How to Apply to Korea Investment & Securities

About Korea Investment & Securities

Korea Investment & Securities (한국투자증권, ticker shorthand 'KIS' and English brand 'truefriend') is one of the top three full-service securities firms in South Korea and — measured by FY2025 results — the most profitable. The company posted standalone net operating revenue of KRW 3.0568 trillion (~USD 2.1 billion) in 2025, becoming the first Korean broker ever to exceed the 3-trillion-won threshold, with net income jumping 80% year-over-year to KRW 2.0135 trillion (~USD 1.4 billion). It is the principal subsidiary of Korea Investment Holdings (한국금융지주, KOSPI: 071050), chaired by Kim Nam-koo (김남구), the founder-controlling shareholder whose family ownership and long-tenured leadership have given the group an unusually stable, founder-led culture rare among Korean financial holdings. Kim Sung-hwan (김성환), born 1969, was named CEO in late 2023 (effective January 2024) after running the firm's private customer (PB) business; his strategic theme — repeated in his 2026 New Year address — is to surpass Nomura and become 'Asia's No. 1 brokerage.' The headquarters occupies the KIS Tower at 88 Uisadang-daero, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul, in the Yeouido (여의도) financial district — the Korean equivalent of Wall Street, two subway stops (Line 5 or 9, Yeouido Station Exit 2) from the National Assembly. The business mix is unusually balanced for a Korean broker: retail brokerage commissions account for only ~15% of revenue, while proprietary capital investment, IB underwriting, structured products, and global trading make up the rest — which is why FY2025 profits held up even as competitors leaned more heavily on the equity boom. KIS operates retail brokerage (its 'eFriend Smart' and successor mobile trading apps are perennial market-share contenders alongside Mirae Asset's m.Stock and Toss Securities), a top-tier domestic and cross-border investment banking franchise (ECM/DCM lead-tables regulars, with growing US dual-listing advisory), prime brokerage and wholesale to hedge funds, asset management through sister company Korea Investment Management (KIM, founded 1974 as Korea's first asset manager) and Korea Investment Value Asset Management (KIVAM), plus a US-registered broker-dealer (Korea Investment & Securities America, FINRA CRD 104158) and growing Asia presence including a 2026 strategic MOU with Guotai Haitong (China's largest broker post-merger) and partnership talks with J.P. Morgan Asset Management. Headcount sits in the low-thousands range across all entities; one third-party data source lists ~649 securities-only professionals, but the broader group employing PB sales staff at branches across Seoul, Incheon, Gyeonggi, Daejeon, Chungcheong, Jeolla, Daegu, Gyeongbuk, Busan, Gyeongnam, Gangwon, and Jeju puts total active employees in the low single-digit thousands. KIS recorded the highest salary increase rate (29.5%) of any top-10 Korean broker in 2025 — a consequence of the record year that flowed into the union-negotiated profit-sharing pool — but applicants should temper expectations: that figure reflects a one-time bonus cycle, not a permanent base reset. Honest framing for international readers: KIS is a Korean chaebol-adjacent, Korean-primary workplace. Day-to-day operations, reporting, internal documents, and the entire recruitment pipeline are conducted in Korean. The English-language website exists for investor relations and global counterparties; it is not a careers portal. Native or near-native business Korean (TOPIK 6 or equivalent professional fluency) is a prerequisite for nearly every Seoul-based role. KIS also carries the residual reputational overhang of the April 2023 SG Securities CFD crash, in which roughly KRW 8.2 trillion in market cap was wiped out across nine manipulated stocks; KIS, alongside Samsung Securities, Shinhan Investment, and DB Financial, was a major CFD provider and announced full closure of its CFD service effective January 2025. Compliance, risk, and customer-suitability scrutiny have been materially elevated since — applicants for sales, PB, derivatives, and risk roles should expect to discuss this honestly in interviews.

