Hiring a Korean professional from abroad usually takes two to three months from kickoff to start date, mostly because employed candidates serve about one month's notice. The process runs from choosing a route (contractor, Employer of Record or your own entity) through sourcing, structured interviews and a written offer quoting gross annual salary, to enrolling the hire in Korea's four social insurances.
What are the steps to hire someone in Korea?
A compliant hire from outside Korea follows nine steps, and the calendar is driven by sourcing and the candidate's notice period rather than by paperwork.
- Define the role and choose the hiring route.
- Post the job and source candidates.
- Screen applications, English level and work samples.
- Interview in two or three structured rounds over video.
- Check references with the candidate's written consent.
- Make a written offer quoting gross annual salary.
- Sign the employment or service contract.
- Enroll the hire in social insurance, or onboard through the EOR.
- Run a structured first 90 days, including the probation review.
| Stage | Planning range | What drives it |
|---|---|---|
| Role definition and route | about 1 week | Budget, language level, hiring route |
| Sourcing and screening | 2–4 weeks | Seniority, niche skills, bilingual requirement |
| Interviews and references | 1–3 weeks | Number of rounds, time zones |
| Offer and contract | 3–7 days | Negotiation, translation |
| Candidate's notice period | about 4 weeks | Contract terms, Civil Act default |
| Onboarding | days to 2 weeks | EOR setup or own payroll registration |
These are planning estimates, not guarantees; niche searches take longer, and setting up your own Korean entity typically adds 4–8 weeks.
How do you choose a hiring route and define the role?
Decide first whether the person will be a contractor, an employee of an Employer of Record (EOR), or an employee of your own Korean entity, because that choice fixes the contract, payroll and timeline.
| Route | Best for | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Independent contractor | Project work, fast starts | Misclassification if the person works fixed hours under supervision, exclusively for you |
| Employer of Record | Full-time staff without a Korean entity | Monthly fee of roughly USD 400–1,000+ per employee |
| Own entity (subsidiary or branch) | Larger or long-term teams | Setup usually takes 4–8 weeks; you run payroll and compliance yourself |
Then write down what the job really requires: scope and reporting line, expected overlap with your time zone, the English level needed (daily written English is different from client-facing presentations), whether Korean is required, and an annual gross salary range. Korean candidates read postings closely and expect to know whether a role is permanent (정규직, jeonggyujik) or fixed-term (계약직, gyeyakjik); fixed-term contracts are limited to two years in total. The employment types guide compares the routes in detail.
Where do you find Korean candidates?
Start with Korean job platforms, then add LinkedIn and referrals: most Korean job seekers search domestic sites, and the strongest senior candidates are often passive.
| Platform | Strongest for |
|---|---|
| JobKorea, Saramin | Broad reach across office, sales and mid-career roles; the two largest platforms by app usage in the first half of 2026 |
| Wanted | Startup, tech, product and marketing roles |
| Remember | Career network of experienced professionals; direct outreach to passive candidates |
| Programmers, Jumpit | Software developers |
| Rocketpunch | Startup roles |
| Bilingual candidates and roles at foreign companies |
Post in both Korean and English, state the salary range and remote-work terms, and explain who the company is: a foreign brand that candidates do not recognize has to earn trust with specifics.
How do you screen and interview Korean candidates?
Screen for evidence of the skills the job needs, such as working English, portfolio or code quality and a steady career story, then run two or three structured video interviews scheduled around Korea Standard Time (KST, UTC+9).
Korean applications usually include a resume (이력서, iryeokseo) and a self-introduction letter (자기소개서, jagisogaeseo); experienced candidates often add a career description (경력기술서, gyeongnyeok gisulseo). Traditional resumes may show a photo or date of birth, but do not ask for details unrelated to the job: the Fair Hiring Procedure Act bars employers with 30 or more workers from requesting items such as appearance, height, weight, birthplace, marital status or family assets.
- English check: a live conversation plus a short written exercise reflects real work better than a test score.
- Work sample: review portfolios, code or edited videos; keep take-home tasks short, or pay for longer ones.
- Interview rounds: a recruiter screen, a hiring-manager or technical interview, then a final round, each scored against the same criteria.
- Time zones: Korea has no daylight saving time. US West Coast late afternoon is the next early morning in Korea, and European mornings are late afternoon in Korea; the remote work guide has an overlap table.
For references (평판조회, pyeongpan johoe), get the candidate's written consent and the referees' names, since Korea's Personal Information Protection Act generally requires consent to collect personal data. A former employer must issue a certificate of employment (경력증명서, gyeongnyeok jeungmyeongseo) on request, and many Korean employers also ask finalists for their health insurance enrollment history (건강보험 자격득실확인서), which lists past employers and dates.
What should a Korean job offer and contract include?
Put the offer in writing with gross annual salary, how it is paid each month, bonus and allowance terms, probation and start date, then turn it into a signed employment contract that meets the Labor Standards Act.
- Gross annual salary (연봉): candidates compare offers on the gross annual figure, paid in monthly installments.
- Bonuses and allowances: say whether holiday bonuses at Seollal and Chuseok, performance bonuses and meal or transport allowances are fixed or discretionary.
- Severance: it accrues on top of salary. Avoid "severance included" (퇴직금 포함) packages, because severance cannot legally be pre-paid monthly.
- Probation: commonly up to 3 months; paying 90% of the minimum wage is allowed only in the first 3 months, on contracts of one year or more, and not for simple manual work.
