Employees of Hanwha Group, the country’s 10th-largest conglomerate by assets, are offering one-on-one online career-mentoring services to students in rural areas to help them explore career opportunities.
The conglomerate on Tuesday agreed with ChildFund Korea and South Chungcheong Office of Education to organize the online mentoring program for students from five middle schools in rural areas for the next 12 months.
“The program was developed as part of the group’s social responsibility efforts,” a group official said.
Hanwha S&C CEO Jin Hwa-keun (right), ChildFund Korea president Lee Je-hoon (left) and vice education chief of South Chungcheong Province Jeon Chan-hwan pose together in Seoul on Tuesday after signing an agreement to launch an online mentoring program for teenage students in rural areas. (Hanwha Group)
From fashion buyers to advertising directors, sixteen professionals from Hanwha Group will video chat with the students online to talk about their jobs and lessons learned at work. Of the participating affiliates to the program are Hanwha Hotels&Resorts, Hanwha Galleria, Hanwha S&C, Hanwha 63 City, Hanwha Station Development and Hanwha Eagles, a professional baseball team.
“In line with corporate philosophy of ‘together and beyond,’ the group has contributed to nurturing talents in many sectors,” Hanwha S&C CEO Jin Hwa-keun said.
The online mentoring program came into being, reflecting the trend that demand of teenage students for information on their future carrier options and opportunities is rising high.
For Hanwha, carrying out the talent-nurturing campaign is no brainer, as the group has taken the role the past several years.
Since 2009, the group has been hosting camps to give young students various on-site experiences and chances to hear from experts in the fields they are interested in.
These experiences led Hanwha to develop online career mentoring services to teenage students from three schools located outside of Seoul in 2013. The group added 10 more schools in Jejudo Island to the program in March.
In addition, the group is planning to arrange offline meetings between mentors and mentees within the year.
“We will expand job mentoring and training services for teenagers by working together with more schools across the country,” the CEO said.
By Suk Gee-hyun (monicasuk@heraldcorp.com)