Application Process

1
Identify the right channel
Identify the right channel. KIS runs two parallel hiring tracks: 공채 (gongchae, semi-annual mass open recruitment, typically March–April for FY first-half and September–October for FY second-half) and 수시채용 (sushi, ad-hoc experienced/specialty hiring posted as needs arise). The FY2026 first-half cycle, for example, ran PB Grade-5 entry recruitment 26 March – 9 April 2026, with the converted-to-permanent internship cycle (채용연계형 인턴) running 2–22 April 2026. International applicants should plan around these windows — there is no rolling new-graduate channel.
2
Use the correct portal
Use the correct portal. The official campaign microsite is koreainvestment-recruit.com (active during open cycles, with CEO Kim Sung-hwan and Chairman Kim Nam-koo personally headlining campus info sessions at SNU, Yonsei, Korea, and Hanyang). The actual application system is hosted at kis.recruiter.co.kr — note this is geo-restricted to Korean IPs and will return a Korean-language 'domain access denied' message from outside the country, so applicants overseas must use a Korean residential connection (a domestic university VPN, an in-Korea contact, or your Seoul-based career services office). Job aggregators (JobKorea, Incruit, Catch, Saramin, Jasoseol, Linkareer, Wanted) mirror the postings but the binding application must go through the official KIS recruiter system.
3
Confirm baseline eligibility
Confirm baseline eligibility. Across all entry tracks, KIS requires: (a) a completed bachelor's degree or confirmed graduation in the cycle year, (b) no overseas-travel restrictions, (c) for male Korean applicants, completed military service or a documented exemption, (d) Korean nationality is not formally required but in practice the role descriptions assume native-level Korean professional communication; foreign nationals must hold an F-series, E-7, or convertible visa. National-merit honorees and registered persons with disabilities receive the standard chaebol preferential treatment (가산점) per Korean law.
4
Choose your job family carefully
Choose your job family carefully. The 공채 splits into distinct lanes that do NOT cross-apply: (1) 본사영업/IB — investment banking, project finance, wholesale, pension, with a heavy preference for finance/economics majors and CFA Level 2+ candidates; (2) PB (5급 신입) — branch-based wealth management, the largest hiring lane and the firm's traditional 'mass on-ramp'; (3) 운용 (asset management, trading, prop) — quantitative or markets background expected; (4) 리서치 (research) — sector analysts, expects strong written Korean and modeling, often filled from masters' programs and 인턴 conversions; (5) 본사관리 — global business, management strategy, HR, compliance, risk; (6) IT/Digital — engineers for trading systems, mobile apps, data platforms, increasingly hired through the 수시 track as well; (7) 업무직원 6급 — back-office support staff at branches nationwide, a separate lower-grade track. Picking the wrong lane is the #1 self-inflicted rejection cause — you cannot 'apply broadly' as you might at a US firm.
5
Submit the 자기소개서 (jaso)
Submit the 자기소개서 (jaso). This is the spine of the entire application and the single biggest filter. The 서류 (document) stage screens out the majority of applicants — well-regarded jaso authoring guides note that 'if your jaso is strong, you are very likely to convert at later stages,' which is the polite way of saying weak essays are an automatic reject. KIS rotates four to five prompts per cycle, but the perennial themes are: (i) 성장과정 — your formative experiences, family environment, school, friendships, and the single event that most shaped you (this is asked literally; do not skip the personal detail expected in Korean jaso convention); (ii) 실패/좌절 극복 사례 — a concrete failure and what you learned; (iii) 증권업 지원동기 — why securities specifically (NOT 'why finance,' NOT 'why banking' — the prompt explicitly tests whether you understand the difference between a securities firm and a commercial bank); (iv) 직무 이해 및 회사 선택 이유 — your understanding of the chosen function and why KIS specifically over Mirae Asset, NH투자, KB증권, Samsung Securities. Strong essays cite KIS-specific facts: the 3-trillion-won FY2025 milestone, the J.P. Morgan AM partnership, the Guotai Haitong MOU, the KIM/KIVAM asset-management arm, or the firm's PEF/NPL growth. Weak essays cite salary, brand, or 'I want to grow.'
