Korean Job Discussion Forums

[davester13]

I've been teaching in Korea for two years now, and while I enjoy living & traveling abroad and want to continue doing so, I'd love to be able to support myself doing something else, at least for a while. (Join the club, right?) I realize this is hardly an original idea, so I guess the million-dollar question is, what are some viable options for employment other than teaching, especially for someone such as I who has a nontechnical background and who has made a living all his life with 'soft skills'? Besides teaching, I'll tell you that my work experience has been in customer service and, more recently, public speaking/seminar facilitation. Before teaching in Korea, I was a seminar leader who taught the topics of communication skills and conflict resolution (in the workplace).

At some point, I'd love to be able to go back to training/teaching seminars, but I'm also wondering about other options. As challenging as it might be, what do you know of people with nontechnical backgrounds who are living abroad and doing something other than teaching? I don't care what type of work it is: manual labor, import/export business, internet business enterprises, etc. Nor do I care where in the world it is (as long as it's outside of the U.S. & Canada). I just would like to know. Thanks.

[tob55]

Korea seems to thrive on non-regulated businesses which appear to make a lot of money for people, i.e. the guys selling fish, fruit and whatever off the back of their Bongo trucks...With your background I would tend to think training/teaching seminar type positions might be hard to find...If you could share a little bit more info about the things that might interest you as a foreigner working abroad, but not in teaching, then I think it will be easier for people to give you comments that are more than just opinion...Send me a PM if you have questions I might be able to answer directly...

[davester13]

[tob55]

You are alive with ideas, and that is good. Most people who have the same desire are clueless of a direction for what they want to do...Since teaching has been and is still such a big part of my career (23 years teaching experience), I decided to do something in that area for when I retire from classroom teaching...I took up writing and am trying other things that will be useful and hopefully helpy me earn some money while living abroad...I have no strong desire or want to go back to the USA even though I value my citizenship their very much. It is this, for me in the foreseeable future, Korea has become my land of opportunity, because there are many things I can do here to earn a good living without having to spend all of my earnings on taxes...

[davester13]

[oldfatfarang]

My 2 cents. I travelled the world for about 8 years (coulda been 10). Hitching with my lady, mostly. In that time I met hundreds of 'travellers' looking for work/income to support their travels. My lady worked a bit, and I only worked for about 6 months. Here's our experience of working and travelling:

Laboring; very easy to get - very hard on the body - very dangerous - very low pay (stay away from adventurous jobs on fishing trawlers and mindless jobs like vegetable picking or farming).
Managing hotels is easy, but the hours will kill you.

Waiter: very easy to get. Lousy pay with a bit of free food.

In my experience it's better to work and SAVE REALLY HARD at a good job (teaching) and then use those savings to travel. Don't muck around trying to have an international life-style on low-paid, insecure jobs that every other traveller, unemployed or homeless person is looking for. Instead, save your money now - travel minimally (hitching/tenting/cooking EVERYDAY) and you'll have a fantastic overseas experience (for as many years as you can stretch your savings). Good luck.

[PRagic]

You can make a bundle writing test questions.

[davester13]

[PRagic]

TOEFL, TOEIC, TEPS...there are a ton of publishing companies and institutes that need test questions.

[Homer]

Depends on a few things like:

What are you qualifications? (other than teaching)
Do you speak Korean? (this opens up the field)
How much of a self-starter you are.

I teach at a University (been at the same one for a few years now). A few years back I started my own consulting services agency. Now, I accept a few contracts per year and get well paid for it. I work with companies and have built a nice client base.

How did that happen?

I used the skills I have (teaching, training and communication) and offered a needed service to Korean companies. The fact that I speak Korean became a huge asset when I started off.

There many opportunities out there in editing, proofreading, testing (test schools). But, you want to be serious about it, learn some Korean and get some credentials. Also, have a game plan.

[okokok]

What about teaching soft skills to call center employees in India?

[davester13]

[moosehead]

a friend of mine and my self want to start a business here - we both have the qualifications and experience, and i'm building clients - but it will only require a website, we will work out of our homes -

we're a bit stumped about how to go about setting up a business in korea - that is - if we want to stay around here and do it - technically we can do it anywhere we have internet access - but since our clients are korean, we want to facilitate the payment and maintain a korean bank account

any suggestions ? does one have to set up an official business "location" in order to do business here? we are worried about being questioned for taxes if we just let people wire funds and never report it - we want to be legit -

and no, we are not doing online teaching -

moosehead

[littlelisa]

What nationality are you?

You may be able to get a working holiday visa. It'd be good for one year. The only thing is that you wouldn't be able to renew it.

This won't work if you're American.

[The_Conservative]