"I Thought My Life Would Change After Getting Hired at SK Hynix, But After Starting Work, My Salary Was..." The Reason Behind the Disappointment

"I Thought I Got into Hynix, But It Was a Partner Company"

SK hynix Headquarters in Icheon. Photo by Yonhap News

SK hynix's unprecedented performance bonuses are making waves throughout the job market, even leading to some unexpected incidents. One story that has been drawing attention involves a job seeker who, after being accepted as a security guard for SK hynix, later discovered that he was actually an employee of an in-house subcontractor rather than of the headquarters itself. This episode highlights just how intense the so-called "Hynix fever" currently sweeping the job market has become.

"I thought my life was about to change"... Euphoria turns to disappointment

On July 2, posts have been rapidly spreading across various social networking services (SNS), with people sharing sentiments such as, "I boasted to my friends about getting a job at SK hynix, but after learning the truth, I felt like I wanted to die."

The writer, identified as Mr. A, said, "I saw a job posting for a security guard at SK hynix on JobKorea, applied, and was accepted. I contacted everyone I knew—family, relatives, friends—to brag that I got into Hynix, and I even threw a celebration party." His parents were moved to tears by the news, and his friends were all envious. Mr. A recalled, "I thought my life was finally about to take off."

Confirmation of subcontractor status..."Everyone already knows, what should I do?"

However, Mr. A explained that after his first day on the job, he faced a reality that was different from what he expected. "When I asked a senior colleague, I learned I wasn't actually employed by SK hynix. The supposedly 31 million won annual salary turned out to be a low base salary like that of production workers, and I thought I would be making over 100 million won with overtime and performance bonuses, but that wasn't the case," he explained.

He continued, "I thought I was joining an internal Hynix team, but it turned out I was an employee of a subcontractor working at the R&D center. I've already told everyone around me, and now I don’t know what to do."

The company Mr. A referred to is a subcontractor that provides outsourced manufacturing support, facility management, equipment maintenance, and security and operations support services at business sites for multiple companies, including SK hynix.

However, it is unclear whether Mr. A’s story is a recent incident. Some suggest that the post originally appeared last year and has resurfaced due to the recent attention on SK hynix’s stock price and performance bonuses.

'Haui-Chihan-Yaksu' and 'Hynix Exam' emerge

The backdrop to these incidents is the soaring expectations surrounding SK hynix. With the semiconductor industry expected to recover and changes to the performance bonus system, job seekers’ interest in the company has exploded.

Cheongju SK Hynix. Yonhap News Agency

According to the 2026 first-half corporate information access data released by Jinhaksa Catch on June 30, SK hynix’s corporate information page was viewed 253,000 times, an increase of 79% compared to the same period last year. The number of job posting views also reached about 880,000, the highest among all companies.

Especially for production roles, a new term "Hynix Exam" has even emerged online as a symbol of the fierce competition. Online forums have also seen people sharing ways to lower their academic credentials in order to meet eligibility for application, indicating an overheated job market. Furthermore, SK hynix has now been included in the new term "Haui-Chihan-Yaksu"—a play on the traditional top academic paths of medicine, dentistry, Korean medicine, pharmacy, and veterinary medicine ("Uichihan-Yaksu")—reflecting its newly elevated status among job seekers.

Anticipation of a 700 million won bonus

The decisive factor behind the surge in interest toward SK hynix is its revamped performance bonus system. According to financial information provider FnGuide, the average operating profit forecast for SK hynix this year, as estimated by securities companies in the past month, is 269 trillion won. Based on a simple calculation using the total number of employees—about 35,000—this could mean an average pre-tax performance bonus of around 700 million won per person.

The employees’ average compensation has also soared. Last year, the average annual salary per employee at SK hynix was 185 million won, a 58.1% increase from the previous year’s 117 million won.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.