Korean Job Discussion Forums

J.B. Clamence · Joined: 15 Jan 2003

There are a lot of pro's and con's to settling back home. As for stories as to whether it worked or not, just keep in mind that the only experiences you will find on this board are from those who ended up coming back (for whatever reason). So for every negative story here of how going back home was boring, who knows how many success stories we will never hear here as the people in question do not visit this board because, of course, they're not in Korea anymore.

Forgive me for stating the obvious: I'm not suggesting that you don't realize this. I'm just highlighting the lack of the necessary variety of perspectives here, which would be neceassry to appropriately answer the question.

As for me, this is always in my mind as well. I've never been back home with the intention of trying give up ESL, and I suspect I will put that off for many years to come, if not here in Korea, then elsewhere.

Snowman · Joined: 14 Nov 2003 Location: North Pole

I'm 25 and back in states now too. Personally I didn't find the adjustment from korea to states difficult, didn't quite being in Seoul that much. It had it's ups and downs, but overall it wasn't enjoyable. I thought it was harder to transition from England to US(as silly as this may sound) cause I missed london so much, but going back and forth between countries take the toll, hard to find a place to call "home". Thinking back now, I don't want to go back to korea again to live, maybe visit, but living no. I had it better than small box and such, my company put me up in Hyatt hotel and did get nice treatment, but overall feel....no way. I'm working on phD now, teaching is so much better than corporate lifestyle...i hate slaving away for a company that I don't care about Very Happy

paul · Joined: 16 Jan 2003 Location: Taiwan

I also tried the going back home thing with mixed results. It turns out that, although the ESL teaching scene is healthy in Vancouver, my exp. only got me so far. Had a few interviews, but there's tons of unemployed licensed teachers with masters and Ph.D's who will work for $15/hr, part time. As a matter of fact, there was a waiting list of highly educated applicants at most schools I checked out.

It was nice being back in Vancouver. The air was cleaner and the weather was warm and sunny, the streets and sidewalks weren't scary and the language of course was English. That last part was the strangest; walking into stores and restuarants and speaking English was totally weird, especially when you consider the Asian community in Vancouver makes up a large percentage of the service community.

Anyway, I missed my Korean GF and came back to give it another go, but ended up in Taiwan because I really can't stand the population density in Seoul. Taiwan is cool and I opted for a job in one of the counties. Teaching mostly kids and a scooter is mandatory, so the overall exp. is much different. They also encourage you to learn Chinese and speak it in class.

However, the Chinese in Taiwan stare at the westerners much more and the girls are nowhere near as pretty as Korean girls, not that that has much to do with anything. And the western community here is much smaller.

kimcheeking · Guest

Some posts have been split to the Defaulting on Student loans thread.

Bulsajo · Joined: 16 Jan 2003

Give me a few more years and I'll let you know.

Yaya · Joined: 25 Feb 2003 Location: Seoul

Tiger Beer · Joined: 07 Feb 2003

rapier · Joined: 16 Feb 2003

We are the new generation, in a new century. We don't have to live our lives to the old formula anymore. If you want to spend your life globetrotting do it. its not going to ruin your life plan of stability. Thats what the old folks want you to believe, because they didn't have the same opportunities as we have today. Things are changeing.
We don't have to wait til we get married to have sex anymore, or marry whoever our parents choose for us. likewise, we don't have to fit into the old "settle into your white picket fence house and have a job and mortgage for life" idea. Its outdated, things have moved on.

Cthulhu · Joined: 02 Feb 2003

Actually Rapier, I think the job market has changed as much as people have--that has helped to fan the exodus as much as our own ideas have. We don't have the easy opportunities the baby boomers had for moving seamlessly from graduation to a steady job so we've had to adjust. Although I do agree that we have more wanderlust than our parents' generation, I'm guessing many of us wouldn't have travelled the world had we not been saddled with prohibitive student loans and no easy means to pay them.

Carla · Joined: 21 Nov 2008

Traveling and working is like a drug to some people, and they don't have rehad! Most people I know can not even imagine leaving home for more than a vacation. Others are like.. "When can I go back."

simpleminds · Joined: 04 May 2006

I have 20 weeks of vacation per year, it's nice to go to England or Oz for a bit but by the time it's up I wanna be back in K land.

Hence I've never tried to hack it back home.

Yaya · Joined: 25 Feb 2003 Location: Seoul

Wow, this thread is back. Hmm, After coming back to Korea nearly four years ago from that wretched hellhole known as Los Angeles, I can definitely say I am better off having come back. Granted, Korea ain't paradise and I've had really bad moments here, but overall, I can enjoy myself more.

Korea now is definitely a LOT different than it was in the 1990s. I recently met a French woman who lived in Seoul in the late 1990s, and it seemed she never wanted to return to Korea. I bumped into her in Itaewon recently and she said she came with her husband for a five-year assignment for a French company. She said Korea has gotten a lot better in the nearly ten years she'd been away, especially that French district near Express Bus Terminal.

VanIslander · Posted: Sun Nov 30, 2008 1:24 pm Post subject:

I came to Korea when I was 33 after a successful career as a journalist, working my way up to head editor of a newsroom of a town newspaper, winning awards, basically the only way up that career ladder any higher would have been to seek a union job on a big city daily and that route wouldn't have been any more satisfying except for the much shorter work week.

So teaching and travelling seemed like a good thing to do as a break before following another career path, only, I soon found myself making this itself a career! My thirties are almost over and I'm still in Korea teaching English and lovin' it as much as the day I arrived.

When I turn 40 maybe I'll feel the impulse to go back home and re-integrate into Canadian society. Dunno. But I won't worry about being employable. There are always, always jobs out there, work to be done. The question is whether one would find such work thoroughly enjoyable or not.

I have a hard time relating to people who are in Korea for the money, hating teaching and fearing their job prospects back home even though that's like twenty percent of guys on dave's eh? sounds like it sometimes.

teachteach · Joined: 26 Mar 2008

Well, the old folks back home actually had more opporunities if you think about it. 40 years ago, a lot of guys our fathers age got stable work, but nowadays there is no more stability.
For example, my friends father started at the car plant at 18 with the equivilant of 20 dollars an hour now, whereas my friends first jobs, including his job now at the call center, is 12. Very few benefits and definetely no security.
Our generation essentially is much poorer than our parents.

umpittse · Joined: 13 Oct 2008

I spent a year in Korea three years ago. After teaching in Korea for a year, I came back to Canada and have been teaching since. I recently quit my public teaching job and am returning to Korea in March to teach in a university. I am returning to Korea primarily because I miss the low stress and adventourus lifestyle that accompanies EFL teaching.