Sogang University Ranked ‘No. 1 in Sustained Employment Rate’ for 2021 among Science and Engineering Universities Evaluated by the Korea Economic Daily
- Ranked first in sustained employment rate for third consecutive year since 2019,

Sogang actively encourages opportunities for self-exploration through a variety of student-tailored career-education programs -

The university ranked first for sustained employment rate in the ‘2021 Science and Engineering University Evaluation,’ hosted by the Korea Economic Daily, and achieved the result of ‘No. 1 for sustained employment rate for the third consecutive year’ since 2019. The university’s sustained employment rate is an indicator of whether university graduates maintain their employment status after a certain period of time following initial employment, and it is evaluated to reflect the quality of the employment situation.

In the background of these achievements, not only job-skills (self-introduction letters, interviews, written tests) training for senior students but also various career-training skills were provided by the Office of Career Services as well as the assistance of the department in charge of career employment. The analysis shows that our school graduates’ high sustained employment rate is due to the fact that many people find employment in their most suitable career field with broadened understanding of themselves through career education that encompasses both subjects and non-curricular subjects.

The university has strengths related to the sustained employment rate in four major areas.

The first area is early job setting through ‘career courses.’ The school operates two classes of ‘Introduction to Career Exploration’ and one class of ‘Intensive Career Exploration’ each semester, providing a curriculum specialized for careers in large classes with a capacity of 200 students per class. Through this, self-exploration is strengthened in terms of values and aptitudes for a job rather than just finding any job available, and by providing lectures by senior alumni in various career areas, the university encourages students to think about their future career and employment right from the time they enter at the school.

The second area is ‘personalized guidance.’ Whereas other schools mainly provide consultations and programs outsourced through other companies, Sogang’s internal staff in the Office of Career Services, with their in-depth knowledge regarding Sogang’s students, conducts 1:1 face-to-face consultations more than 10 times a day. They identify the individual characteristics of students with different job competencies, interests, and values before suggesting appropriate job directions and supporting customized preparation courses according to the target profession. This method of guidance is called ‘job competency-based evaluation,’ taking into account companies’ recent hiring trends.

The third area is ’excellence of internal employee competency.’ The university’s Office of Career Services is composed of personnel with qualifications in career-related degrees, certificates, and corporate HR experience, offering the capacities to directly plan and deliver lectures on individual student counseling and programs. Currently, the Office of Career Services assists students by providing in-depth counseling on desired topics, such as career-focused psychological examinations and interpretations, job analysis and direction exploration, industry and company analysis, self-introduction proofreading, and mock interviews, all available through reservations that fit students’ desired schedules.

Lastly comes the area of ‘reinforcement of job training for early job setting.’ This includes not just job skills but programs for early job setting, such as ‘Job-Coaching Mentoring,’ a job-related coaching program provided by alumni and seniors, ‘Job Camp,’ a job-overview lecture taught by incumbents, and ‘Job Boot Camp,’ a workshop program that raises job competency in a short time with incumbents, along with programs like SG x Bridge to connect seniors and juniors who have been cut off during the COVID-19 era, all with the goal of helping students to set their careers at an early stage.

Choi Seong-wook, deputy director of the Office of Career Services, said, “The Office of Career Services will continue to act as a running mate that helps students get to know themselves early on and identify their proper career paths. Sogang’s identity is ‘competence,’ so my hope is that our students will have confidence and broaden Sogang’s potential, just as our alumni and seniors have done across all fields, including finance, ICT, gaming, and broadcasting culture, and will rise to global recognition for their skills.”

▲ (From upper left) Job-Coaching Mentoring and introductory classes for career exploration

(From lower left) Job Camp and Group Consulting Program, all organized by the Office of Career Services