Samsung Electronics and Korean Air were the firms Korean college students wanted to work for the most in 2014.

In a survey taken by just over 1,000 college students and conducted by local job-search portal Incruit, Korean Air was the top pick, followed by Samsung Electronics, the world’s largest smartphone-maker. It was the first time that Samsung failed to land in first place.

“It was a bit surprising to see that young job-hunters are no longer looking at Samsung as the place they would most like to work at,” said Jang Jae-sup, head of the brand communications team at Incruit. 

Younger job hunters were found to be less attracted to Samsung because while it offered better wages, it also had a reputation for being too demanding, according to industry watchers.

Another trend that was seen in the survey was that students appeared to lean toward companies with more welfare options, a phenomenon seen to reflect the unstable economic conditions.

Korean Air took first place for the same reasons, as more than one-fifth of the potential job-hunters who chose the airline said they believed the company had good welfare policies. In 2013, the airline ranked third.

In a separate survey by Job Korea, Samsung Electronics was still at the top, followed by Korean Air. But in a survey taken only by women, Korean Air was the top pick.

“Airline companies are known to provide excellent welfare for women, whether they are flight attendants or working in offices,” said Chung Joo-hee, a spokeswoman for Job Korea.

However, she added that Korean Air may take a fall in the next survey due to the so-called “nut row” caused by its heiress Cho Hyun-ah, who forced a cabin crew member to deplane for failing to properly train flight attendants how to serve nuts.

“These days, it’s not just about the work itself. It is also about the vision and reputation of the company,” Chung said.

In the Incruit survey, Kookmin Bank ranked third, followed by AmorePacific, a cosmetics company that has recently been expanding globally. The fifth-most-favored company to work for among college students was CJ CheilJedang, while in sixth place was POSCO, the world’s sixth-largest steelmaker by output.

Hyundai Motor Group, on the other hand, tumbled to ninth place from seventh in 2013, according to the survey.

The main reason it fell, according to Incruit, was that female college students were not eager to join a workforce that was rumored to resemble the military hierarchy.

Meanwhile, the government last year announced a list of new high-potential jobs for the future.

Occupations such as reputation managers, retirement planners, leisure activity planners and job relocation experts were among the jobs that the government said would become popular.

Some jobs, however, may become rare, according to a United Nations report that predicted a phaseout of mail carriers, farmers and reporters, among others.

By Kim Ji-hyun (jemmie@heraldcorp.com)