6
Pass the 인적성 검사 (in-jeok-seong, the SOC aptitude test)
Pass the 인적성 검사 (in-jeok-seong, the SOC aptitude test). Held on a fixed weekend after document screening passes are notified, typically online with proctoring or in-person at a Seoul venue. Multiple test-prep guides describe the KIS in-jeok-seong as 'easier than Samsung GSAT,' with five sections: (1) Economic and corporate knowledge (~20 questions on macro, market events, and KIS-specific facts — read the company's annual report, the FSC press releases, and recent Korean financial press), (2) Verbal/logical reasoning (~20 questions, reading comprehension and inference, easier than GSAT), (3) Quantitative (~20 questions: salt-water mixing, distance/speed/time, sequences — middle-school-to-high-school level), (4) Situational judgment (no objectively correct answer; tests cultural fit and ethics — be conservative and team-oriented), (5) Personality assessment (~300 items, ~30–45 minutes, answer consistently and quickly). Practice with the official 한국투자 인적성 문제집 sold in Korean bookstores and the free mock tests on JobKorea/Incruit.
7
Complete the AI 면접 (some cycles)
Complete the AI 면접 (some cycles). Recent FY cycles have included an asynchronous AI interview module: 1-minute self-introduction, strengths/weaknesses, motivation, plus several gamified cognitive tasks (pattern matching, working memory, risk-balancing). Practice on YouTube walkthroughs of the standard Korean AI-interview vendor games (most Korean financial firms use the same two or three vendors). Stable lighting, a quiet room, a wired internet connection, and a neutral background are non-negotiable.
8
1차 면접 (실무진 PT + 인성)
1차 면접 (실무진 PT + 인성). The first in-person round at KIS Tower in Yeouido. Standard format: six candidates per panel, three interviewers (실무진, working-level managers from your applied division), 30 minutes total. Expect a 1-minute self-introduction and roughly two individualized questions per candidate. The dominant question pattern is motivational, not technical: 'Why securities?' 'Why not a bank?' 'Why not an SI/IT firm?' 'Why KIS specifically?' Experience-based competency questions (a time you worked on a team, a time you failed, a time you persuaded someone) are next. For IB, Research, and 운용 candidates, a PT/case (presentation) is often added: a stock pitch, a sector view, a deal structuring exercise, or an opinion on a recent market event — given 30–60 minutes of preparation, then a 5–10 minute presentation in Korean to the panel.
9
2차 임원 면접 (executive round)
2차 임원 면접 (executive round). A smaller panel of senior executives (often including a managing director and an HR head). This round weighs character, long-term commitment, and 'fit' with the founder-led KIS culture. Questions skew personal and ethics-oriented: how you handle conflict, your view on the CFD episode and customer suitability, your career horizon, willingness to relocate to a regional branch. Dress code is conservative business formal — black or dark navy suit, white shirt, dark tie for men; conservative suit and minimal accessories for women. This is not the venue for personal-brand individuality.
10
신체검사 + 신원조회 + 처우협상 + 입사
신체검사 + 신원조회 + 처우협상 + 입사. Successful candidates complete a medical exam, background and credit check (Korean financial-sector regulatory requirement — material credit problems can disqualify), and offer-letter execution. Entry classes for 공채 traditionally start together with a multi-week corporate onboarding ('연수원' residential training) that builds the lifelong cohort bond (입사동기) central to Korean corporate culture.

