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NCSOFT's R&D Center at its headquarters in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province / Courtesy of NCSOFT

By Kim Jae-heun

NCSOFT started its recruitment drive this year for new employees on Sept. 30, promising to offer the game industry's highest wages and benefits, according to company officials Tuesday.

The game firm is widely known as a "dream company" among jobseekers as it has been paying high salaries to its employees so as to secure promising workers in the information technology (IT) field.

Currently, the company's starting income for newcomers is 55 million won ($38,507) annually for engineers and program developers and 47 million won for ordinary office workers.

Such figures are the minimum amount new employees are guaranteed as a starting salary and it can go up further depending on employees' expertise and capability.

In 2019, the game company abolished its comprehensive wage system to provide a better working environment. A comprehensive wage system refers to a method of paying scheduled allowances in advance by determining overtime, night duty and holiday work when signing a labor contract.

In addition, NCSOFT provides welfare cards worth 2.5 million won per year to support employees' leisure and hobbies. The company also operates various financial support programs for its staffers who might be finding it difficult to borrow money to buy homes or a make living.

However, NCSOFT's most popular company benefit for newcomers is its Post Scholarship program. The company repays student loans for its employees who have borrowed money from a bank to pay their school tuition before working for NCSOFT. It is the only company that runs a Post Scholarship program among any Korean firms here. Last year, NCSOFT increased its fund size to 15 million won per person from 10 million won. The program supports not only undergraduate students but also those who earned master's degrees and doctorates on student loans.