Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Privateer]

Question to those who got out of the hagwon racket and into a Korean company: is it worth it? How has your experience been?

A friend of mine made the move and is getting valuable experience but the pay is no higher than that of a hagwon teacher even after two years and the hours are brutal. He has no life. Will it pay off in the future I wonder.

Does anyone have any stories to tell?

[jomiro]

its worth it, as it provides you with quality working experience. the question is, is it worth doing it in korea?
cuz over here you work crazy hours, are not being paid for over time and work the weekends too, if required.

but id say, in the long run it pays more. as eventually, being a teacher in korean is nothing you would wanna do for the rest of your life...
but thats just an assumption. could be that im totally wrong on that...

[crescent]

I did the reverse. Coming out of university, I worked for a subsidiary of Nortel in Daegu years ago, which has since gone under.
The experience wasn't all bad, but I have more negative reminders than positive ones. I only worked there for 1 year, and most of it was veiled in a honeymoon period. I thought I was quite lucky to have the experience.

Anyway,highlights included countless, pointless team meetings, always after office hours, and semi-yearly 'dongari' retreat weekends, where the department head got drunk and made a fool of himself in a myriad of ways. Nothing was ever accomplished at these things, and the same could be said about the office before 10 am. Everyone showed up bright and early before the boss, to surf the internet, do home shopping or take a nap on their desk.
The sales team was ranked according to performance on a monthly basis, and poor performers were publicly ridiculed. If someone was on the outs, it seems they were never directly fired. Instead, they were excluded from various memos, given mundane tasks, and were talked down to at meetings. I don't know if it was conscious, but these people were sat as far away from the department head as possible at team meetings. It seemed like the aim was for them to quit without being fired.

There was more office politics than I was used to in various summer jobs back home (government and a utility company).
I had an acquaintance at LG who had much worse to say about the experience. This was back in 2001, so things may have changed.

Making the transition to a uni job, I was able to focus much more spare time to develop a hobby into a side income. A move I don't regret. As your friend said, the wage/work ratio was not worth it at all.

[atwood]

You'll certainly gain a new perspective on Korean culture.

If you're in a department doing hands-on engineering and you, as a newcomer, get to do more that make copies, etc. then you should be able to learn a lot. Working for a financial or insurance company can be quite remunerative. But if you're going to be sitting in an office doing whatever, who knows what you'll be getting out of it other than learning how to kiss the boss's behind.

The bonuses are where the money is rather than the salary, which can be rather pedestrian. People do get paid over-time.

But you've got to dig meetings and love hanging out with your co-workers. Meetings on meetings. Where I worked the maintenance staff had daily meetings to map out that day's objectives. For all I know they could have met again in the afternoon to review.

[Dr. Whom]

I work(ed) for a Korean company. Have done since 1998. Company
is certified ISO:9001 so all management practices are under scrutiny.
Much more organized than any ESL gig I've seen, and I've seen them
all.

However, I just quit to take a job at an afterschool program.
1:00-5:30PM for 3.2M. Then 3 hours of privates a day to level out
at a comfy 6M.

Its all about the money baby. But I've being teaching a week now
and the kids are already driving me nuts. Also my "prestige" has
nosedived. But like I said, $$$.

[VFRinterceptor]

I taught english at LG for a few months, so I have a good understanding of the corporate culture there.

First, don't do it. It's just not worth it. The Korean corporate mentality is to just work and work and work. The CEO of the division I worked in would actually have to turn the lights off at 6 so that people would go home, but it doesn't stop them.

The whole Korean mentality stems from suffrage. Meaning, the more you suffer, the more value you are to the company. That means, the guy thats working the hardest for the lowest pay is the guy who gets promoted to...make less and work more (?? yeah).

If you are looking for a good experience working in another corporate culture, I would choose another market than here.

All the friends I made at LG told me what their pay is. English teachers make more.

To the guy above who was talking about those weekend retreats and the 'forced' after work drinking things? He was spot on. Those weekend retreats are really stupid. I have never liked drinking with my boss in the US or in Korea either.

[charliebrown84]

Hmm, maybe I'm a glutton for punishment, but I'm curious... How does one go about finding these corporate gigs?

