Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Harpeau]

We plan to be here one more day! Living in Korea is a bit like a 12- step program ~ one breath at a time...just breath...breath in 4 beats, breath out 6 beats...slow down that vegas nerve... calm your anxiety...just breath...that's it!!

[Weigookin74]

[mgafunnell]

I went in 2004 thinking I would stay for a year and lasted seven months. I 2007 I came to Shanghai thinking I'd stay for a year and have been here ever since.

[PRagic]

Interesting. And it supports an old axiom in international management; success in one country and culture doesn't necessarily guarantee success in another. Korea wasn't for you, but you thrive in China. Glad you found a place that works for you, and you definitely got in at a good time.

[Francis-Pax]

[PRagic]

Congratulations, you just described any care taking place anywhere in the world.

[PRagic]

Plus, if you're in the top 1%, you have a PhD and at least 50 publications. This would of course provide employment flexibility!

[jlb]

I've just reached the 6 month point of my return to Canada, after living in Korea for 10 years. It was easier than I thought to go back, even without a detailed plan for employment. Here's a recent blog post I wrote about the transition for anyone interested:

http://teachinginkoreanuniversity.com/6-months-canada-update/

[PRagic]

Vancouver is unexpectedly affordable? Seriously? I've never heard anyone say THAT before!

And what is this surprisingly good salary the movie industry is paying, albeit for the admittedly long hours? I'm dubious because there's usually a very good reason that a job is surprisingly easy to get with no experience or connections, and that reason is that the pay blows.

If you need ready access to most of the food and amenities you mention, then, agreed, working abroad probably isn't for you.

Another option for university teachers is to simply get out of Korea for 4 months a year. Enjoy time with family, get to a beach, or do some diving or tracking while a paycheck is being deposited. The job is 'kind of a joke' if treated as such, and presumably once you get burned out on living away from your home country.

Sorry, but I tend to be critical of people who paint what they do in rose colored strokes, especially after they denigrate a job that they espoused taking, even to the tune of writing a book to help people get said job, until that job and the country it was in were no longer 'good', after which time another book had to be generated to inform people how to leave. While all the time, pretty much all the material could be found on Dave's, no less!

Glad things are working out for you there. Truly. You hit your wall and made the move that was right for you. No partner, no kids. You. And the pets, of course.

[TheUrbanMyth]

As a long term teacher in S. Korea and now China (finishing a second year here) I can say that it's better here now. Even in my small town (small by Chinese standards..200,000 people here) I can find some Western style goods and baked foods. (In my first gig, I had a WalMart about 20 minutes away by bus.)

So living here (as opposed to 5 or 10 years ago) might give somewhat different opinions to those expressed on an earlier page.

As for the link http://www.lindalivinginchina.com/2014/09/08/differences-between-china-and-korea/

she's more right than wrong. Not to say that most Koreans are uber polite (they most certainly are not) but they aren't a patch on the Chinese (at least in my experience) Cutting in line, pushing, spitting on the ground are far more common here then they were in Korea (when I left) and I've lived in a fair number of Korean communities over the years. But you also have mothers letting their children go right there on the sidewalk (wearing the infamous split pants...do a google search if you want to know more). A simple trip to the supermarket and back and you can see 3-4 such scenes. Then there is the hysterical staring complete with dropped jaw and bulging eyes when they spot you. They will stand there like that and stare, turning around to watch you as you pass them and even far down the street. I've turned around several times after a minute or two and sure enough they are still standing there watching me from 10+ meters away. Of course this is not true of ALL people in the communities here, but enough to be a bit annoying.

Then there are the 'crazies'/beggars who make a beeline for you when they see you. And the side market touts who try to get your attention...sometimes running out and dancing up and down in front of you spluttering Chinese or some strange sub-dialect thereof. I can't say that the last things have really happened to me in Korea...and I've mostly lived in small towns...although I did a year in Ulsan and another 2 in Daejeon.

[schwa]

[TorontoToronto]

[ArabicTeacher]

I wouldn't be returning to Alberta, Canada, unfortunately.

[TorontoToronto]

[silkhighway]