Minho (SHINee)
Minho initially refused SM's casting offer but the employee followed him around for months trying to cast him. He refused once more but relented and joined SM when they kept trying to recruit him.
Wooyoung (2PM)
JYP held an audition for only females to look for Wondergirls members and Wooyoung showed up. Everyone thought he was crazy but his skills landed him at first place and he debuted in 2PM
Suzy (miss A)
She attended the Gwangju Super Star K auditions and ran into a JYP employee in the washroom. She was casted on the spot, and after 10 months of training debuted through miss A
Sunny (SNSD)
Sunny was originally a trainee at another company and set to debut. The debut didn't happen and she was picked up by SM. They found out only afterwards that she was actually Lee Su-man's niece.
Yesung (Super Junior)
Yesung joined a singing competition in middle school because of a crush. He ended up winning 1st place and since than dreamed of becoming a singer. Later he was accepted both at SM and YG but chose SM
Sungkyu
After high school, Sungkyu moved to Seoul to become a singer and worked part time at a cafe. A customer (who was NELL's manager) heard of this and gave Sungkyu a chance with an audition.
Seohyun (SNSD)
She was casted when she was only in elementary school. An SM casting manager saw her on a subway and casted her for her beauty.
Jonghyun (SHINee)
Jonghyun was a bassist pre-debut and picked up for his handsome looks. After casting him SM realized how amazing his singing was and debuted him as the main vocal of SHINee
Doojoon (BEAST)
Doojoon was initially a trainee at JYP but he was eliminated on the show "Hot Blooded Men". He was than picked up by CUBE after that and debuted as beast
Changmin (TVXQ)
Changmin was noticed when he was playing badminton at school. He initially refused to audition for the company but his mom, who was a fan of BOA, took him to the auditions and he was accepted.
Baekhyun (EXO-K)
Baekhyun gave up his dreams after failing all his auditions and decided to apply for music school. Before his singing test he was warming up his voice when he was noticed by an SM employee and casted
