Korean Job Discussion Forums

[abedefduf]

basically i graduated last december with a history degree. been looking for jobs ever since. looks like my options are either be a school teacher, or start somewhere at basically minimum wage-type salary. every place requires you already have experience(how the *beep* can you get a job in the first place if u need experience to begin with?). as far as teaching, teacher certification apparently takes another year of school, with all the costs etc..
this korea thing looked really appealing in the beginning, till i found daves and realized how much of a huge gamble it apparently is. despite that, its looking like my only current option where i can actually use my degree to make enough money to survive. so thats why ill probably take the risk. what made u guys do it?

[Atavistic]

Depending on the day and the person I'm talking to...

Taekwondo
A break up
Boredom at home
No Child Left Behind Act
Bush

[Otherside]

Was really not enjoying my post-grad studies, wanted to quit but needed a plan and fast... I guess teaching in Korea is what you get for a rash decision

[Quack Addict]

I totally exhausted all my savings living in Lahaina. Moving back to the mainland to get an entry level job after being out of college for 5 years did not sound fun. So I got a passport and a lonely planet Korea book. Thought I would make some money and go home after a year....well...5 years later and one wife (South African) and a baby....plans have changed.

[PRagic]

Originally came over to study Korean more. Had undergrad degrees in international business and Korean.

Taught while studying for about 1.5 years, then did my MBA here. Why here? I was interested in the Korean business system, I thought that I might be working here anyway after graduating (business or government), and I could work (translate: pay cash for the degree and bank through it as opposed to going into debt for a degree in N. America).

Graduated. Started a company, started teaching at a university, then decided to pursue that if I could get into a doctoral program. I got into a program and got fully funded. Seemed like the thing to do, and the wife was very supportive.

Why did we decide to stay?

1. My dissertation was about Korean firms. Being here made sense. I worked on a visitorship while finishing up my disseratation, which made more sense than slaving away as an instructor in the US and scrambling to finish my dissertation during the breaks. Sometimes I regret not taking more breaks along the way, but hind sight is, afterall, 20/20.

2. My wife has a business here, and does pretty well. I also have contacts that enable me to do some consulting work on the side.

3. There were and are more and more opportunities for foreign Ph.D.s at Korean universities. In my field, salaries are on par with what I'd be making in N. America.

4. What the hell, a lot of my research has to do with Korea and Korean companies. Why not be here?

15 years, and it's gone by in the blink of an eye. My only unsolicited advice to anyone who decides to stay is to keep trying to improve yourself. It's easy to get stuck in the disposable income rut, and to become just satisfied with what you do. Free or subsidized housing and comparatively fewer work hours can make for complacency. Invest in yourself and it can really pay off here. Ask yourself what you want to be doing here in a few years, then ask yourself if you're qualified.

If for any reason you don't think it's the right place for you to be, pick up shop and move, don't put it on the back burner for 3 million a month. In the end, you're going to have to get readjusted to your home (or a different) job market, and the faster you do it, the better. People who think they want to move back, but stay here for the coin end up being bitter. People who want to stay here and work at their careers do quite well.

[MSU Fan]

I got my teaching degree at a Michigan university in the U.S. and sat around doing substitute teaching at an inner-city school. Try dealing with students that cuss at you all day, don't follow directions, and try to challenge you. After that experience any other teaching environment isn't so bad. Korean students are obnoxious and sometimes need discipline, but they show far more respect and take their education more seriously than inner-city students ever have.

I subbed for over a year making only $75 per day and had constantly tried applying for jobs, even out of the state of Michigan. Unfortunately, Michigan has been in a recession for years and there is little sense of optimism there. I was stuck in a minimum wage job until a person I knew from church told me about Korea.

I have never traveled much outside of the U.S. and lived in a pretty white-bread world. Korea seemd so exotic and different that I almost said no. Please understand that people who write on this great forum are like people in the Opinion section of the newspaper: they are intelligent or people that complain about anything. Treat information on this site like you would with national news, do more research until you know all the facts.

