Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Kevtron]

So my initial contract here at my hagwon still has about 4 months, but I figure it's time to start looking if I want to find something better. I have no problems teaching (though no more hagwons for me), and will certainly be looking for those jobs in the coming months. But I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions for how to find non teaching gigs?

There are so many recruiters out there for teaching jobs, but what about other things? I don't even really know where to begin my search here.

Any help would be appreciated.

Cheers

[whoami]

First of all, it depends on a number of factors; primarily how much money you have, how many contacts you have here, or anywhere else for that matter, and what work related fields you have qualifications in. I don't think it's possible for a non-Korean to have a non-specific well paid office job here, but then again, I'm no expert on this myself, so I can't say this for certain.

[Bibbitybop]

A non-teaching job? You'd better be a professional and have skills that companies in Korea need and can't get from Korean employees. Many people with other jobs are hired by global companies and sent to Korea. I've met a few people working for a Korean company, but no regular teachers in Korea that started doing non-teaching or non-English related work.

[PRagic]

You could put your resume in with a head hunter. Look in any of the English language newspapers and you'll see a bunch of them.

The previous poster offers sound insight, though. Unless you have a highly marketable degree, and usually from a top-tier school, it's not likely that you'll get picked up. If you want to work for a Korean company in Korea, your best bet is always to land the job in your home country and then put in for a transfer back to Korea. The whole process can take a few years, though.

I know a few people who have done their MBA here and then shuffled into corporate and government jobs. Again, pretty time intensive.

Welcome to Korea: Once an English teacher, always an English teacher.

[Kevtron]

Figured it'd be tough. Most of my experience back home is teaching as well while I was working on my MA (too bad there isn't a B in the middle there...). I guess I'll just keep my eyes open then. And in the mean time I'll focus on teaching at a Uni as that's gotta be better than a hagwon.

[PRagic]

Depends on what your MA is in. Journalism majors can cash in big as editors with finance companies here, for example. If your degree is in international relations, there are some government jobs that pop up, or jobs come open with international organizations (Yonsei just held a huge job fair for these types of jobs). See if the institute at SNU is hiring. They are usually looking for people with a side-specialty who can teach topic-related ESL classes.


For MAs (history/classics/education/philosophy/psych/sociology/Lit...), universities can be a good way to go. Most people start out at lower-tier schools and then angle for the better jobs. If you don't mind being out of Seoul (or want to be!), things get easier.
Good luck to you.