(Big Hit Entertainment)

South Korea’s biggest entertainment firms are rushing to recruit support professionals this month amid a surge in K-pop’s popularity around the globe. Among them are S.M. Entertainment and Big Hit Entertainment, which represent some of the biggest artists on the scene -- including EXO, Girls’ Generation and Red Velvet for the former and BTS for the latter.

Social media management, foreign language proficiency, marketing and the ability to forecast trends and plan accordingly are among the skills in high demand in the entertainment industry.

S.M. Entertainment is accepting applications until Monday for divisions that include artist management, budget management, production strategy management, casting, video content production, creative design, public relations, advertising and marketing, IoT development, and artists and repertoire.

From left, Suho of EXO and Sana of Twice (S.M. Entertainment, JYP Entertainment)

Big Hit Entertainment’s deadline is the end of this month for areas such as content design, social media content production, casting, training directors, public relations, human resources, financial management and accounting.

Blossom Entertainment, which manages actors such as Park Bo-gum, Song Joong-ki and Cha Tae-hyun and ESteem Entertainment are smaller talent agencies that are also recruiting this month.

JYP Entertainment is taking its recruiting process to a whole new level with an audition show titled “Super Intern.” The new show is akin to the US reality show “The Apprentice,” where a group of contestants contend for full-time employment with the record label.

“Passion and dedication are our only considerations,” said JYP founder and executive producer Park Jin-young in a teaser. The show is slated to air early in January 2019.

By Kim Arin (arin@heraldcorp.com)