Preference for big companies creates job mismatch crisis . FEBRUARY 14, 2013 06:56. . A 32-year-old graduate of a prominent private university in Seoul has looked for a job for five years. After failing the law bar a number of times, he began seeking work late and unsuccessfully applied to more than 10 companies a year.

He applied to large corporations only and ignored smaller companies. His friends recommended that he try to enter stable smaller companies or take a civil servant exam for grades 7-9, but he did not listen to them. He says the reason no large company has hired him is that he had insufficient time to upgrade his qualifications due to preparation for the bar.

Amid intensifying competition for decent jobs, the number of young people able to work but choosing to stay unemployed is rapidly increasing. If a smaller company`s starting annual salary is 25 million won (23,009 U.S. dollars), the economic losses from 600,000 job mismatches exceed an estimated 15 trillion won (13.8 billion dollars) a year.

Experts say the excess mismatches in jobs for young people will weaken economic vitality and worsen social problems such as delayed marriage and the low birth rate.

○ Parental bias against small companies

A 29-year-old man who graduated from a university with a middle ranking in Seoul goes to an Internet cafe or a nearby library every morning. He had worked for a small company upon graduation but quit late last year. "I had an inferiority complex toward my college friends and seniors who work at big companies, and felt that (my) company had no future," he said, adding, "I didn`t tell my family that I quit." He said he applied to dozens of companies but is still waiting for an interview.

According to a survey conducted by the Dong-A Ilbo Youth Dream Center, Hyundai Research Institute and Job Korea on job awareness of young jobseekers, just 23.6 percent of respondents said they want to work for a small or mid-size company. Just 2.8 percent say they will endure an inferior work environment if they can get a job.

On why they want to work for a large company, 34.8 percent cited a higher effect compared to the cost that can offset the difficulty in getting a job if thinking of the future, and 28.9 percent said they can get a decent job if they prepare a bit more. Many respondents said they can raise their competitiveness in the process of preparing for a job and believed their efforts will ultimately pay off.

Another reason was parental bias. A whopping 26.3 percent said their parents strongly oppose them working for smaller companies, and the figure surged to 36.8 percent for male jobseekers. Excessive expectations by family apparently prompted jobseekers to raise their standards.

○ "I can endure being jobless until age 30"

Young jobseekers are also choosing to stay jobless longer.

On the age ceiling for seeking a job, men said age 30.5 and female 28.9. Considering that men normally graduate from college at 25 and 26, they are willing to sacrifice four to five years after graduation if that means being hired by a company they want to work for. The longer jobseeking period, however, means delayed entry into work, marriage and childbirth.

Experts blame this phenomenon on jobseekers being less desperate in getting a job, adding that they want to get a decent job but have a lower need to make money.

Nam Seong-il, an economics professor at Sogang University, said, "In the 1970s and 80s, younger people were obsessed with getting a job to ease their parents` burden. Now, many think they can try next year if they fail landing jobs with a company that they really want to work for."

A 27-year-old graduate of a provincial university said, "Aside from higher salary, people judge and treat me better when they hear that I work for a large company. I can also meet a potential spouse with better social status. These are reasons for people wanting to work at large companies."

○ Labor shortage of smaller companies

The job mismatch problem is increasingly hurting smaller companies in personnel affairs.

A small manufacturer of industrial materials in Hanam, Gyeonggi Province has failed to hire even one employee over the past six months. Despite its reputation as a family-run business for 30 years, the company has received few job applications and those hired quit in several months. The company president said, "One college graduate who quit in less than two months was working part-time at a convenience store, simultaneously preparing to apply for large companies," adding, "We`ve raised the starting (monthly) salary to more than 2 million won (1,840 dollars) and offered better welfare benefits, but we still have no applications. We`ve nearly gave up hiring new staff."

Faced with such an unfavorable situation, smaller companies are changing their employment criteria. They are screening applicants based on how long they could stay at the job instead of how competent they are.

According to a survey on conditions for hiring workers of 500 small and mid-size companies, which was conducted by the Small and Medium Business Administration, personality ranked No. 1 (69.4 percent), followed by intention to work long (60 percent).