[Edaily Reporter JAEMIN SONG ] LG Display has launched its first open recruitment drive for new graduates in the second half of the year in four years. This move is interpreted as a selective workforce restructuring aimed at streamlining the overall workforce while securing new research and development (R&D) personnel who will determine the company’s competitiveness in next-generation organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology.

According to industry sources on the 1st, LG Display posted recruitment announcements for “2026 Second-Half New Graduates” and “LGenius Master” industry-academia scholarship students on the LG recruitment website on the 31st of last month. Applications will be accepted until the 16th of this month. On the 14th, the company will also hold a recruitment briefing session to introduce R&D positions and the company’s technological competitiveness. This marks the first time in four years that LG Display has launched a public recruitment drive for new graduates in the second half of the year.

The positions available for new graduates include R&D fields such as panel design, circuit design, mechanical design, and optical design, as well as B2B sales, business management, human resources management (HRM), and employee relations (ER). Among these, the technical positions will be responsible for core tasks such as designing the structure and performance of OLED panels, driving circuits, product mechanics, and optical characteristics. The LGenius Master program, which selects master’s and doctoral-level industry-academia scholarship students, will also focus on the fields of panel, circuit, mechanical, and optical design.

A company official stated, “Through the open recruitment for new R&D employees scheduled for the second half of this year, we plan to select talent for key roles related to the development of next-generation OLED technology, such as panel design, circuit design, mechanical design, and optical design.”

This recruitment effort is noteworthy as it comes amid LG Display’s ongoing efforts to streamline its workforce over the past several years. Following two rounds of voluntary retirement programs for skilled and production workers last year, the company accepted additional applications in April of this year from skilled workers with at least five years of service and office workers with at least 20 years of service or aged 45 or older. It also offered the most generous compensation package in its history, including severance pay equivalent to up to three years’ salary and educational assistance for children.

As a result, the number of domestic employees decreased by 940, from 24,430 at the end of last year to 23,490 at the end of June this year. A total of 240 billion won was set aside to cover the costs of the voluntary retirement program. Kim Seong-hyun, LG Display’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO and Executive Vice President), stated during a second-quarter earnings conference call last July, “We carried out this workforce restructuring with the determination that it would effectively be the last.”

LG Display plans to reduce its workforce while strengthening its pool of technical talent needed for growth areas such as next-generation OLED and Artificial Intelligence Transformation (AX). The company is pursuing a total investment of 3 trillion won to enhance its competitiveness in next-generation OLED technology. Research and development (R&D) expenses for the first half of this year totaled 1.1745 trillion won, accounting for 10.5% of revenue. This represents a 1.9 percentage point increase from last year’s annual R&D expense ratio of 8.6%.