[crescent]

[Dr. Whom]

[Mr. Pink]

[atwood]

Another thing to consider is how influential your boss will be to whether work is something you look forward to or something you dread. Eveything pretty much starts and stops with the boss, and if you've got a bad one, then work will su^&k.

It's amazing how quickly the work atmostphere, etc. can change with a new boss.

[canactuary]

OP, did you mean into an ESL related job specifically?

Overall, my experience has been fantastic. I work with one of the chaebols (large Korean conglomerates). However, the experiences vary widely between one expat to another. This depends on the boss, the type of job, industry, on the worker himself/herself, etc. Like a previous poster said, the popular avenues to get hired into a Korean corporation is either headhunting or transferring. I'm sure you could seek employment on your own, but I can see it being very difficult, unless you came out of a reputable school back home or have professional designations. Korean value education and if you have it there are fantastic opportunities here.

There are 2 types of corporate workers here; nationals and expats. Most of us would be classified under the expat category which is very different than nationals. Expats are paid more, taxed less, and enjoy many perks. Especially if you are headhunted and have experience back home. Most make more here than back home because why else would an experienced expat work in Korea? Expats generally work on a contract basis of 1-3 years. This is one reason for the higher pay as we can easily be terminated without any issues. It is very difficult to fire someone in Korea b/c of Korean culture and way of thinking. In my experience at my company, they treat experienced expats very well. At work, expats can leave earlier if they wanted to and many things are overlooked because we are foreigners. If we leave work early, many think that it is fine because we are expats and thus different. I personally don't leave early and I work 7:30 to 7:00 on average. However, my team is very laid back comparatively, which has to do with our department having a some expats of all levels.

Drinking culture is different in corporate korea. Generally, you are expected to take part in after work "team building" outings. How frequent these outings are depends on the company and department. I personally like these outings. Free food, drinks, and strangely it does build relationships with your colleagues. Times are changing and many Korean firms are lightening their pressure on drinking; however, it is still a serious issue for many and I doubt it'll change that much anytime soon.

I agree that in many companies, there are unproductive employees. I believe this stems from the barriers companies have to terminate their employees, image, culture, etc. However, if you are not adding value, you will be put to do rudimentary work and castrated in some ways.

I have a just over a year left in my contract and it has been great. I'm a gyopo so I'll have a different experience than non-gyopo expats. It's good and bad to be a gyopo in Korea, but that's another topic. I have no regrets working here. Broadened my personal and work experience, perspective and thinking, improved my Korean, earned more than back home, spent time with family here, and let's face it, Korea is a lot of fun if you are young, single and have disposable income. My plan was to stay here for 2 years and head back to either the States or Canada, but we'll see how things go. Perhaps, I'll get over the honeymoon phase...

[canactuary]

One more thing. If one decides to start a corporate career in Korea long term, it will be somewhat difficult to translate those experiences if one should decide to return back home. Unfortunately, work experience in Korea is not valued very much outside of Korea, except perhaps less financially developed countries. So, if it's short term, it's fine, but if it's one plans to stay long term, they should consider the consequences as well.

[conbon78]

There are definitely pros/cons of working in corporate Korea.

Pros:
- I get good benefits, but that's because of the company I work for.
- Paid ontime, no questions, never a doubt about anything like that.

Cons:
- Bored out of my mind on a regular basis...not enough to do.
- 15 days paid vacation, which is better than hagwons, but I spend so many more hours here that in the end, I'm just working more.
- I know more about Korean culture than I ever wanted too.

I don't really ever participate in the corporate outings or the drinking fests that occur because I don't want too. In the end, its looked great on my resume and I've actually been getting interviews in America. I only did it for a year and its helped open doors for me.

[jomiro]

payment wise i heard that most huge korean companies (LG, Samsung, etc) dont pay well.
they sell it to their employees and future employees with the reason 'you are going to/working for a worldwide, famous korean company'. 'you should be proud if you work here, cuz that means you are the best of the best'. plus, koreans are very much into everything korean. they find their pride in that.
unfortunately their bank accounts dont look like they are.

however. i have friends who work for smaller korean companies and they make way over 4 million.
banks pay very well, too. have a job offer of more than 4 million on the table right now (plus paid apartment).
so corporate can pay more, but doesnt mean every company does it.