If you don't have many job prospects at home and have crappy jobs (to put it mildly) then Korea is a place you should consider. If you have a long-term relationship, kids, obligations, etc. then you shouldn't consider Korea. Some of the complaints about hogwans are absolutely true for many teachers here, however, who doesn't have a job that sucks? A job is a job, no matter what you have to do or how degrading it is. Teaching here is a whole lot better then having to clean out shower drains at a truck stop.

I have only been teaching here for 1.5 months, so I clearly haven't been here as long as other people, but I have heard similar complaints from waitresses, teachers, mechanics, principals, and salespeople. This site is a great site for information and venting. That is part of the reason why this message is so long. Please continue looking at this site, but remember the great proverb when reading opinions: "Opinions are like a**holes, everybody has one."

[BS.Dos.]

Things were going nowhere and fast. I'd relocated to be closer to my family at my Mothers request having been living a comfortable 'arms-length' distance (150-miles) from them for a number of years, but I finally succumbed to my Mother's relentless pestering and the offer of a job from my brother at his firm in 2005.

A year later and I was bored to tears with both the isolated (but beautiful) rural area, and the growing family irritations. Made a decision to do what I was going to do after I graduated and have a go at teaching, albeit by dipping my toes in first by trying my hand at teaching English abroad.

Enrolled on a TESOL, which was PT and ran for 1-evening a week for a year and then proceeded to start researching into suitable countries. I was never going to teach in Europe despite being European etc and looked into Japan and China before I opted; purely for financial reasons, for SK.

9-months in and I've no regrets and will be resigning for a second year in a month or so. I finish my MSc in about 18-months and then will move on to pastures new. I'm planning on returning to teaching once I retire in about 20-years time, though it's unlikely that I'll return to SK, maybe Chile.

[shifty]

A great post Pragic. That should be a sticky!!

I have a son BA eng, who has done 8 years in Taiwan. I had always urged him to study, lifelong improvement etc etc. Now he's kinda at a deadend. EFL is the one thing he knows.

A daughter BA history. A worried frown creases my brow.

Thinking about those Elron (sp) executives who were corrupt. It was supposed that business leaders were not doing arts degrees, only business and not sensing that life is a continuum as a result. They were therefore more susceptible to corruption.

Nowadays i think it better to have a usable degree and be corrupt than an arts one and be unemployable.

[bassexpander]

Yep.. good post, PR.

Why did I come here?


Well, originally, it was for this:





Stayed a little longer for this:





Soon found myself earning more of this and with fewer expenses, saving more of it than back home:





Eventually, I met my wife and got married. Now we're planning our future.

[SirFink]

[DongtanTony]

[ciccone_youth]

to travel and have a "vacation" year.

i graduated 5 years ago, then right away got an amazing job working on a television set, for 4 years. i loved it but i had no social life, barely any free time and so much stress.

korea is like a vacation year for me... i get to be a tourist, travel, have fun in seoul, teach kids, and make some money at the same time.

it's only for a year, i promised myself. then i'm going back to my hectic job.

[xingyiman]

The accumulated wage earnings are about 8.00 an hour at retirement age in Missouri. I was sitting on a Master's degree and making about 1200.00 a month. Tough decision. Never looked back - will never go back.

[bookemdanno]

Why did I come to Korea?

10. To give it a second chance; the first time in 1994 was the pits.
9. I enjoy having fresh kimchi with every meal every day
8. Streak of masochism, for which I wanted to come clean
7. 5,000 years of Korean history (half of which just disappeared by arson)
6. View race car girls in person without all the mascara
5. Have a regular diet of Hanwoo beef, the world's finest don't ya know
4. Long legs, lots of fine, long legs
3. Easier to get wife's visa here
2. Postdoctoral research in comparative education
1. Experience a country that just sparkles day and night

[abedefduf]

wow lots of interesting replies, thanks!