Resume Tips for Korea Investment & Securities

recommended

Submit Korean

Submit Korean. The binding document is the KIS jaso submitted through the kis.recruiter.co.kr system, in Korean, in the company's prescribed prompt format. A US/UK-style English résumé is irrelevant for the Korean entry pipeline; submit one only if the role explicitly asks for it (some IB and global-business 수시 postings do).

recommended

Stay inside the character limits

Stay inside the character limits. Each jaso prompt has a hard character cap (typically 500–1,500 자 / Korean characters per item, including spaces — 공백 포함). Going under 70% of the cap signals weak commitment; the system truncates over-the-cap submissions.

recommended

Lead with KIS-specific evidence, not generic finance interest

Lead with KIS-specific evidence, not generic finance interest. Cite at least two verifiable facts about the firm in your motivation paragraph: e.g., 'FY2025 net operating revenue of KRW 3.05T,' 'the J.P. Morgan AM strategic discussion in October 2025,' 'the Guotai Haitong MOU in March 2026,' or 'CEO 김성환 대표이사's stated goal to surpass Nomura.' Generic praise of 'Korea's leading securities firm' reads as boilerplate.

recommended

Address the 증권 vs 은행 distinction directly

Address the 증권 vs 은행 distinction directly. Almost every successful candidate confirms they were asked some form of 'why securities, not a bank?' Have a clear, two-sentence answer rooted in your interest in capital markets risk, principal investment, or advisory work — not 'higher pay.'

recommended

Quantify, but in Korean conventions

Quantify, but in Korean conventions. Korean jaso prefers concrete numbers (수치화) but in cohort-relative form: 'top 5% of 200 students,' 'led a 12-person team,' 'reduced processing time by 40%.' Avoid US-style résumé bullets with dollar amounts unless you can also provide them in won.

recommended

Show 끈기 (perseverance) and 책임감 (responsibility) in the failure essay

Show 끈기 (perseverance) and 책임감 (responsibility) in the failure essay. Korean securities culture deeply values graceful endurance through setbacks. The strongest 실패 essays are not heroic recoveries; they are honest accounts of a small failure, the personal accountability you took, and a specific behavioral change you carried forward.

recommended

List Korean financial certifications above academic credentials for non-elite-sc

List Korean financial certifications above academic credentials for non-elite-school applicants. Useful: 투자자산운용사, 증권투자권유자문인력, 파생상품투자권유자문인력, 펀드투자권유자문인력, 신용분석사, 재경관리사, AICPA, CFA Level 2+, FRM, KICPA. These are objective signals that bypass the 'SKY/in-Seoul' undergraduate filter.

recommended

If you are a foreign applicant, be explicit about Korean fluency and visa status

If you are a foreign applicant, be explicit about Korean fluency and visa status in the relevant jaso prompt. Claim TOPIK level (6 is the practical bar for office work), name the visa class you hold or are eligible for (F-2/F-4/F-5/E-7), and acknowledge you understand Korean office norms. Vagueness here is interpreted as a soft 'no.'

recommended

Tailor by lane

Tailor by lane. PB applicants should emphasize people skills, sales aptitude, and willingness to work in a regional branch; IB/PF applicants should emphasize modeling, deal exposure, and English; Research applicants should attach (or reference) a writing sample — a stock pitch or sector note in Korean — to prove they can produce publishable-quality analysis; IT/Digital applicants should foreground GitHub, languages (Java/Spring for trading systems, Python for data, Swift/Kotlin for mobile), and any fintech project work.

ATS System: Custom in-house Korean recruitment system (kis.recruiter.co.kr) plus an in-cycle campaign microsite at koreainvestment-recruit.com