- Minimum wage: KRW 10,320 per hour in 2026 (KRW 2,156,880 per month), rising to KRW 10,700 on 1 January 2027; this matters mainly for junior or part-time roles.
The written contract must state wages, working hours, holidays, leave, place of work and duties, and the employee must receive a copy. Use a bilingual Korean–English version, and file work rules (취업규칙, chwieop gyuchik) with the Ministry of Employment and Labor once you reach 10 employees. The compensation guide covers pay structure and benchmarks.
How long is the notice period in Korea?
No statute sets a minimum notice that an employee must give, but if the contract and work rules are silent, a resignation takes effect one month after the employer receives it, so plan for about four weeks.
For monthly-paid staff, the Civil Act lets the resignation take effect after the end of the pay period that follows the one in which notice was given, which can stretch beyond a month if the employer does not agree to an earlier date. In practice most contracts and work rules ask for 30 days, and many employers agree to release people sooner.
Timing also shapes start dates:
- Severance eligibility: a candidate close to one year of service may wait to pass the anniversary, because severance applies only after a full year.
- Bonuses: holiday or annual bonuses that require being on the payroll on the payment date can delay resignations.
- Counteroffers: stay in weekly contact during the notice period and settle the start date in writing.
What happens in onboarding and the first 90 days?
The employer or EOR registers the hire for social insurance and payroll, pays and documents wages monthly, and holds a probation review around day 90.
- Social insurance: report the hire to health insurance within 14 days, and to pension, employment and industrial accident insurance by the 15th of the following month. Employer contributions add roughly 10.5–11.5% to gross salary; see the tax and social insurance guide.
- Payroll: wages must be paid in full, directly and in currency, at least once a month on a fixed day, with an itemized wage statement. For mid-year hires, collect the previous employer's tax withholding receipt so the year-end tax settlement (연말정산, yeonmal jeongsan) covers the full year.
- Setup: ship equipment, create accounts and agree on core hours and communication channels before day one.
- Leave: new employees earn 1 day of paid leave per month of service in the first year, up to 11 days.
- Probation review: set 30-, 60- and 90-day goals in writing. Ending employment during probation still needs an objectively reasonable reason and written notice of the reason and date, even though the 30-day notice requirement does not apply in the first 3 months.
What mistakes do foreign employers make when hiring in Korea?
Most problems come from importing home-country habits into a Korean process.
- Treating a full-time, supervised worker as a freelancer.
- Quoting monthly or net pay instead of gross annual salary.
- Folding severance into the salary figure.
- Asking about marriage plans, family or appearance in interviews.
- Assuming a two-week start date for someone who must serve a month's notice.
- Leaving candidates without feedback for weeks; strong candidates often have other offers.
- Relying on LinkedIn alone and missing candidates on JobKorea, Saramin, Wanted and Remember.
How Hire From Korea helps
Hire From Korea is a recruiter-led hiring partner run by Partners and Senior Recruiters Daniel Ahn and Sandy Kang, operated by DevTeam Co., Ltd. in Incheon. We source and vet candidates, deliver a shortlist of 3–5, coordinate bilingual English–Korean interviews and reply to inquiries within 24 hours. Fees are a one-time setup fee of USD 500–1,000 and a success fee of 15–20% of first-year salary charged only on a successful hire, with a 30-day replacement guarantee; contract review, payroll and tax, and EOR setup are quoted separately. Start a hiring request.
Frequently asked questions
Can I hire someone in Korea without setting up a company?
Yes. You can engage a genuine independent contractor directly, or employ the person through an Employer of Record, which becomes the legal employer in Korea and runs payroll and social insurance for a monthly fee. A Korean entity becomes worthwhile when you plan a larger or long-term team.
Is a probation period allowed in Korean employment contracts?
Yes, and up to 3 months is common. Probation does not remove the need for a reasonable reason to end employment, and it does not by itself justify paying less than the agreed salary.
Do interviews need to be conducted in Korean?
No. Roles that use English at work are usually interviewed in English. Run at least one round in the team's working language, and add a bilingual interviewer when the candidate's Korean also matters.
Can a candidate start before their notice period ends?
Usually not. Until the resignation takes effect the candidate is still employed by the current company, so an early start can breach that contract. Ask the candidate to negotiate an earlier release date instead.
What documents does a new hire in Korea need to provide?
Typically identification, bank details for payroll, signed contract copies, and, for mid-year hires, the previous employer's tax withholding receipt for the year-end settlement. Foreign nationals also need an Alien Registration Card and a visa status that permits the work.
Sources
- Ministry of Employment and Labor — When does a resignation take effect? — Civil Act Article 660 one-month rule and the pay-period rule
- Korea Legislation Research Institute — Labor Standards Act (English) — dismissal notice and the 3-month exception, certificate of employment, wage payment and wage statements
- National Pension Service — Workplace subscriber reporting — enrollment report due by the 15th of the following month
- Easy Law (Ministry of Government Legislation) — Health insurance enrollment of employees — 14-day reporting deadline
- Mercer — South Korea restricts private-sector hiring based on bribes, personal bias — Fair Hiring Procedure Act scope (30+ employees) and prohibited questions
- The Korea Times — JobKorea widens lead as Korea's top recruitment platform (July 2026) — platform ranking by app usage, first half of 2026
This guide is general information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change — confirm specifics with a licensed Korean labor attorney (노무사) or tax accountant.