A Job-Posting Excerpt (채용 공고)

A Korean job posting (채용 공고) barely uses sentences. Instead of full predicates it is built from noun-ending fragments organized under bracketed headers — [모집 부문], [자격 요건], [우대 사항] — with the verb almost always dropped or reduced to a bare noun (제출 = "submission [required]", 우대 = "[will be] preferred"). This clipped, telegraphic style is a register in its own right, and it rewards a close read: once you see how it compresses "a person who has three or more years of experience" into 경력 3년 이상인 자, you can decode any posting.

Two features do most of the work. The relativizer -는 자 / -(으)ㄴ 자 turns a whole description into "a person who…", using the bookish 자 (者) for "person" (the written-formal replacement for 사람). And the threshold 이상 ("or more") sets requirements with a single noun. Everything else is attributive modifiers stacked before those nouns. Below, each line of the posting stands alone.

The posting, line by line

The document title — a bare noun phrase, no predicate. 채용 ("recruitment") + 공고 ("public notice"). This header-plus-fragment shape defines the whole genre.

A bracketed header (모집 부문, "recruitment field") followed by a noun fragment with no verb — there is no "we are hiring." 2명 = 두 명, using the people-counter 명 with a native number (두). The reader supplies the missing predicate ("[we are recruiting]").

The formal 및 ("and") joins two noun phrases — 서버 개발 및 유지 보수 ("server development and maintenance"). 및 is written-register only; it links nouns, never clauses, and never verbs. Note 업무 is pronounced [엄무] (the ㅂ nasalizes before ㅁ), which the romanization eommu reflects.

The signature construction. 이상 ("or more") sets the threshold — 3년 이상 = "three years or more," and crucially it includes the boundary (three years exactly qualifies). Then -인 자 relativizes: 3년 이상인 자 = "a person who is [of] three-plus years." 자 is the bookish 者, "person," the formal written stand-in for 사람. The copula's attributive form -인 links the description to 자. (Sino words show their sound changes here: 관련 → gwallyeon by lateralization, 경력 → gyeongnyeok by nasalization.)

전공자 ("major-person," i.e. someone who majored in it) is 자 fused into a compound noun. 또는 ("or") is the formal written "or," and 준하는 자 uses the present attributive -는 ("a person who corresponds [to that]") — 준하다 ("to be equivalent") + -는 + 자. (On the present attributive, see -는.)

Here the relativizer switches to the more respectful 분 — 가능한 분 ("a person who is capable"). 가능하다 ("to be possible/capable") is an adjective, so it takes the adjective attributive -(으)ㄴ: 가능한 분. (Technical names like 자바/코틀린 are often written in the Latin alphabet — Java, Kotlin — in real postings; we render them in Hangul here so the audio reads naturally.)

Under 우대 사항 ("preferred qualifications"), a fragment ending in the bare noun predicate 우대 — 있는 자 우대 = "a person who has [it] is preferred," where 우대 ("preferential treatment") is the predicate, no verb attached. And note the attributive: existence verb 있다 takes -는 (있는 자), never -(으)ㄴ. (있다/없다 pattern like verbs for the attributive — see 있는/없는.)

Another 있는 분 ("a person who has…"), stacking modifiers before it: 대규모 서비스 운영 경험 ("large-scale service operation experience") is a four-noun compound, all piled in front of 경험. Korean builds long specifications by chaining nouns, then relativizing with 있는 자/분.

Pure noun fragments: 정규직 ("regular/full-time position"), 주 5일 근무 ("week, five days, work"). 5일 = 오일, a Sino number (contrast the native 두 명 above). No verb, no ending — just the facts as nouns.

및 again joins nouns (이력서 및 자기소개서, "résumé and cover letter"), and the line ends in the bare noun 제출 ("submission") — the instruction "submit X" is delivered as a single noun, with the verb 하다 ("do/submit") left implied. This nominal-imperative is the posting's way of giving directions.

채용 시까지 = "until the time of hiring" (the noun 시, "time/occasion," + the limit particle 까지). 상시 모집 ("constant recruitment") is a parenthetical noun phrase. Everything remains a fragment.

Even the closing instruction ends in a bare noun: 참고 ("reference/consultation"), with 하다 dropped and a period. 자세한 사항 = "detailed matters"; 은 topic-marks it. This is the whole genre in one line — a full instruction compressed to modifier + noun.

What to notice

• The posting is predicate-light: bracketed noun headers ([자격 요건]) plus fragments that end in bare nouns (제출, 우대, 참고, 근무) with the verb 하다 implied.
• -는 자 / -(으)ㄴ 자 / -인 자 relativize a whole description into "a person who…", using the bookish 자 (者); the more respectful 분 alternates with it.
• 이상 sets an inclusive threshold ("three years or more, boundary included"); 및 and 또는 are the formal written "and" / "or," joining nouns only.
• Attributives split by word class: adjectives and the copula take -(으)ㄴ/-인 (가능한, 3년 이상인), verbs and 있다/없다 take -는 (준하는, 있는).

Common Mistakes

1. Writing full -습니다 sentences where the genre wants fragments. A posting is not prose; spelling out predicates breaks the register.

2. Using colloquial 사람 instead of the formal 자 (or 분) in specifications. 사람 is too casual for a requirements list.

3. Putting the adjective attributive -(으)ㄴ on the existence verb 있다. 있다/없다 take -는, not -(으)ㄴ, for the attributive.

4. Using 및 to join verbs or clauses. 및 connects nouns only; to join actions use -고 or a full clause.