High-tech companies pose as most desired workplaces for Korean college graduates, a survey showed.

A survey on 1,244 Korean university students by JobKorea and Albamon put Naver, the country’s top search engine, as the most aspired employer for the second consecutive year. For STEM majors, Samsung Electronics was their favorite workplace.

Naver scored high on its growth and development potential by winning 21.0 percent of votes, according to the survey released Friday. Samsung Electronics emerged as the runner-up with 16.9 percent, closely followed by Kakao with 16.5 percent. Next in the list were CJ CheilJedang, a food manufacturer, with 12.9 percent, LG Electronics with 9.6 percent, Hotel Shilla, the hotel and travel arm of Samsung Group, with 9.2 percent, LG Household & Health Care with 8.5 percent, SK Hynix, the country’s second largest chipmaker, with 8.0 percent and Shinsegae with 7.5 percent.

The most popular companies among male students were Naver (18.2 percent), Samsung Electronics (18.0 percent), Kakao (15.3 percent), LG Electronics (12.4 percent), SK Hynix (12.2 percent), CJ CheilJedang (8.2 percent), LG Chem (8.2 percent) and CJ Logistics Corp (7.8 percent).

Their female counterparts picked Naver (23.2 percent) and Kakao (17.4 percent) as their top companies they want to work for. They were followed by CJ CheilJedang (16.5 percent), Samsung Electronics (16.0 percent), Hotel Shilla (11.4 percent), LG Household & Health Care (11.4 percent), Shinsegae (10.4 percent) and AmorePacific (9.8 percent).

But the students showed widely different preference for these companies depending on their disciplines. Samsung Electronics was the most popular among STEM students with 21.9 percent of the vote, followed by SK Hynix (14.3 percent), Kakao (14.0 percent), LG Chem (13.3 percent), CJ CheilJedang (13.1 percent) and LG Electronics (13.1 percent).

By Lim Hyung-joon and Minu Kim

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]