Koreans go under the knife in a cut-throat race for jobs

Young Koreans in their teens and twenties are flocking to plastic surgeons. These are not starry-eyed dreamers seeking breast implants before a trip to Chungmuro, South Korea's version of Hollywood.

The patients crowding the waiting rooms of plastic surgeons in upmarket neighbourhoods such as Apgujeong want jobs with industrial conglomerates such as Samsung or LG. They are rushing to clinics for chieop seonghyeong or "employment cosmetics," surgical procedures designed to improve a job seeker's chance of being hired.

Ahn Yun-Seon is a typical candidate. A 21-year-old economics student, she has a job interview scheduled for early May. Last week she spent 1 million won (£538) for surgery on her gums and ears. She hopes to get a job in a bank. "Female bank employees must wear their hair tied back," she said. "It's important to have nice looking ears and a good smile."

Ms Ahn borrowed the money for her procedure from her parents. Like many young South Koreans, she is terrified that she will be unable to secure a good job in a country where the extraordinary economic growth of the last decade seems to have cooled.

After Cho Seung-Hui killed 32 in Virginia last week some young Koreans felt ashamed but, as measured by postings on Korean web blogs, even more were concerned that the atrocity would damage their chances of getting a place at an American university. Many employers demand a masters degree from a US college as a minimum condition of entry to a management programme. Taking good looks to an interview is just another manifestation of this intensely competitive atmosphere.

"I have a job interview coming up and I have realised my appearance will make a big difference," read one anxious entry in the web blog of a Seoul cosmetic clinic this week. It added: "I want my face to be smaller and my forehead narrower. Will the scars go away?"

Another graduate wrote that she was frightened of interviews because she has "small eyes." She was planning to have double eye-lid surgery, a popular procedure among young Korean women, in which a groove is cut into the eyelid to make it look more Western.

Kim Sung-Min is the chief surgeon at Imi Plastic Surgery in Seoul. He said he had been swamped since January by clients asking for employment cosmetics. "Nearly 30 per cent of our patients want to change their looks for job interviews," said Mr Kim. "Some come during their penultimate year at university, because they want their face to look natural by the time they start job hunting."

Surgeries to ears, eyes, nose and brows are the most popular. Many also want Botox injections in their vocal chords to stop their voices trembling when they are in stressful situations, such as a job interview. Several surgeons in the Apgujeong district offer what they call "noble cosmetics" and promise to transform a sunken forehead or protruding lips into something more regal.

The Hyun Plastic Surgery Clinic in Gangnam, where small apartments sell for over £1m, advertises "physiognomy cosmetic surgery tailored to secure a better job." The company said their marketing campaign has been a huge success, boosting their bookings by 38 per cent.

That's partly because of the role of physiognomy in Korean culture. The occult art of judging character or forecasting a person's future by their facial features is still influential. At least it persuaded Shin Sung-Ha, a graduate in her twenties, to go under the knife.

She visited a physiognomist earlier this year. "I thought my nose was too hooked and my brow too wrinkled," she said. "The physiognomist told me that the shape of my face suggested I would have an unstable life." She went straight to a plastic surgeon, as do many young Koreans who consult these "face fortune tellers," some of whom have been accused of taking commissions from unscrupulous cosmetic surgeons.

Even those who go to more traditional palm readers are vulnerable. Palm line plastic surgery is part of the industry's job-related boom. On the advice of a palmist, anxious job-seekers have additional lines sliced into their palms, to improve the geometry of their fortunes.

Yoo Jong-Oh is a palm reader who operates a website from Seoul called sonkum.com. He has seen a notable increase in patients in the twenties. "They ask for the exact spot where the incision should be made," he said. "They have usually been sent to me by their doctors."

More than 70 per cent of 1,100 young Koreans who took part in a survey conducted by mimi.co.kr, the website of a Korean plastic surgery clinic, said they would endure palm line surgery if they thought it would improve their job prospects.

Parents in Korea, especially in Seoul, spend a fortune on their children's education and often go deep into debt to secure them a place at a top university. Knowing the sacrifices their parents have made, many young Koreans are prepared to go to extremes in search of a good job.

"People doctor their CVs and the photos they send to employers," said Lee Ho-Jeong, who graduated from Hanyang University. "Doctoring their faces is the logical next step, especially when people are scared that they won't get hired."