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29 years old is TOO old in Korea
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Real Reality



Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Location: Seoul

PostPosted: Sun Jun 15, 2003 2:17 am    Post subject: 29 years old is TOO old in Korea Reply with quote

According to research by the Korea Labor Institute, more than half of all Korean businesses have age limits for entry-level job applicants. In general, if a white-collar male job applicant is more than 28.6 years old, he cannot even submit his resume, the research revealed.

The government follows the same practice. To take the national civil servant exam for a high-ranking position, applicants should be 32 years old or under. To take the exam to become an entry level civil servant, applicants should be 28 or under. "There are difficulties if an aged person comes to us as an entry-level employee," a government official said.

http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200306/11/200306110101259279900092309231.html
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weatherman



Joined: 14 Jan 2003
Location: Korea

PostPosted: Sun Jun 15, 2003 2:52 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yeah, the inflexibility of Korean culture will bring it down. Seniority, while a good thing, shouldn't be everything. Joining a company at say 35 and helping the company make a profit is a lot better than joining a recruitment class of 50 and being dead wood your whole life. Can hear some Korean saying me "Oh, the travesty of a foreigner's thinking, OH, they don't understand Korean culture at all, boo.. hoo.."
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Canadian Teacher



Joined: 22 Jan 2003

PostPosted: Sun Jun 15, 2003 3:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

If you do not get a job in a big company in your last year on university you will NEVER get one, ever. Everybody in your group will be EXACTLY the same age. IF you ever worked in a big Korean company (I worked for Samsung in 1996) you will see the senior-junior relationship going to absurd proportions. For example, if an employee needs an afternoon off, he needs to get the tojang of at least ten people. The process takes all morning.

When a junior receives his daily work project he must write a report how he will do the job, who he will do it with and how long it will take. This usually takes an hour or so. The report then goes to the senior, who returns it in an hour our two. The whole process can take upwards of three hours.

Another example of Korean business practices. An e-mail comes in regarding a problem with a product. The worker then prints a hard copy. Then he hands it to the office girl. She makes three more copies. One goes to the senior, one is faxed to Seoul and filed as "fax sent" and the last filed. The senior then reads the mail and tells the person who received the mail to take action. Then this person writes a report, sends it back to the senior and waits about three hours. When approval comes in, he does the job an writes another report. He cannot leave his desk until her gets the OK. The whole process can take ten hours or more.

I once asked a student "why don't you service the customer immediately after the e-mail is received?" He looked totally lost and said "I must do what me senior tells me." Then I said "are most of the problems minor?" He replied "Yes, very minor." I said, "well, you can ask for help if you need it." He was totally confused. He could not imagine doing something a different way.

That aside, if you see Samsung Design advertising, be careful. They pay well and have a nice apartment but you will be expected to be at your desk until your whole team gets to OK to go home. It was often 11:00 pm and drinking to 2:00 am. No fun.
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slap it



Joined: 21 Jan 2003

PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2003 4:28 am    Post subject: 29 too old Reply with quote

if you are a korean national.....you are too old. if you are not korean, your still young baby...
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Hagwon Muppet



Joined: 18 Mar 2003

PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2003 5:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Hang on, the magic words 'entry level'

If you are looking for an entry-level position in any country at age 28+ then you must have missed several boats somewhere and will struggle to get in.

This is not Korea-specific.

There is an age-bias here but from what I've heard it mainly applies to women. Not young and hot anymore? Bye bye.

Who the hell wants to be entry level at 28 or more? Most grads will be under 25.

Only maybe Phds will be graduating at 28 looking for entry jobs. And if you look throughout the world there are plenty of unemployable Phds in academia who could NEVER work in industry.

It'd be nice to think that this is an example of Korean prejudice but, in fact, its more a global prejudice against people who 'hide' in academia for 25 years of their lives before they decide to look for work.
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LiquidSunshine



Joined: 31 Mar 2003

PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2003 6:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

you spend your early twenties in the army. the following few years rushing back to graduate school and then you have the opportunity to live in a "secure" financial building by getting an "entry poisonition" job in a big blue type of business.... sounds like the good ol'days back in the west with the whole picket fence and the 2.5 kids. just here it's a pigeon hole, one child and a lap dog. it's the norm. perhaps the young out here will step out of the box and pull some genration wake-up call, who knows. it would be entertaining.
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Harpeau



Joined: 01 Feb 2003
Location: Coquitlam, BC

PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2003 9:38 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Canadian Teacher wrote:

I once asked a student "why don't you service the customer immediately after the e-mail is received?" He looked totally lost and said "I must do what me senior tells me." Then I said "are most of the problems minor?" He replied "Yes, very minor." I said, "well, you can ask for help if you need it." He was totally confused. He could not imagine doing something a different way.


