Korean Job Discussion Forums

hagwonnewbie · Joined: 09 Feb 2007 Location: Asia

Just curious if there were any people from my hometown. I figured no 'cause housing is so cheap there and jobs are pretty plentiful thanks to several good Universities and many large corporations.

Masta_Don · Joined: 17 Aug 2006 Location: Hyehwa-dong, Seoul

Yeah, it sure was hard for me to leave the Bible Belt too but don't worry, there's plenty of similarities here. If people don't like you they'll stare and not talk to you, your 'kind' shouldn't date our 'kind', and fried chicken galore.

mehmeh · Joined: 23 May 2007 Location: South, South Korea

I'm from St. Louis...but I won't be here for long if what you say about all those jobs is true.

sojourner1 · Posted: Thu May 31, 2007 3:13 am Post subject:

Saint Louis in the house here! Welcome to Korea. Like you, I did not think anyone else from my area was here. No one at home knows about this opportunity, but if they did, many would come. There are many bachelor degree holders who are single and working in retail, telemarketing, and other low paying jobs just struggling who would love to have someone pay them to fly, see the world, and talk to people. Korea does not market itself well or communicate well with the world to let them know what the deal is. I learned by accident when I ran into Nova Group of Japan on something like Craigslist.com and did a search on English teaching for which Daves came up and I been reading Daves for a year now.

I am a fairly recent graduate of UM-St. Louis as well. I left the Lou' about 5 months ago and don't regret it one bit. Smile

Yes, jobs are plentiful in old Saint Louie, but the pay is very low ($8 to $10/hour W/O benefits) and you must have a car to chase opportunity. Your looking at a matured market over saturated with college grads with very little professional jobs growth. I hated it there for the reason of not being gainfully employed after college. I enjoyed living near Washington Street in the Jefferson Arms during my college years and conveniently riding the MetroLink train to class and to my little jobs. The loft district developed into a rich affluent area during my 4 years there and I found myself priced out with earning only $15,000 a year. It went from cheap urban decay to having great coffee shops, flashy clubs, $300K lofts, and gourmet restaurants, but beggers abound everywhere, becuase not everyone's boats are being lifted. Young executive style scene going on there with no obvious booming knowledge based industries to support this scene other than AT&T bringing in young Indian graduates from India, just inherited old money acting new again. You see ornate marble clad buildings, restaurants with chefs from Manhatton, fancy suits, bling bling, a Rolls or a pimped out Hummer limo bumping by, and then droves of homeless guys on the side of the street and many wannabe business executives. It's a rat race of a place.

Saint Louis is a great place for those inheriting $ or who are related to the affluent as it is a wealthy young adult scene or those who are health care professionals as health care is the big industry who will hire you into a $25 to $100/hour job with benefits if you can stand blood, sick people, and geriatrics work. There tends to be a huge socio-economic gap present where white people were the ones with wealth and blacks had little or nothing. It drove me nuts how all these black men approached me for money, becuase they assumed I was rich. Fact was, I was struggling just as bad as they were from a financial standpoint, albiet, educated, white, and well groomed in business attire. I don't mean to sound racist, but it's a critical fact that St. Louis is very segregated not only between black and white, but also by immigrant nationality as well. I had many black friends and enemies alike. Nepotism rules in getting a good job in ol' St. Louis in having the money to buy a loft and drive a mechanically sound enough car, if not a nice fancy BMW. Forget about teaching for SLP schools as they are broken with a huge budget crisis, social and technical corruptions, and crime.

I find my life to be much better having gone to Korea to teach. I am actually quite happy now, minus the few minor headaches that come with learning to live in another country which is expected. It really is going better for me than I expected. I actually have positive cash flow and feel good about doing a job I like and take pride in doing. It's rewarding to be needed, highly valued, and respected by my employer, not to mention, the money I am saving. Yes, I actually have positive cash flow for the 1st time in my life. YAY! thumbs up to that one. I often think about where I will go after I have tasted Korea enough. Probably not St. Louis, but I definitely would be happy to go back to the Gateway to the West if I am offered a decent job there. It's home and I do miss it.

kprrok · Joined: 06 Apr 2004 Location: KC

I'm another UMSL grad, '03 to be exact. I love it here, but I miss StL. I'm planning to go back to visit on my vacation.

Maybe we should have a little get together and trade stories and shoot the crap.

KPRROK

mercury · Joined: 05 Dec 2004 Location: Pusan

I remember what Axl rose said about Saint Louis.

jdog2050 · Joined: 17 Dec 2006

dogshed · Joined: 28 Apr 2006

I spent the last 6 years in KC, MO. I kept thinking that with a college degree and work experience I would find something better. Kansas City just isn't fun when you have no money.

With a gazillion computer geeks laid off from sprint my four years of tech support was not enough for a tech job and I really didn't want to do that anymore.

I went to a very good resume class given by the job center. The guy teaching it gets feedback from Human Resource diretors in Kansas City. Basically
they are looking for reasons to toss that resume in the trash.

Another thing. They used to tell us that companies wanted hungry people that would work hard to get ahead. That's not true anymore. Now they want people who will do that job you give them and not ask for anything more.

While your waiting for that big job you have to take something to pay the bills. Now you have the choice of putting that fast food or security guard job on your resume or leaving a blank spot. Either one will get you rejected. Forget your four years of being a computer guru. You were a security guard last week so your resume goes in the trash.

My last job as a security guard was actually ok. It paid more than most jobs and I could have made more money if I had taken more hours but I just couldn't stand it anymore.

Oreovictim · Joined: 23 Aug 2006

I'm from Northern Illinois. Never made it down to southern Illinois. Is there a crap-load of corn down there, too?

waltjocketty · Joined: 09 Oct 2006

I'm from St. Louis. Went to John Burroughs. Where did you go to high school? I'd give a nut for some toasted ravs and an imo's pizza. mmm provel......

mehmeh · Joined: 23 May 2007 Location: South, South Korea

it was only a matter of time before someone asked that question.

waltjocketty · Joined: 09 Oct 2006

mehmeh · Joined: 23 May 2007 Location: South, South Korea

Kirkwood High School

kprrok · Joined: 06 Apr 2004 Location: KC

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

No but I spent three years at Wash U. and plenty of evenings enjoying a few pints at Blueberry Hill. I lived just down the road from the Loop and the area very much felt like a bubble that bore little resemblance to the rest of the city in terms of its mentality. The atmosphere around Wash U. compared to that of say Jefferson Memorial Park on the 4th of July couldn't have been more different. It was a nice enough three years but I've never lived just outside a city proper that only functioned from 9AM-5PM most days.