Korean Job Discussion Forums

mindmetoo · Joined: 02 Feb 2004

A friend here is head teacher at a school. She's got a beautiful apartment, probably pulls down 4 million won a month (helps to learn the language). Like most of us, she's your basic BA holder. She keeps thinking about going home but is like "to do what? Work for 25K a year in an entry level job?"

It got me thinking about working in a hagwon and eventually going home, moving to a big city, getting a "foot in the door" job. Now I'm not saying you should stay a lifer. It's important to go home after you've done what you need to do here (save money, pay off loans, find a wife, etc.) and get your foot in the door and then work your way up. But working in a hagwon, while I do think gives you certain marketable skills, also might distort your expectations for the work world when you go home, if you've never really been in a entry level office type job.

Off the top of my head, here are some issues you might have to deal with:

1) You're going to have to pay rent. Large cities have lots of entry level jobs for BA holders but they don't pay well and large cities also have high rents. It's not uncommon that half you take home will go to rent. When I was first starting out, basically my check on the first of the month went to paying Toronto rent with enough left over for groceries/subway fare.

2) Your lifestyle will radically change. You're going to have to budget and count pennies. In Korea, it's like someone puts $2000 in your pocket every month and says "spend away!" You can save, you buy electronic toys, you eat out a lot, you can see movies, concerts, take a yearly vacation to Thailand, buy a new piece of clothing every weekend. Back at home, you'll have to make hard choices. See a movie or eat out this saturday?

3) Back home, you'll quickly understand you're at the bottom of the social rung. You'll notice very rich people. You'll notice you're not one of them. You'll notice BMWs, expensive water front condos, exclusive gyms, expensive tickets for pro ball games, and it will be a long time before you get to play in that world. While there are vastly rich people in Seoul, we're not really part of that hierarchy. We can trade on being foreign.

4) Richer friends: back home you'll also notice a disparity between you and some of your friends. You're making do in a one bedroom apartment. Your friend has a four bedroom house. In Korea, we teachers tend to hang out with other teachers. We're all at the same level. If your friend seems to have more money, you can get that money too. Just teach privates. If your other friend has a better apartment, you can have that apartment if you sign with his school. There's very little keeping up with the Joneses here.

5) Your picture isn't going to be on a brochure.

6) Office politics: If you're the only foreigner or in a small group and you don't speak Korean, you usually have no clue about the office politics, the alliances, who hates who, who you should be talking to, who you shouldn't be talking to. You go in, you do your work, you leave. Back at home, you'll understand the language. You'll be suckered into office politics.

7) Most hagwons are small. You get to know everyone. Back home, you might end up working for a company with thousands of employees. You're just a number.

Anyway, just a few thoughts. Add your own if you've gone from the office world to the hagwon world and remember (fondly) your days when you were just starting out and the challenge.

mistermasan · Joined: 20 Sep 2007 Location: 10+ yrs on Dave's ESL cafe

what makes you think there are entry level jobs back home? ever been deemed overqualified?

mindmetoo · Joined: 02 Feb 2004

Juregen · Joined: 30 May 2006

Lol

I hear you.

I indeed paid half of my wage on rent alone.

The drudge of working entry level jobs can take the spirit out of you.

bosintang · Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 4:52 am Post subject:

Yeah, I'm gonna start the entry-level grind this week, meaning starting from the beginning. If I'm still around on Dave's, I'll post my experiences or try to drop by in the future and update.

Flash Ipanema · Joined: 29 Sep 2006 Location: Seoul

One of the reasons I came to Korea was because I didn't want to quit my crappy job for just another crappy job. I'm a good employee but don't have "marketable skills" (other than not being a total dumbass like the people I usually work with/for).

I'm not so concerned with dealing with an entry level job as I am with finding something I want to make a career out of. I'm kind of afraid I'll end up teaching abroad for years because I don't have anything better to do at home.

bosintang · Posted: Mon Oct 01, 2007 5:41 am Post subject:

lucas_p · Joined: 17 Sep 2007

I don't pretend to speak for everyone, but is seems a lot of teachers here would be facing that type of situation "back home".

I don't even want to talk about myself....I am the stupid one who picked the BFA in art degree not knowing entry level was nearly minimum wage.

Milwaukiedave · Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Location: Goseong

I came home for four months and ended up giving up and am coming back to Korea. People need to know when you go back home, there is a big adjustment you have to make in terms of the difference between Korea and being back home.

The economy here is not very good either, which makes things bad all the way around. I've decided to go back for a couple more years and then try again.

Mr. Pink · Joined: 21 Oct 2003 Location: China

This could be why people go back and get B.Ed's or M.Eds and start teaching in public schools. Entry level at least starts you around 40k in Canada...much better then the 25-30k entry level for most jobs.

Alyallen

Snowmeow · Joined: 03 Oct 2005 Location: pc room

I'm also currently at home and while I am working it's basically an entry level job in the non-profit sector that is quite often done by people far younger than me. Getting into teaching in the public school system, even with math as one of my subjects, has been difficult so far.

Something I have learned is that it's best to keep in touch with everyone at home that you may need to call upon for a reference when you return. And don't ever stop looking.

adventureman · Joined: 18 Feb 2003

Milwaukie Dave, why exactly did you give up on making a life in your own country?

Was it lack of job of opportunities or more to do with reverse-culture shock and the fact that you just couldn't cut socially?

By the way, the longer you are away the harder it will be to go back...

Mr. Pink · Joined: 21 Oct 2003 Location: China

Milwaukiedave · Joined: 02 Oct 2004 Location: Goseong

AM,

It was more lack of opprotunities then anything. I started applying for jobs back in Janurary (I came home in June), so I had a running start at looking for a job. Some of it is just the shear frustration in terms of looking for a job and knowing I could literally snap my fingers and have a job in Korea (ok maybe not that easy, but almost).

I don't know about reverse culture shock and if that was a factor at all. I certainly didn't suffer in terms of food (I will when my wife sees me though!). Personally I felt a lot of pressure because I wanted my wife to come over here and to do that I needed to have a job. If it's just you and only you that you have to worry about, it's one thing. But when your married, it is more difficult because you have to worry about how things are going to play out.