KIS does not use Greenhouse, Lever, Workday, SuccessFactors, or any global ATS for its Korean entry-level pipeline. The official application portal is hosted on the kis.recruiter.co.kr subdomain — a custom Korean-built recruiter platform that is geo-restricted: requests from outside Korea return a Korean-language 'domain access denied' (해당 도메인으로 접속 할 수 없습니다) error and never reach the login page. During an active open-recruitment cycle, the firm spins up a separate marketing microsite at koreainvestment-recruit.com (verified live, HTTP 200) that publishes campus information sessions, the recruitment guidebook, the timeline, and the link into the kis.recruiter.co.kr application module. Job-aggregator listings on JobKorea, Incruit, Catch, Jasoseol, Saramin, Linkareer, and Wanted mirror the postings but redirect to the same official portal for binding submission. There is no automated keyword-parsing 'ATS' in the Anglo-American sense; the system is a structured form-collection and screening workflow that feeds essays and credentials to internal HR reviewers, who score against a rubric and forward shortlists to division hiring managers. Foreign nationals applying from abroad must use a Korean residential IP (university VPN, residence in Korea, or in-Korea proxy) to access the application module.

Verify access early. Open koreainvestment-recruit.com from your normal connection to confirm the cycle is active, then test kis.recruiter.co.kr from a Korean IP at least 7 days before the deadline — the geo-block is not negotiable and discovering it on submission day is fatal.
Type Korean directly into the form fields — do NOT paste pre-formatted text from Word or Google Docs. Korean recruiter forms strip rich formatting and sometimes mangle Hangul encoding when pasted from non-UTF-8 sources; type or paste plain text and re-check character counts (공백 포함, including spaces).
Save drafts often. The custom system has session timeouts; budget multiple sittings to complete all jaso prompts and use the system's draft-save feature.
Submit at least 24 hours before the deadline. Korean chaebol recruitment portals reliably crash in the final hours of every cycle as tens of thousands of applicants submit simultaneously; the system does not extend deadlines for outages.
Upload required documents in Korean format. Transcripts (성적증명서), graduation certificates (졸업증명서/졸업예정증명서), language scores, and certification PDFs should be the official Korean institutional issues — Apostilled foreign documents are accepted but should be paired with a Korean translation.

Interview Culture

KIS interviews are formal, hierarchical, and conducted entirely in Korean unless the role is explicitly cross-border IB or global business (in which case 30–50% may switch to English mid-round, often unannounced, to test fluency). The cultural register is 존댓말 (formal honorifics) at all times, including in self-introduction; using 반말 or casual register, even by accident, ends the interview in practice. Dress is uniform: black or charcoal suit, white shirt, conservative tie, polished black shoes; women wear an equivalent conservative business suit with minimal jewelry and natural-tone makeup. Hair is tied back and off the face. Punctuality means arriving at the KIS Tower lobby 30 minutes early — Korean financial-sector convention treats 'on time' as 'late.' The 1차 panel format (six candidates, three interviewers, 30 minutes) compresses the air; the strongest candidates speak concisely (60–90 seconds per answer), make eye contact across the panel rather than fixating on one interviewer, and explicitly defer when another candidate is mid-answer. PT/case rounds for IB, Research, and 운용 are conducted in Korean, on a flipchart or projected slide, with a Korean-language Bloomberg/Refinitiv terminal often available — practice your stock pitch and sector view in Korean, with Korean ticker conventions (e.g., '삼성전자 005930' not 'Samsung Electronics SSNLF'). The 2차 임원 round is more conversational but tests gravitas and long-horizon commitment. Be prepared to discuss the 2023 SG/CFD episode honestly: the responsible answer acknowledges the customer-suitability failures across the industry, references KIS's January 2025 CFD service closure, and ties it forward to the heightened compliance environment KIS now operates in. Avoid blaming individuals or competitors. Salary, work hours, and benefits are not appropriate first-round topics; they are addressed in 처우협상 after offer. Standard Korean office culture applies post-hire: 회식 (team dinners), 입사동기 cohort bonds, deferential interaction with seniors (선배), and high working-hour expectations during deal closes, earnings season, and IPO underwriting cycles — though KIS, like all Korean brokers, operates under the 52-hour weekly cap with strict timecard compliance, materially better than the pre-2018 environment.

