Knowing how to use AI isn't enough. Companies want employees who can check its work.

Knowing how to use AI might impress recruiters, but as Korean companies rethink what qualities make a good hire, knowing when AI gets it wrong could actually land you the job.

“In just two years, AI has become capable of doing far more than before. What matters now is not what role you are assigned to, but how well you solve problems,” Lee Dong-gun, the CEO of travel platform MyRealTrip, said during a recruitment information session on Oct. 1. 

The session came as the company launched its first open recruitment drive for entry-level employees in its 14-year history, receiving applications until Oct. 11. 

Rather than recruiting applicants for specific positions, the company is hiring them without assigning them to particular roles or departments in advance, reflecting how AI is reshaping the traditional job market. It has also placed no restrictions regarding applicants’ university majors.

This approach allows employees to move across roles based on their strengths, whether that means humanities graduates using AI to develop apps or science and engineering graduates working in marketing and sales.

MyRealTrip has also redesigned its employee selection process to center on problem-solving skills. Applicants submit personal statements in a format of their choice and highlight experiences in which they independently solved problems. Two rounds of in-depth interviews then assess their logic and decision-making, as well as their abilities to both put ideas into practice and use AI tools.

“If you can demonstrate [those skills], we will give you a chance, regardless of your years of experience or career background,” CEO Lee said at the recruitment information session, emphasizing the need to embrace new roles in the AI era.

AI is also transforming how companies recruit employees.

While some employers, such as MyRealTrip, are erasing links between academic disciplines and jobs, others are incorporating AI assessments into their existing hiring process.

Despite these different approaches, employers are, overall, looking for candidates who can use AI so naturally that they could be considered “AI natives” but can still verify its output. In other words, they want people who can think for themselves rather than outsource their judgment to AI.

“Companies are looking for people who can command AI, not become its servants,” said Choi Sung-wook, the head of the career development team at Sogang University.

Krafton accepted applications until Friday to recruit more than 100 “employment-linked” interns — or those who could be hired by the company after their internship ends — across six categories, including AI research, game development and business operations. It evaluated candidates’ AI proficiency and general reasoning abilities, not their academic majors or grades.

Nexon eliminated the coding test from its game programmer recruitment process for its employment-linked internships, which received applications between August and September.

Instead, the company used AI-based interviews to assess applicants’ foundational programming knowledge, then evaluated how they use AI to complete practical assignments in a separate stage.

“It’s easy to mistake AI-generated code for something that [applicants] wrote themselves, but follow-up questions often reveal gaps in [their] fundamental knowledge,” Nexon programmer Oh Yoon-ho said of the recruitment process.

Other companies are reconsidering their entire recruitment frameworks.

Naver is reviewing its hiring methods and evaluation criteria. Its annual open recruitment drive, which has run for seven years, is unlikely to take place this year.

“AI is rapidly changing how we work and the kinds of people that we need, making this a time to reconsider our [hiring] approach,” a Naver representative said.

Kakao is recruiting for individual positions as needed rather than holding an open recruitment drive as it did last year.

Some companies have opted for a more gradual approach, adding AI-related assignments to their existing recruitment processes.

Doosan asks job applicants to use AI to produce a report within 30 minutes and assess everything from how they formulate prompts to how they review and improve the results.

Kia evaluates how candidates use AI to analyze and solve problems, seeking employees capable of effective human-AI collaboration.

SK hynix has introduced a half-day intensive interview combining AI-assisted job assignments with open-ended discussions on humanities topics.

The growing emphasis on AI skills and independent judgment in hiring is also evident overseas.

In a survey of approximately 1,500 U.S. corporate executives and senior human resources representatives, 42 percent said that AI adoption had increased the analytical and judgment-related responsibilities assigned to entry-level employees, according to U.S.-based Strada Education Foundation in May.

Companies are changing not only the types of jobs they recruit for but also the tasks and responsibilities that they assign to new employees, even within the same positions, said Ziyan Wei, a professor at Purdue University’s business school, in a written interview with the JoongAng Ilbo. Wei analyzed more than 9 million U.S. job postings from 2021 to 2025.

Wei explained that focusing solely on how many jobs AI creates or eliminates overlooks how the nature of work itself is changing. As AI takes over repetitive tasks, specialized knowledge and critical thinking, the ability to evaluate AI-generated results could become increasingly important, Wei added.

Job postings in Korea are also becoming more specific about the skills that employers expect.

The length of detailed job descriptions posted on the JobKorea platform last year increased by approximately 82 percent compared to 2021, according to the company.

The proportion of job postings on the platform explicitly mentioning AI tools such as ChatGPT and Claude between January and September was approximately four times the level recorded in 2024.

“To use AI effectively, domain knowledge — an understanding of the relevant industry and job — is essential,” Sogang University’s Choi said. “The guidelines outlining job-specific requirements at Samsung and LS were each about the length of an entire book.”

Sogang University incorporated job posting analysis into career development courses for first- and second-year students in the second half of this year, helping them identify the classes and experiences that they need to prepare for employment.

However, some job seekers say that AI-related expectations are adding to the pressure already produced by the competitive job market.

They question whether it is reasonable for companies to demand not only AI proficiency but also the ability to independently verify and evaluate AI-generated results from applicants who have yet to gain practical work experience.

“It’s unfortunate for students, but the skills expected of entry-level employees will only increase in the AI era,” said Kim Do-hyeon, a professor of business administration at Kookmin University. “Unless universities fundamentally overhaul their education systems, the gap between what companies expect and what graduates can deliver will only widen.”

BY PARK TAE-IN [[email protected]]