Korean Job Discussion Forums

sarbonn · Joined: 14 Oct 2008 Location: Michigan

First off, this is not a complaint about Korea. My situation was unique while in Korea, and I left, realizing it was going to be tough bouncing back when I got home. Just wasn't a fan of working for free for a boss that was taking advantage of the belief that I wouldn't leave, so he could keep not paying me as long as he believed he could.

Back in the states, it's tough. California, especially. I never realized how tough until I got home. I have a Ph.d and two master's degrees, but that didn't mean anything. I sometimes suspect that it kept me from getting jobs. Hundreds and hundreds of resumes, job applications, cold calls and whatever, and almost nothing to show for it.

But finally, I got an offer to work for a hospital system where I was working 3 years ago, but with a much higher pay grade (because of an additional MA I had picked up since working there). So, I move to Michigan next week and start working there. Never thought I'd leave California to find work in Michigan. Seems kind of backwards.

Anyway, just wanted to check in with the friends I made here. I still read the site because it's great to think back fondly on the good times that I did have here. Korea can be a fun place, and there are lots of adventures and opportunities here (or there).

But after a long search, a beat down mugging and all sorts of other "fun" events in California, I finally found work.

I wish everyone well and hope all of you are getting the experiences you desired.

PRagic · Joined: 24 Feb 2006

Two things might interest you:

1) People are leaving California in droves. Overpriced real estate, overtaxed businesses and property, backasswards politics, and natural disasters have just made the place untenable to many. Many are moving to Texas, Oregon, and Washington. You're in good company.

2) Some places in Michigan have been rated very recently as having very high quality of life and comparably affordable costs of living. (East) Lansing, MI, for example, is now one of the most affordable places to live in the US.

Sorry to hear that you had bad experiences in Korea. Were you working for a university? They are hiring Ph.D.s in almost all diciplines now, and the pay rates are on par with average rates in the US and Canada.

Good luck to you.

sarbonn · Joined: 14 Oct 2008 Location: Michigan

Thanks. No, I was working for a glorified hagwon when I was there, teaching debate mostly. It was great for the first six months and paid excellently. Then it went downhill fast.

Yeah, I'm going to be moving to Grand Rapids; that's where the job is. California is really tough now. Kind of shocking, actually.

Pwillig · Joined: 26 Jan 2009

Congrats on being one of the few, the proud, the employed.

Kinda worried what I'll find with a Bachelor's in International Finance and German when I get back Confused

bluelake · Joined: 01 Dec 2005

Congrats on the job! I have a niece who lives in GR (working on her graduate degrees). I also have a nephew who lives in Lowell; he's a computer package designer for Amway.

PRagic · Joined: 24 Feb 2006

Good luck, sarbonn. If you get burned out there, or find yourself missing Korea, keep an eye on The Chronicle of Higher Education's job postings. Korean universities advertise on there regularly. Don't know what your degrees are in, but the bigger schools are hiring across the board. Depends on whether or not you want to deal with the research and admin aspects of full-time positions, or if you've had enough of that.

http://chronicle.com/section/Home/5

sarbonn · Joined: 14 Oct 2008 Location: Michigan

Thanks for the information PRagic. Right now, I think I'm just going to focus on the job I'm getting and then put almost all of my off duty focus on my writing career. Already wrote 12 books. Just don't seem to do anything with them but let them take up space in drawers.

I think I'm going to become one of those researchers who stays out of academia and publishes from a corporate entity. My published academic work is all in international compliance and cooperation, so I might focus on a different aspect of that, like international medicinal support, just to see what kind of chaos I can create from that part of the field.

PRagic · Joined: 24 Feb 2006

You'd have probably landed a tenure track slot in an international grad school, international relations, or business program in no time flat. At any rate, good luck and all success.

jamesteacho · Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2009 9:19 pm Post subject:

congratz and good luck

Zach with a Z · Joined: 19 Feb 2009

I just left Oregon where it was god awful. All those folks in California are spilling over into Oregon. The place was at nearly 13% unemployment.. 2nd highest in the nation, only behind mich... but with no detroit.