What Korea Investment & Securities Looks For

Native or near-native Korean fluency (TOPIK 6 or equivalent professional level). Non-negotiable for nearly every Seoul-based role; a single grammatical slip in 1차 면접 weighs heavily.
Demonstrated, specific interest in the securities industry — not 'finance' generically. Successful applicants can articulate the difference between a 증권사 and a 은행, between principal investment and lending, between brokerage commission and IB underwriting.
Cultural fit with a founder-led, conservative chaebol-adjacent organization. KIS values 인성 (character), 끈기 (perseverance), and 책임감 (responsibility) over individualistic brilliance.
Lane-specific technical depth: PB candidates need sales aptitude, basic securities certifications (투자자산운용사 etc.), and willingness to start at a regional branch; IB candidates need modeling, accounting, and English; Research candidates need writing samples and modeling; 운용 candidates need quantitative depth; IT candidates need shipped projects in relevant stacks (Java/Spring, Python, mobile).
Academic pedigree (서울대, 연세대, 고려대 / SKY plus 카이스트, 포항공대, and top in-Seoul finance programs) is a strong soft signal but not strictly required; domestic certifications and conversion through the 인턴 channel are well-trodden alternative paths.
Cohort orientation. KIS cares whether you will integrate into your 입사동기 group and stay 5+ years. Job-hopping signals on the jaso get penalized.
Compliance and ethics awareness. Post-2023, KIS interviewers probe customer-suitability instincts; candidates who can articulate why the CFD episode mattered demonstrate the regulatory literacy the firm now expects.
Bilingual capability for global lanes. The IB cross-border, ECM/DCM origination, prime brokerage, and Korea Investment & Securities America roles weigh English heavily — the J.P. Morgan AM and Guotai Haitong partnerships have raised the bar.
Genuine engagement with KIS's strategic narrative. CEO Kim Sung-hwan's Asia-No.1 thesis, the asset management push through KIM/KIVAM, NPL/PEF growth, and US dual-listing advisory should not be news to you in the interview room.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I apply to Korea Investment & Securities from outside Korea?

Practically, no — at least not without help. The official application portal at kis.recruiter.co.kr is geo-restricted to Korean IP addresses and returns a Korean-language access-denied error from overseas connections. You will need to use a Korean residential connection: an in-Korea contact, a Korean university VPN if you are an alumni, or your in-Korea career services office. The campaign microsite at koreainvestment-recruit.com is globally accessible for information, but the binding application must be submitted through the Korean-IP-only portal. International applicants for global IB or 미주법인 roles occasionally reach KIS through external recruiters or LinkedIn 수시 postings, but the entry-level 공채 pipeline is structurally Korea-resident.

Do I need to speak Korean fluently to work at KIS?

For nearly every Seoul-based role, yes — at TOPIK 6 or professional-business equivalent. The entire application process, the SOC aptitude test, all interviews, daily team operations, internal documents, and client interactions are in Korean. The exceptions are narrow: the New York-based Korea Investment & Securities America broker-dealer (FINRA CRD 104158) operates in English, and a handful of cross-border IB, ECM/DCM, and Capital-Group/J.P.-Morgan-style global business roles allow English-Korean bilingual operation. Even in those roles, written internal reporting back to Seoul is Korean. If your Korean is intermediate (TOPIK 3–4), you are not currently a competitive applicant for entry-level 공채 — focus on either improving language fluency or targeting global-only postings via 수시 channels.

What is the SOC (인적성) test like, and how should I prepare?

Multiple test-prep sources describe the KIS in-jeok-seong as one of the more manageable Korean securities-industry aptitude tests — easier than the Samsung GSAT in both verbal and quantitative sections. Expect five sections totaling roughly 80 substantive questions plus a 300-item personality battery: (1) economic and corporate knowledge (~20 items, including KIS-specific facts you should learn from the company website and recent press), (2) verbal/logical (~20 items, reading comprehension and inference), (3) quantitative (~20 items, basic algebra and word problems at high-school level), (4) situational judgment (no fixed correct answers), (5) personality (~300 items, answer quickly and consistently). Prepare with the 한국투자 인적성 문제집 sold in Korean bookstores, free practice modules on JobKorea/Incruit, and at least two timed mock sessions. Sleep before test day; speed and stamina matter more than any single answer.

