After a series of supporting roles, she gained wide recognition for her performances in the campus romance My ID is Gangnam Beauty (2018) and the smash-hit mystery drama Graceful Family (2019).

After making a bit-part appearance in the 2009 film 4th Period Mystery while she was still a student at Chung-Ang University, Im landed her breakthrough role when she was cast as Dan Sa-ran, a prideful, lower-middle class dancer, in the 2011 popular television series New Tales of Gisaeng.

Cast alongside Sung Hoon and Han Hye-rin, the series explored the premise that the gisaeng, the Korean equivalent of a geisha or courtesan, still existed in modern-day Korea.

[14][15] In 2020, Im next starred in the romance melodrama When I Was the Most Beautiful opposite Ji Soo and Ha Seok-jin, portraying an optimistic ceramic artist who falls in love with two brothers.

[19] In 2023, she played the role of Han Gye-jeol in the MBC romantic fantasy drama Kokdu: Season of Deity opposite Kim Jung-hyun portraying an ER doctor who graduated from the lowest-ranking medical school in the country.