Lotte is stepping up efforts to secure young talent in the Busan, Ulsan, and South Gyeongsang region. Breaking from the framework of recruitment events centered on the greater Seoul area, the group held a large-scale recruitment event in Busan, its only such venue outside the capital region, to discover local talent.
Lotte Group said it held the "2026 First-Half Lotte Job Cafe in Busan" at Lotte Hotel Busan on Thursday. The event is the group's flagship recruitment branding program, but Busan was selected as the only host city outside the capital region. Considering the characteristics of the Busan, Ulsan, and South Gyeongsang region, where various businesses in retail, tourism, chemicals, and construction are concentrated, Lotte's strategy is to provide recruitment information directly to local youth and secure outstanding talent early.
The Busan, Ulsan, and South Gyeongsang region is indeed home to a concentration of the group's major business sites, including Lotte Department Store, Lotte Hotel, Lotte Chemical, and Lotte Fine Chemical. For Lotte, securing talent that understands the local industry and market is also considered a key element in strengthening competitiveness.
Ten major affiliates participated in the event, including Lotte Department Store, Lotte E&C, Lotte Hotels & Resorts, Lotte World, Lotte Fine Chemical, Lotte GRS, FRL Korea (Uniqlo), Lotte Global Logistics, Lotte Innovate, and Daehong Communications.
Recruiters and current working-level staff conducted one-on-one customized consultations across 12 job fields, including sales management, marketing, construction, logistics, and IT. Participants were able to obtain information directly on site about each affiliate's recruitment strategy, job characteristics, and organizational culture.
A special interview lecture was also held for job seekers. In addition, experiential event booths featuring the Lotte Giants, Busan's hometown professional baseball team, and Uniqlo drew the attention of young people.
Lotte plans to link this event to actual hiring beyond a mere promotional level. The group began its second "predictable rolling recruitment" of the year on Tuesday and is recruiting a triple-digit number of new employees. It expects that the job information and recruitment consultations provided at the Job Cafe will lead to actual job applications.
Local business circles see significance in the event being held independently in Busan, at a time when large companies' recruitment events are concentrated in the capital region. The assessment is that it can reduce the burden on local youth who must travel to Seoul to obtain employment information and can have a positive effect on cultivating talent who settle in the region.
A Lotte official said, "Since the Busan, Ulsan, and South Gyeongsang region has a concentration of Lotte's core business sites, the group's interest in and efforts to discover outstanding local talent are exceptional." The official added, "Going forward, we will expand various support programs so that local youth can obtain quality employment information in their region and grow together with Lotte."