How important is the 자기소개서 (jaso) versus the interview?

The jaso is the single most important component. Korean recruitment veterans and KIS-specific application guides repeatedly note that 'the document stage decides almost everything — if your jaso is strong, you will likely convert at later stages.' This means the 서류 round is the primary filter, eliminating the large majority of applicants before they ever reach the SOC test, and the interviews function more as confirmation and fit-checks than as independent re-evaluations. Invest the bulk of your preparation time writing, revising, and getting Korean-native feedback on your jaso. Specific, KIS-fact-cited essays beat well-written generic essays.

Does the 2023 SG Securities CFD scandal still affect KIS hiring?

Yes, materially. KIS was one of four major Korean CFD providers (alongside Samsung Securities, Shinhan Investment, and DB Financial) implicated in the supply chain that enabled the April 2023 stock-manipulation crash, in which roughly KRW 8.2 trillion in market capitalization was destroyed across nine listed companies. KIS announced the formal closure of its CFD service effective January 16, 2025. The reputational and regulatory consequences flow into hiring in two ways: (a) compliance, risk management, internal audit, and customer-suitability roles have expanded headcount and standards, and (b) interviewers — especially in 2차 임원 rounds — probe candidates' instincts on customer protection, suitability, and ethics. The strongest interview answers acknowledge the failure honestly, reference KIS's CFD closure as evidence the firm has restructured, and articulate why heightened compliance is now a competitive advantage. Defensive or dismissive answers signal poor cultural fit.

What does KIS pay, and is the 29.5% salary increase reported in 2025 sustainable?

KIS recorded the highest salary increase rate (29.5%) of any top-10 Korean securities firm in 2025, but applicants should read that figure carefully. Korean securities-firm pay is heavily weighted to performance bonuses (PS/PI) tied to the firm's annual profit pool — and FY2025 was a record year with net income up 80%. The 29.5% increase therefore largely reflects bonus-pool inflation, not a permanent base reset. Expect strong but volatile total compensation: in record years (2025-style) you will materially outearn comparable jobs in Korean commercial banking; in flat or down years (2022-style) total comp can fall meaningfully. Base salary for 신입 5급 PB and 본사 entry roles starts in the high-KRW-40-millions to mid-50-millions per year, with bonuses adding 30–100%+ depending on the year and division. IB and 운용 roles run higher, especially with deal-related performance pay.

Which divisions hire most heavily, and what are the differences?

By volume, PB (Private Banking, 5급 신입) is the largest entry channel — KIS staffs branches across Seoul, Incheon, Gyeonggi, Daejeon, Chungcheong, Jeolla, Daegu, Gyeongbuk, Busan, Gyeongnam, Gangwon, and Jeju, and PB intake refreshes the salesforce that anchors retail brokerage market share. IB / 본사영업 (investment banking, project finance, wholesale, pension) is smaller but more competitive and higher-comp, with finance/economics majors and CFA-track candidates favored. 운용 (asset management, trading, prop) hires quantitative profiles. 리서치 (research) is a small lane, often filled through 인턴 conversion. 본사관리 (HQ management — global business, strategy, HR, compliance, risk) is competitive and increasingly cross-functional. IT/Digital is hired both through 공채 and 수시, with engineers building trading systems, mobile apps, and data infrastructure. The 업무직원 6급 track (back-office support at branches) is a separate, lower-grade entry path. Choose deliberately; you cannot apply across lanes in one cycle.

What is the difference between Korea Investment & Securities and Korea Investment Holdings, KIM, and KIVAM?

