Korean Job Discussion Forums

[BS.Dos.]

So my GF, who's returning home in a couple of months once she's completed her second contract, has been updating her CV (resume) in preparation for re-entering the US job market and it got me thinking about how best to maximise your Korean experience on your CV.

Any thoughts etc?

[bogey666]

[Gwangjuboy]

[lastat06513]

ESL experience is really not worth much unless she intends on making teaching her career.
And besides, with the way things are getting in the US, returning now would be a huge waste of monetary resources....she should wait it out in Korea until the US economy improves...

[bnrockin]

I think that being able to live in a different country and work there for a year (two years in your gf's case) shows major flexibility and adaptive skills. That will show a company that you can work in different environments and if it is an international company, it shows that you have possible cultural sensitivity. In a globalized world, that is pretty big.

[moosehead]

stress the "International Communications" aspect of it

minimize the "teaching ESL to snotty-nosed, spoiled, arrogant, unappreciative students" aspect of it


maximize the "adapted to different cultural mores" aspect of it


minimize the "never quite felt accepted" aspect of it

good luck to your GF, 11 months to go for moi !!

[aalais]

If she was responsible for planning her own lessons, she should emphasize time management, in terms of "Wrote curricula and designed educational materials for fun, informative classes managing x students y hours a week." She sounds like a self-starter and someone who can work with others, which are often top priorities for hiring managers.

I think there're ways that she can phrase it to look really appealing to potential employers, even in other fields. Teaching is so deadline oriented -- if you don't have something to fill that 45 minutes by the start of class, you're sunk -- that I think she can come up with a really respectable sales pitch based on it, if she thinks about what the managers are looking for instead of focusing on the minutia of what teaching is like.

[BS.Dos.]

Nice replies although, I wasn't speaking about her situation specifically, rather I wanted to gauge what points you'd try and milk when the time comes for you to re-write your CVs.

Think I'd try and emphasise how the experience had enhanced my communication skills and developed my ability to think on my feet. Also, I think that there's mileage in mentioning being adaptable to a strange, and at times, challenging and demanding environment.

[Lekker]

[Paji eh Wong]

You are asking the wrong people.

The only advice you are going to get around here is the self serving type. Posters have a vested interest in rationalizing their life choices. They will try to convince themselves, via you, that teaching ESL is the best option available because that is what they are doing right now.

Its insidious, but thats human nature.

[wylies99]

I'd say preparation of materials and presentation skills are ones worth mentioning.

[pomegranate_grenade]

Something about developing tact and diplomacy in a cross-cultural environment might go down well.