Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Freakstar]

Anyone know what the average salary is for someone's first year at a company like Samsung or LG?

Also, how much do these employees receive in bonuses annually?

How many days paid vacation?

[write of weigh]

A couple of years ago I was working at a hagwon with the typical hagwon setup: 2 mil, apartment, airfare, bonus.

I had an acquaintance who was a PhD and working at LG. We were discussing salary and I shared my situation. He said my salary was comparable to an LG employee with a Masters Degree and 3 to 4 years experience.

That being said, the LG employee would work 6 days a week at least and on average 10 hours a day. Needless to say, they work much more.

My PhD friend wouldnt share directly how much he made, but I figured it was around 5 mil a month.

[Freakstar]

[PRagic]

A few friends of mine work for bigger financial houses here in Seoul. They pull in anywhere from 80-120K/year. They don't work weekends, but do have to put in some serious hours at certain crunch times. All-in-all, they seem pretty happy with their jobs and with what they make.

Are you asking about corporate jobs, or about teaching jobs? Different animals. These guys are corporate.

[PRagic]

Oh, and if that Ph.D. friend of one of the posters is only making 5 million a month at LG, he needs to think about making a move IMHO. Academic jobs are paying that now, plus additional incentives, for two classes a semester and fully paid summer/winter breaks.

Still, if he/she is angling corporate over the long haul, more power to them.

[Real Reality]

Finance Workers Get Best Entry-Level Salaries
Chosun Ilbo (September 11, 2007)
http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200709/200709110010.html

[SuperFly]

I'm working for one of those companies, and I can tell you that what they make and how fast they're promoted is based on their educational level.

For example, two guys enter the company at the same time. One has a MA and the other one a BA.

BA guy starts out as a "sa-won" average 2.0 million a month. Promoted to
"Teri" or "Teri-Nim" after 3 years of service.

MA guy starts out as a "sa-won" with roughly the same salary but is promoted to "Teri" after ONE year of service.

PhD starts out a "Kwa-Jang" (roughly 3.0 million a month.) He is promoted to "Cha-Jang" after three years.

I started as a "Kwa-Jang" but with a significantly higher salary because 1. I'm not Korean and 2. Because I worked for some pretty high profile American companies for about 11 years total.


The thing to remember is that there is a scale, not everyone makes exactly the same.

Also, if you're an engineer, the whole scale changes and money is different along with titles...

Bonus: Depends on your status, normal employees get a choice of a bonus every other month, or once a year (I think) Contract employees get one bonus per year which is equal to 10% of their yearly salary.


Vacation: I don't know about other foreigners, but I get one week paid vacation that I have to take along with the rest of my division in August. We also get 12 personal days (refresh days as the Koreans call them) a year, 8 of which we have to take (mandatory).

[PRagic]

The guy who makes the most money has a BA.

Superfly, what do you do for your company? I love to hear of people making a good go of it.

One thing, though. Don't know why a Ph.D. would work for 3 million a month!

[SuperFly]

You know, I'm probably wrong about how much the PhD Kwa-jang makes, I think it's all based on a sliding scale...


I work for the New product development team, part of Q-eh quali, which roughly translates to Planning and development.

Right now I'm introducing Stage Gate and Portfolio management to this division of my company. They've been using NPI process up to now, but the CEO wants to use Rober Coopers "Stage Gate" approach.


For example, how R&D can be properly aligned with Corporate and Company strategies that will come out from the annual strategy planning process, based on clear R&D objective description, rigorous project screening, and return on investment estimates for each R&D project.

� interaction between CTO/corporate R&D and business units can be made more transparent and how roles have to be clarified. Etc, etc.


I also do all the English interviews with new hire candidates, correspond with about 10 American companies on projects they're doing with us, and correct English presentations that engineers have to give to the VP.

And some other stuff I can't talk about online

[Been There, Taught That]

[PRagic]

Too true! My dissertation advisor is always going on about how dissapointed she is that 90% of her Ph.D. grads go to the private and government sectors.

Truth be told, it's a tough haul back in N. America, and even tougher in Europe. You get your Ph.D., but are saddled with debt. You get a job, if you're lucky, on a tenure track, but, then again, college neighborhoods are usually expensive on an asst. profs. budget. Saving? Pipe dream.

Then you have to start hustling for major funding. To boot, you have to start publishing ASAP in order to make associate. Now you get to deal with Ph.D. track students' dissertation committees, a load of MA/MBA/MS students' (more time consuming) theses, more meetings, and, if that weren't enough, you have to sweat getting a total of at least 10 papers published in major research journals to go for tenure in the forseeable future. Odds are you still aren't teaching courses that are professionall challenging or satisfying.

At least here I get some decent scheduling flexibility. I do have a publishing quota, and that does increase stress, but it's doable. I'm not rated on the funding I can pull in, though, which is a bonus, and I get more vacation time here when I can research and write.

I'm lucky as I research Korean firms primarily, so my working at a Korean university doesn't diminish my standing at international conferences too much. Had a good run of it so far.

[PRagic]

Sounds like a cool job, SuperFly. Unfortunately, though, as is usually the case here, you have real responsibilities but are also saddled with the mundane 'Native Speaker' chores. In my book, until the playing field gets totally leveled, it's an uphill battle. I'm in it to win it.

[Juregen]

I know that for SK, I had a fellow MBA students, and he is now pulling around 6M + benefits, after his MBA.

[PRagic]

Years ago when I did my MBA, a few buddies went to work for top-5 firms in Korea. Money wasn't bad, but they all quit within a year. First complaint was lack of direction and purpose (mostly a cross-cultural misunderstanding problem), but the second complaint was being constantly sourced out as an English lackey.

Job satisfaction aside, 6 million a month is respectable, especially at the beginning of your career.

[Pak Yu Man]

They start at about double what we make. They also work over double what we work.

I'd rather my time off to hang with the wife and kids.