Korea Investment Holdings (한국금융지주, KOSPI: 071050, chaired by Kim Nam-koo) is the listed parent holding company. Korea Investment & Securities (한국투자증권, the broker-dealer led by CEO Kim Sung-hwan) is the largest subsidiary and the one you are likely applying to. Korea Investment Management (KIM, founded 1974 — Korea's first asset manager) and Korea Investment Value Asset Management (KIVAM) are separate sister-company asset managers under an intermediate Korea Investment Asset Management Holdings; they hire on their own cycles and have distinct cultures (KIVAM is value-investing-oriented, often associated with the late Lee Chae-won lineage of Korean value investors). Korea Investment Partners (venture capital), Korea Investment Mutual Savings Bank, and Korea Investment & Securities America are additional group entities. Confirm which entity's posting you are applying to before submitting — applications do not transfer between them.

What is KIS's strategy under CEO Kim Sung-hwan, and how should I reflect it in my application?

CEO Kim Sung-hwan, in his February 2025 forward outlook and 2026 New Year address, articulated the strategic ambition to surpass Nomura Securities and become 'Asia's No. 1 brokerage,' anchored on three pillars: (1) scaling the asset management franchise, including the J.P. Morgan Asset Management partnership announced October 2025 and the Capital Group product collaboration; (2) deepening cross-border presence, including the March 2026 strategic MOU with Guotai Haitong (China's largest broker post-merger); (3) growing alternative investment — NPL (non-performing loans), private equity, private debt — building on the firm's already-balanced business mix where retail brokerage is only ~15% of revenue and proprietary investment is ~50%. Strong jaso essays and interview answers reference these specifics by name and tie your personal interest to one or two of them concretely. Generic 'I want to contribute to KIS's growth' phrasing wastes the opportunity.

I am a foreign national with a Korean F-series visa and TOPIK 6 — am I a viable candidate?

Yes, and increasingly so as KIS expands its global business. Make four things explicit on your jaso and in interviews: (a) your visa status and work authorization, (b) your TOPIK score and any Korean-language degree or work experience, (c) your understanding of Korean office culture (회식, 존댓말, 입사동기 cohort norms), and (d) the bilingual or country-specific value you bring (English-mother-tongue editing of investor materials, Mandarin for the Guotai Haitong relationship, Japanese for the Asia-No.1 push, Vietnamese/Indonesian for emerging-market expansion). Foreign applicants who treat Korean fluency as 'good enough' rather than 'fully native' tend to lose at the 1차 panel; foreign applicants who lean into a clear bilingual value proposition tend to win at the 2차 round. The global business and IB cross-border lanes are the most accessible entry points.

How to Apply to Korea Investment & Securities

Key Takeaways

About Korea Investment & Securities

Application Process

Resume Tips for Korea Investment & Securities

Submit Korean

Stay inside the character limits

Lead with KIS-specific evidence, not generic finance interest

Address the 증권 vs 은행 distinction directly

Quantify, but in Korean conventions

Show 끈기 (perseverance) and 책임감 (responsibility) in the failure essay

List Korean financial certifications above academic credentials for non-elite-sc

If you are a foreign applicant, be explicit about Korean fluency and visa status

Tailor by lane

ATS System: Custom in-house Korean recruitment system (kis.recruiter.co.kr) plus an in-cycle campaign microsite at koreainvestment-recruit.com

Interview Culture

What Korea Investment & Securities Looks For

Frequently Asked Questions

Open Positions

Related Resources

Similar Companies

Related Articles

Sources

Related Articles

Kim Sung-hwan tapped as Korea Investment & Securities CEO — The Korea Herald

Aftereffects of the 'SG crash' incident — Korea Investment & Securities also suspended CFD services — Topdaily

[New Year's Address] Kim Sung-hwan, President of Korea Investment & Securities: 'It's Just Beginning... We Will Rise to Become Asia's No. 1' — The Asia Business Daily

Korea Investment & Securities to Launch Open Recruitment for New Employees in Second Half of 2025 — Asia Business Daily