By: Kim Mi-hui

Although the Yellow Pages, a catalog of advertisements, exist worldwide, it appears their business operations differ vastly from market to market.

In the United States, the company hires up to 150 contract workers during the peak months just before the publication goes to print, while retaining only 10 full-time employees.

By contrast, the Yellow Pages in Singapore keeps 120 full-time staff year-round.

"One can see how much more efficient the first case is cost-wise," said Greg Savage, CEO of the Asia Pacific region of Aquent, a human resources firm. "But contact employment has yet to take off in Asia. In Korea, particularly, where labor is a big issue, more flexibility would be good."

According to the manager, some benefits of contract, part-time or freelance employment include greater hourly pay, an opportunity to work in a variety of fields and more control over one's time.

To help promote this alternative lifestyle, the company recently opened its first office in Seoul, joining its 10 Asia Pacific branches in business-driven cities like Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Auckland, Singapore, Hong Kong, Osaka and Tokyo. The Seoul branch will be managed by Kim Jong-min.

The company entered Korea, impressed by its "Web-savvy" economy, ongoing restructuring and powerful status as the third-largest economy in the Asia Pacific region, Savage explained. "Yet, the services being provided here in staffing are still somewhat unsophisticated. In recruiting, for instance, many still rely too much on resumes when what's most important is the human element," he opined.

Aquent specializes in total staffing, consulting and outsourcing solutions for marketing, communications and creative fields. It focuses especially on specific areas of print and Web design and production, advertising and media, marketing and public relations.

"Whereas some of the bigger recruiting corporations out there deal with all businesses, we concentrate on the creative side, making us an expert in this niche market. Accordingly, instead of just supplying workers, we provide solutions to individual goals and challenges," Savage told The Korea Herald during his recent visit to Seoul.

For example, during the information technology boom a couple of years ago, people with Web design skills were in high demand. To prepare for the market, Aquent spent its own money to train candidates in Flash and other programs, under a modest condition that they work for the company for six months.

"We are always willing to go a step further to deliver the kind of worker our clients need. If one wants designers with packaging skills, we will either find or train them." It is also meticulous in its selecting of candidates, requiring tests on certain skills, where others may just accept what the applicant has written on their resume.

"We have great hopes in Korea. When we first opened our business in Japan, many said we would fail. But the office there is currently the fastest growing market, with $12 million in sales last year, which is highly profitable. Our goal is to get Korea as the second-largest in Asia after Japan, overtaking Australia in five years time," the CEO stated.

"One strategy for achieving this goal is certainly getting the contract work culture more deeply rooted here," he said, but admitting that the company's biggest revenue comes from the recruiting service.

According to Savage, the benefits of contract employment are numerous. For one, it offers head count flexibility, meaning if there is an order for a head count freeze from the headquarters, a manager can get around it by hiring contract workers.

Contract recruiting can also help a business bring in specific skills for short time that they otherwise could not afford to hire full-time, or give the company a chance to try people out before hiring permanently.

The target clients for the company include the top 35 advertising agencies, both on and offline, big multinational corporations like Reebok, Philips, Sony and public relations firms.