I howled when I read this! Like what was the middle question? Rolling Eyes Wow! That's is so funny!

Harpeau
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humanuspneumos



Joined: 08 Jun 2003

PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2003 1:59 pm    Post subject: No wonder some of my old students were sweating it! Reply with quote

I wonder how nepotism fits into it all. Surely 3rd uncle far removed would be able to get it all waived. Then again- Korea is like a clock and people have the script memorized as to when everything in life is to be done.

There's a time to move, there's a time to hire, there's a time to marry, there's a time to fire. da da da da turn turn da da da da turn turn. Sounds like a song- for some societies it works- if you hurry.
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Mody Ba



Joined: 22 May 2003

PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2003 2:13 pm    Post subject: Slap It is Right Reply with quote

Slap-It is right.the idea that 29 might be too old for a TESOL teacher in Korea is absurd.And who gives a dead rat's hiney what the age restrictions are on their hiring Koreans?Does not affect us.
Of course, there is ageism here(in a society that supposedly venerates the aged).
One time one of them asked me"Oh,why are you so old?"Without blinking an eye,I asked her"Oh,why are you Korean?"
We all know the Barbie and Ken Syndrome here.What they would really like to do is get that killer duo Leo DiCaprio(or Brad Pitt, if Leo is unavailable) and Sharon Stone(alternate Michelle Pfeiffer) over here to work in their "academy" hahahaha Laughing Wink Wink Laughing ,stick them in a homestay,feed them only kimchi and rice,have them teach forty hours per week and play lots of bingo with the "students".The hakwon owner's ultimate dream ! Laughing
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Mosley



Joined: 15 Jan 2003

PostPosted: Tue Jun 17, 2003 4:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Yep. I've met ESL teachers here who are 60+. They have a funny notion about waygook ages, anyway. Mody Ba's probably right: they'd love to have Sharon Stone or Michelle Pfieffer teaching here, notwithstanding the fact that both are over 40!
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humanuspneumos



Joined: 08 Jun 2003

PostPosted: Wed Jun 18, 2003 12:05 am    Post subject: Mody Ba Reply with quote

Mody Ba- your use of emicons is just killing me- I can't stop laughing. Truly- even if every post you make is locked- they've got to be worth 1000 views.



Sorry MOD's- just a bit off topic. You have to agree that the emicons and the points are hilarious. Mody Ba is good for traffic at Dave's!
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FierceInvalid



Joined: 16 Mar 2003

PostPosted: Wed Jun 18, 2003 7:13 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm hoping to get a uni job in the next couple years or so (assuming I keep diggin living here of course) and feel like my age might be a bit of a problem. I'm too young, of course...
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William Beckerson
Guest




PostPosted: Wed Jun 18, 2003 7:31 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm not certain since I dont live there, but I hear Korea is nothing in this compared to Japan... The home of Logan's Run
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Real Reality



Joined: 10 Jan 2003
Location: Seoul

PostPosted: Wed Jun 18, 2003 7:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

What is Logan's Run?
A science-fiction movie shown in 1976.

Sometime in the 23rd Century... the survivors of war, overpopulation and pollution are living in a great domed city, sealed away from the forgotten world outside. Here, in an ecologically balanced world, mankind only lives for pleasure; freed by the servo-mechanisms which provide everything.

There's just one catch.

Life must end at thirty, unless reborn in the fiery ritual of carrousel.

http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Dimension/5357/
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Canadian Teacher



Joined: 22 Jan 2003

PostPosted: Thu Jun 19, 2003 1:31 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Run Forrest Run wrote:
I'm not certain since I dont live there, but I hear Korea is nothing in this compared to Japan... The home of Logan's Run



By the time I was 34 years old I had an EXTREMELY hard time finding work in Japan which was too bad because I loved living there. The last place I worked was a big company and the only reason they hired me is that they really needed someone who could teach writing and proof manuals. Had they been able to find someone ten years younger to do that job I would have not been selected. They told me as much. In order to get rid of me they transferred me to a research centre in the sticks.
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