Wanted Lab was founded 11 years ago and has been listed on the stock market for six years. Its core business is "Wanted," a recruitment platform that combines personal recommendations and AI matching. Based on over 10 million matching data sets, its AI algorithm has quadrupled the acceptance rate compared to general applications, and to date, it has connected 3.6 million talented individuals with 35,000 companies. It is diversifying its business to include "Wanted Gigs," a freelance matching service, HR solutions, and global services.
Wanted Lab is currently pursuing a transformation into an "AX Partner," helping companies transition to AI. This year, the company has set a target revenue of 50% for its AX business. It's no longer possible to simply call Wanted Lab a recruitment platform company. Curious about Wanted Lab's AX business? (If you're not curious, you don't need to read below. But these days, you can't join a conversation without knowing about AI. 😊)
"The purpose of companies adopting AX is clear: to improve productivity. Productivity depends not only on the tools they choose, but also on how they utilize those tools. Wanted Lab's AX started here. We created a solution that answers the fundamental question companies face: 'How do we transform the way we work?' Implementing AX also presents a practical challenge: 'How do we redeploy our existing workforce?' Wanted Lab has incorporated this into its AX business. We directly support the management and redeployment of existing employees, a task made possible by our talent matching experience accumulated through our recruitment platform.
Wanted Lab's human-centered AX comprehensively supports a company's entire AI transformation journey. From initial adoption to operational integration, the core focus is on collaborating with them throughout the entire process: training, practical application, infrastructure development, and talent management. (Source: Venture Square, January 20, 2026. Wanted Lab transforms from a recruitment platform to an 'AI partner.')
Wanted Lab currently has 25 teams and 180 people working together. How do they work? We met with People Team Leader Jeong Bo-mi to hear her story.
“The best ideas start at 35F.”
Every time I visit Wanted Lab, I'm amazed. The breathtaking view of the Han River and Namhansanseong Fortress from the 35th floor is breathtaking, and the office interior, which changes with the seasons, is also amazing. But what's most impressive are the expressions on the faces of the people working here. Everyone is so bright. No matter how great an office is, isn't the workplace a place you want to escape from as quickly as possible? But Wanted Lab isn't like that.
'Better than home'
This didn't sound like an exaggeration.
Wanted Lab's lounge transforms with each season. It transforms into a cherry blossom-themed lounge in spring, a summer vacation-themed lounge in summer, a jazz bar in fall, and Halloween-themed lounge during Halloween. There's no need to wait in long lines for hot snacks, as the company supplies them. During certain seasons, pop-up cafes open throughout the office, offering a variety of drinks and snacks. With this, you won't need to visit an outside cafe.
The lounge, whose atmosphere changes with each season, is always bustling with members. It feels more like a cafe than a workplace.
Member A said, "If you focus solely on work, you can feel a sense of frustration. These small considerations seem to motivate me to work harder."
Of course, a good office environment alone doesn't create a good organizational culture. However, physical space is also an important factor in building a good organizational culture. (I've seen many offices that looked like they were about to collapse. These places often have a certain charm, a kind of "wildness" that startups need.) This is crucial for generating the best ideas.
“Let’s become an organization that wins together.”
At a town hall meeting held on January 12, 2026 (the interview was held on January 15), Wanted Lab decided on "An Organization That Wins Together" as its slogan for the year. They also made four promises.
- Each individual's role comes together to create a team: no one is alone. The individual's roles come together to create a team. This is the convergence of growth orientation and professionalism.
- Colleagues' difficulties are resolved together: One person's difficulties become a problem for the entire team. This reflects professionalism in proactively resolving bottlenecks and a growth mindset in which difficulties are not ignored but rather addressed together.
- When I take the lead, my team follows suit: Leadership is contagious. One person takes the lead, and others, seeing that, follow suit. This means that growth-oriented practices spread throughout the organization.
- The best ideas start on the 35th floor: Every member of our team comes together in our 35th-floor office. The thoughts, suggestions, and ideas that emerge from there are truly our own. This embodies our message that we are "one team."
These four promises further articulate Wanted Lab's core value, the "Wanted Way." The Wanted Way is comprised of "growth orientation," "lean execution," and "professionalism."
Look back on what you did well and what you didn't do well
Q. Wanted Lab's core values, namely, the Wanted Way, are growth-oriented, lean execution, and professionalism. When were these values created?
"From the beginning to our seventh year, we grew incredibly quickly. During this rapid growth, our way of working constantly changed. I felt something was missing amidst this rapid growth. So, the management, leaders, and all members asked ourselves, what are the core values we must maintain, no matter what the circumstances?"
