Korean Job Discussion Forums

[sojourner1]

Yes, they want me to rush home to buy a car, rent an apartment, and get a low waged job. Now, why would I want to rush home to buy a car and rent an apartment of which costs will outstrip the earnings of a low wage job? With strict budgeting like before, I can barely break even with no savings. I am simply not doing this, at least not right now.

Jobs typically pay $8/hour with $500 month rent and $3/gallon gas with $75 to $150 a month car insurance. That's a whopping $1040 take home pay per month with around $1000 to $1300 monthly living costs! This just doesn't add up. No wonder why I found it so difficult before I came to Korea on the paycheck to paycheck treadmill. I want to go back with about $25,000+ saved up to properly position myself for a better opportunity than some low waged job in a declining economy showing signs of increasing price inflations.

I just am not telling my relatives how much money I saved or what my saving potential is since they will expect me to give them money as I found out before when I had a good job 7 years ago and then when I did military service. No blabbering about how good I am doing with saving, just that I love to travel and learn about other cultures instead of being on a boring economic treadmill at home. That college degree really doesn't help you much in today's job market at home as all the jobs are either low wage or very high paying senior level positions that are too much of a job to land unless you're a senior level professional late in his career.

I am taking 4 weeks off next month and then looking to do another money saving year in Korea next year. The vacation airfare for a 1 month stop over in Bangkok only costs me 122,000 won more than if I flew straight home so it didn't cost a fortune since I am already in Asia and then I am only spending $2000 or less there which I believe is plenty. Now, going to Europe would be very expensive at this point which I am not doing.

[thepeel]

IMO, you need a trade. If you are from Canada, the oil patch in Alberta is starving for tradesmen. Head to NAIT for a short program and then earn 30$/hour apprenticing. A liberal arts degree is simply worthless in today's labour market.

There are many good jobs. But you have to be trained for them. Don't just assume ESL is the only path to savings.

[Gamecock]

4 weeks in SE Asia, eh? Mom probably doesn't really want you to come home for that time, she's just worried you'll get an STD. Hehe.

[whatever]

You mention 7 years ago having a good job, doing the military before that, and you (most likely) have a real degree, so that would make you...what...at least 31 or 32?

No offense, but aren't you a little old to let your family hold so much sway in your decision-making? I would just laugh and tell them, 'Good one!'

...oh, wait...something just occurred to me...are you ethnically Korean? Because if you are, my point is irrelevant, invalid and blasphemous.

Good luck. And...by the way, I am right at this moment vacationing in Thailand and it is the shiznit!

[VanIslander]

[Bibbitybop]

My parents said coming to Asia at all was a bad idea. They, like your parents, are wrong and uneducated with regards to SE Asia.

[dogshed]

Friend or Relative: I was thinking you could get a job doing ________.

Me: Sounds interesting. Those jobs tend to pay less than I'm making now,
and I would have to go back to school for two years to be qualified for
that job, and even then with no experience it might be difficult to get, but
email me a link to the ad and I'll take a look at it.

[Tiger Beer]

Try for a uni job in Korea. You get a lot of vacation time to visit home, go travel, make more money, etc.