended.

Although hosted by Sejong University, the career fair is open to international students from all universities. Around 600 international students from 75 Korean universities attended the fair.

This is Sejong University's third time hosting the ISF career fair, jointly hosted with Job Center, a job listing platform operated by Siganmedia.

"Based on the two previous successful events, we aimed to offer more career programs that attendees have high demand for and tried to have more companies attending the fair," said Han Jung-hoon, a senior manager from Sejong University's One Stop Service Center.

"We hope this fair, which merges Sejong University's globalization efforts with Job Center's career consulting expertise, will help international students settle down in Korean society."

A total of 19 companies set up booths and held interviews at the previous job fair held in October last year.

Due to the fair's popularity, Sejong University and Job Center will be hosting the fourth career fair on Nov. 7.

Registration will open via Job Center's website in the future, and students can also apply for job interviews by uploading their resumes to the same website.

"Starting as an event we worked on with Sejong University during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2022, we have now hosted the third career fair," said Yang Gil-joon, CEO of Siganmedia. "The fair is still on a trial run, but we are happy to host the event, which is the only fair open to international students from all universities in Korea."

The annual Job Fair for International Students, hosted by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, is another fair open to international students regardless of the university they are attending. However, the fair is run as a subsection inside the Global Talent Fair, which also hosts companies hiring not only international students, but also Korean nationals and those aiming for overseas employment.

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]