(I tried not to cover absolute numbers in this series, but I'll talk about them briefly)
Since its listing in 2021, Wanted Lab has grown at breakneck speed. From 2017 to 2020, it achieved a high average annual sales growth rate of 125%. Notably, its compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the three years from 2019 to 2022 was 81.39%. During this period, it launched HR solutions such as Gigs, a freelance matching platform; Career Platform, an education and content delivery service; and Wanted Space, which supports corporate attendance management and electronic approval. It also expanded into overseas markets, investing in its Japanese subsidiary.
As we grew, our team naturally grew larger, and our organizational structure became more complex. Furthermore, with remote work becoming the norm after the COVID-19 pandemic, opportunities for face-to-face interaction were significantly reduced, making it difficult for leaders to directly intervene in every decision. Ultimately, a framework that allowed the entire organization to work to the same standards became urgently needed.
While some companies establish core values early on, others develop them after rapid growth. Rapid growth can easily lead to a loss of organizational consistency. Teams grow, decision-making structures become more dispersed, and work methods constantly change. Wanted Lab falls into the latter category.
"The Wanted Way was born after about two months of in-depth discussion. It embodies the core business competencies of the company, embodying both the choices that worked well and the experiences that failed during its rapid growth."
As Wanted Lab grew, it lost its way. To find its way again, it reflected on its successes and failures, and in doing so, it found the answer to the question, "How should we work?"
The Wanted Way we've established thus far embodies three pillars: growth orientation, lean execution, and professionalism. Let's examine what each represents and how it operates within the organization.
The courage to step out of your comfort zone
Growth orientation means not avoiding challenges, even if they are difficult, but rather taking the initiative to solve them. It means taking on challenges on your own initiative, not under someone else's pressure. It means stepping outside your responsibilities, even if it means stepping outside your job responsibilities, if necessary.
Wanted Lab evaluates growth orientation in two ways.
First: Have you ever volunteered or taken the lead as a directly responsible individual (DRI) in a significant and challenging task outside your comfort zone?
Second: Have you set challenging goals and clear indicators over the past period and responsibly pursued them to the end?
Growth orientation isn't simply a challenge. It requires setting specific goals and responsibly pursuing them to the end. The key is voluntary choice, not coercion, and self-determination, not command. This is what growth orientation truly means.
Fast learning rather than perfection
Lean execution doesn't mean speed. It doesn't mean sacrificing quality. It's about learning most effectively in uncertain situations: starting small and quickly incorporating feedback.
Wanted Lab evaluates LeanHan's execution in two ways.
First, when you discovered a problem with a customer or colleague, have you ever quickly decided on the best solution and implemented it?
Second, are there any examples of continuous improvement in work methods by reflecting feedback and data in short cycles after implementation?
The key to lean execution is the combination of decisiveness and learning. This means making quick decisions and learning from the results. This creates a culture unafraid of failure. Starting small means smaller failures, and what you learn from those experiences becomes the foundation for your next challenge.
Trust and entrust like a sports team
Professionalism means trusting and relying on one another, like players on a sports team. Opinions can be freely shared, but once a decision is made, each person must take responsibility for the outcome.
Wanted Lab evaluates professionalism in two ways.
First, after the final decision, did you execute according to the agreed direction and meet the deadline and quality?
Second, did you proactively resolve bottlenecks to ensure organizational performance and maintain deadlines and quality?
Professionalism is the process by which individual responsibility translates into organizational trust. When one person adheres to deadlines, maintains quality, and prioritizes the team, the entire team's standards are raised. In this way, professionalism becomes a force that strengthens the entire organization.
Q. Do you consider core values important when hiring or evaluating employees?
We ask candidates questions like, "Have you ever challenged yourself by stepping outside your comfort zone?", "Have you ever started small and learned quickly?", and "Have you ever worked responsibly in a decided direction?" Evaluations are also based on the Wanted Way. We conduct 360-degree evaluations and peer reviews, and evaluate candidates based on specific examples of the Wanted Way. If there are areas of weakness, we provide suggestions for improvement. We award "Intid" (Human Wanted) to members who demonstrate strong commitment to our core values. The "Intid" award is selected by monthly vote of members.
In 2026, Wanted Lab, together with all of its members, reaffirmed its commitment to the "One Team" approach. Growth-oriented principles, which emphasize "We take on challenges," lean execution, which emphasizes "We learn quickly," and professionalism, which emphasizes "We trust each other." These three core values are shaping Wanted Lab's next era as a recruitment platform and AX partner.
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