KSI Budapest has been organizing Career Day, a Hungarian-Korean job fair, since 2018 to connect Korean companies in Hungary with Hungarian graduates majoring in Korean studies. In 2022, the fair expanded its scope to allow anyone who has learned Korean or is interested in Korean companies to participate in the job search, in addition to Korean studies majors. Here are some stories from the event where companies and job seekers met.

Pleased to meet you, Ms. Imre. Could you please introduce yourself and tell us about your role in running the 2022 KSI Specialization Project?

Great to see you too! I am Hummer Imre, the President of KSI Budapest. I also serve as the Director of the Institute of Far East Asian Studies at Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary, and I opened the first King Sejong Institute in the university in 2021. In addition, I applied for the KSI Specialization Project in 2022 and was responsible for the overall management of the Career Day.

What kind of event is Career Day held for the 4th time in 2022? Is the event organized by KSI Budapest? And, I also wonder if KSI is directly recruiting the main Korean companies.

The Career Day is an event co-organized by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) and the Department of Korean Studies at Eotvös Loland University (ELTE) and was first held in 2018. At that time, Korean companies in Hungary were very interested in hiring graduates from the department. The event was initially organized by KOTRA Hungary and the Department of Korean Studies at ELTE Korean Studies, as Korean graduates needed opportunities to work in Korean companies. We applied for the KSI Specialization Project in 2022 in an attempt to spread Korean language education by connecting the needs of universities and companies. When the application was approved, the program was co-hosted by KSI Budapest and the ELTE's Department of Korean Studies. Moreover, we have expanded the event to include people outside of the department, people learning Korean, and job seekers interested in Korean companies. The Korean companies in Hungary participating in the event were recruited by KSI Budapest. KOTRA promoted the participating companies and sponsored the event, and the ELTE's Career Day organizers provided various information needed to get a job to the participants of the job fair with Korean companies. Initially a matching event between Korean Studies graduates and Korean companies, it has now grown into an iconic event that connects Korean language learners in Hungary with Korean companies.

I am curious about the background of KSI Budapest holding Career Day. Can you tell us what kind of Korean companies are there in Hungary and whether Hungarian students are interested in working for Korean companies?

Although diplomatic relations between Hungary and South Korea were only established about 30 years ago, South Korea has become a significant business partner in Hungary. In 2019, South Korea emerged as Hungary's largest investor. Moreover, with the rapid increase of Korean companies' investments in the battery sector, the industry of the future, interest in Korea has increased in Hungary. As of 2021, more than 260 Korean companies have been established in Hungary, and they are looking for more than just Korean majors in various fields. KSI Budapest offers systematic Korean language education to anyone who wants to learn Korean, including university students and the general public with various majors. We were convinced that if KSI Budapest organized a job fair for Korean companies, it would be a good event to meet the demand and supply of companies. We thought that if we could help companies recruit and turn their attention to Korean language education, we could increase opportunities such as investment in educational facilities and scholarships that are difficult to provide on our own. In fact, a business agreement with Samsung SDI Hungary has led to the successful implementation of factory tours, internships, and scholarship programs.

What were the outcomes and results of Career Day?

Most importantly, the event provided Korean language learners with job opportunities. The job fair made it easier for Korean language learners to access Korean companies and gave the companies a better understanding of KSI's role and its Korean language education activities. KSI Budapest, which opened at Eötvös Loland University will cooperate with the Department of Korean Studies at the university to improve the quality of Korean language education. This partnership is developing into an ideal relationship to support both practical applications and academic research.

‘Tell us about your feeling after the completion of Career Day and the goals KSI Budapest for 2023.

I think Career Day 2022 was a great way to gain an outlook on the current state of Korean language education in Hungary. Eötvös Loland University is a top Hungarian university and could become a center for Korean language education. While we have been focusing on expanding our activities externally, in 2023, we aim to increase our staffing at the institute and try out various Korean language education programs to establish a stable education system.

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