Robert Walters releases Global Salary Survey 2017

Sales and marketing professionals expected to be in high demand in domestic market

(Seoul, Korea – February 2, 2017) Robert Walters Korea, a leading bilingual specialist professional recruitment consultancy, released its Global Salary Survey 2017, a full report on the latest recruitment market trends, and hosted an event covering the report’s domestic recruitment trends at the Grand InterContinental Seoul.

At the event, which was attended by over 100 human resources professionals, Robert Walters Korea held a panel discussion analysing last year’s recruitment trends in Korea and major global markets, and presented a forecast of 2017 hiring trends by industry and job classification.

In its Global Salary Survey 2017, Robert Walters Korea reports that hiring by multinational companies grew significantly last year, with an increasing number of global organisations and SMEs entering the Korean market. Despite a relatively stagnant domestic economy, the number of multinational companies entering Korea hit a new record high in the first half of 2016, as did foreign direct investment (FDI) in Korea. The influence and presence of these multinational companies in the Korean market has never been greater.

Duncan Harrison, the Country Manager of Robert Walters Korea, said, “Tourist numbers in Korea were at historically high levels last year, supporting a strong performance by Korean retailers, who are increasingly looking for English and Chinese speaking retail staff. We expect that Korean bilingual sales and marketing professionals will be in continuously high demand in 2017.”

Robert Walters Korea also found that the Korean IT market continued to experience very strong demand from IT vendors for sales people with proven track records and industry-specific relationships. As more industry-specific IT vendors entered the Korean market, recruitment levels for talented solution architects went up, and this trend will continue in 2017.

“The demand for IT professionals with niche skill sets and good business acumen will grow in 2017,” remarked David Swan, Managing Director of Japan and Korea at Robert Walters. “Specifically in the Korean market, which sits at the forefront of digital innovation and marketing spend, professionals with digital marketing experience will be in high demand.”

About the Robert Walters Salary Survey

The Global Salary Survey is based on the analysis of permanent, interim and contract placements made across each of our offices in 27 countries around the world. The present survey, the 18th, is a compilation of surveys conducted during 2016. The survey serves as a useful reference for the latest market trends and salary levels in each country, and is widely used as a guideline by recruitment officers and job seekers.