Basically every waiter/bartender/barista in Portland has a degree. I applied over the course of a year, and was regected dozens of times. I got one letter telling me that they had had 185 apps for the one position. It was starting at a little over 11$ an hour... I didnt get it, with my BA and MSc...

tuff times

good luck to all.

Jeweltone · Joined: 29 Mar 2005 Location: Seoul, S. Korea

LOL!

When I got back to California (and back on my feet from a long illness), I went to the unemployment office job service department to get ideas. Their best advice? LIE on my application and deny that I have an MA and BA!

I am now working part-time at an after-school homework program in the US...it is very well-run however (the manager is Korean), and I actually enjoy my job. The clientele are mostly Korean students, and I seem to be quite popular with the parents.

I am also taking Korean classes with the third graders...mostly to encourage THEM (yes, I am apparently smarter than a third-grader!). Great refresher course. There is even talk of expanding the business with me in a potential supervisory position. I also work at an online newspaper (pay is very low) and volunteer at the Humane Society to pass the time while in search of a full time job.

I had a teaching job for about a year after I came back, but I didn't gel well with the teaching culture of a for-profit college (the customer/student is ALWAYS right and needs to be constantly entertained). I was laid-off, but with "high recommendations for my teaching methodology" (?!? How does that work?).

So, I have basically been functionally underemployed since I came back from Korea in 2008. I have eaten through my savings (mainly due to uninsured medical bills from my brush with Korean county-side living...still have serious issues from that) and I live with my parents, who, as it turned out, needed my help anyway, especially when my mom broke her leg last year!

None of us who return to the US expected to be in this mess. I am one of the ones who "did everything right" - good college, MA degree, international experience, balanced lifestyle, eccentric-but-not-too-crazy, average looking, etc. Yet I am meeting many unemployed PhDs who did everything right, as well as your average Joes.

Stay in Korea as long as you can. Wait out the recession. Don't come home yet.

PRagic · Joined: 24 Feb 2006

What an awesome post. Nobody we know in education has made a move without having a job lined up in advance. In one case, this necessitated flying back for an interview and then turning right around (that person got the job, though, so no foul). There's no way I'd ever make a move now without a job in hand.

curlygirl · Joined: 26 Mar 2007 Location: Pundang, Seohyeon dong

Sarbonn I remember your posts from back when your hagwon director was stiffing you for pay. I'm glad it's worked out for you. Upwards and onwards fighting!

fermentation · Joined: 22 Jun 2009

Grand Rapids ain't a bad city from my memory. From my exprience, Michigan was full of wiggers and rednecks. Its also cold as hell. Met some really nice Muslims and really hostile Methodists. But overall I liked it better than Commiefornia.

wondobern · Joined: 14 Oct 2008 Location: Yangjae2Dong

Grand Rapids is my hometown (specifically. East Grand Rapids), and isn't that bad of a city to live in at all, especially if you have a family -- good school systems abound in the suburbs. I'm pleasantly surprised at the changes in the downtown scene, as well. Cool places to hang out.

Lake Michigan is a close drive away, and the beaches are beautiful and much cleaner than the beaches in California in my experience, having lived in LA for a number of years.

You mentioned your work in the hospital area? Are you being employed by Spectrum Health? If so, it's a great opportunity to an up and coming situation with MSU's new medical school, etc.

And with your degrees, you can always teach at GRCC, Grand Valley, Cornerstone, or depending on your beliefs, even at one of the private Christian/Catholic colleges (Aquinas is probably more open in their hiring than Calvin or Cornerstone).

Although, Michigan's economic situation is probably the worst in the States right now, that includes the east side of the State, which is more effected by the auto industry.

I have many fond memories of growing up in GR.

If you have any questions I might answer about life in GR, let me know. It's not as conservative as it once was, but is still is largely influenced by the Dutch Reformed for better or for worse (a common saying when I was growing up was "If you ain't Dutch, you ain't much" -- I'm neither Dutch or Reformed --- but of German descent and Lutheran instead).

Good luck in GR!