February: Connecting Youth and Startups for Shared Growth

In the paradoxical situation of chronic youth unemployment and talent shortages in startups in our era, the gap between two entities that need each other but cannot connect persists. To resolve this issue, D.CAMP held the ‘2025 Super Intern Recruitment Fair’ on the 12th in Mapo-gu, Seoul. 42 startups and over 200 young job seekers gathered in one place, opening a new venue for connection. This event was structured into three parts: an introduction to D.CAMP's role, recruitment explanations from 26 startups, and practical advice from the data-based talent matching solution ‘24.5’. This provided young people with company information and companies with an opportunity to scout for potential talent. Last year's first attempt was successful. Over a thousand young people participated, and among them, 35 actually joined domestic and international startups, achieving the outcome of starting new careers in various fields such as marketing, management, and development. Encouraged by this success, D.CAMP has set even more ambitious plans for this year. They will increase the number of events to four per year, provide 400 jobs from 200 companies, and expand the scale to allow a total of over 3,400 young people to participate. Specifically, Lim Sae-rom, D.CAMP's Resource PO, stated that they are intensively recruiting early-stage startups in the Pre-A and Series A rounds, supporting them in finding partners to grow together. From March, they will even introduce a global internship program, expanding the options for young people beyond domestic borders to the world. It remains uncertain whether D.CAMP's attempts will be a complete solution to this complex challenge, intertwined with factors such as startup survival issues, concerns about the unstable future of young people, and a rapidly changing labor environment. However, these proactive connection attempts are an essential effort to address the chronic problems of startup talent shortages and youth unemployment in our era, fostering expectations that only continuous attempts will provide clues to a solution.