| workers from different fields take part in an orientation session organized by Ingsotry, a career education business, at the Suseo Youth Center in southern Seoul, Sept. 11. The company recruited some 230 workers as career education instructors. They will give lectures and advice to schoolchildren as part of efforts to help them experience jobs and find a future career path. / Courtesy of Ingstory |
| Kang Nam-koo, CEO of Ingstory |
A pilot program involving a "free learning semester" has garnered positive feedback from middle school students. The program offers a rare opportunity for the students to spend one semester without exams and to explore their future career path.
It gives them a refreshing educational experience other than the intense preparation and competition for college entrance exams.
The program is also a boon to career education businesses like Ingstory that help students look forward to their future by offering them different career experiences.
Established in 2012, Ingstory focuses on helping the youth realize their dreams by experiencing diverse work areas.
"We arrange meetings between students and those in various careers who could help the students find their aptitude and plan their career path," 24-year-old Ingstory CEO Kang Nam-koo said.
He pointed out that most students these days are preparing to enter prestigious universities without knowing why they have to do so.
"This is why a lot of college students do not know what they want to do or what they should do as their graduation approaches. They need to be strongly motivated to pursue their dreams," Kang said.
He believes the root cause of this problem is the few opportunities for students to experience a variety work fields.
"With this career experience program, students can have confidence in what they want to do in the future because they become highly motivated after learning from instructors who currently work in different fields. There is not a high possibility of them changing their dreams and be at a loss about which job to choose when they grow up."
The instructors who give talks and advise children are regular workers recruited by the company itself and are not professional instructors, according to the CEO.
"We have a partnership with an instructor education institute, which trains the workers in providing meaningful talks to students," Kang said.
The program, however, helps not only the students but also the instructors.
"I remember one nail artist who had been disillusioned and who was doubting herself before meeting us and the students. She said she could return to her original intention while preparing her presentation on her career for the students," Kang said.
In addition, Ingstory provides a series of five educational programs that helps parents understand the importance of career education over college entrance exams to their children and their children's future.
"We organize talks by people who have succeeded by finding their aptitudes early and focusing on achieving their dreams, which can inspire parents to let their children do the same," Kang said.
In order for its programs to reach more students, Ingstory has recently extended its business to other regions, including Daejeon, Daeju and Busan.
"We opened three local branches this month, and they have been well received by students and parents, which was better than we expected," Kang said.
Although the company has yet to develop a plan for global market expansion, the CEO said he wants to open a branch in China by 2019 at the latest.
"I heard that the current situation in China looks like that in Korea 10 years ago. I would like to guide Chinese students toward the right direction as quickly as possible," Kang said.
Before advancing to the overseas education market, however, Kang hopes to deliver the message of hope to Korean students nationwide.
"In the case of Ireland, it has taken 40 years for the government to establish its career experience program in schools. Further, the government made it successful by teaming up with private enterprises," Kang said, adding that the Korean government will also need the cooperation of private companies like Ingstory to implement a career education program that includes a free learning semester.