Korean Job Discussion Forums

[some waygug-in]

I can't seem to get a job here in Korea, they take one look at me and say something like, "we're looking for a woman," or, "the job's just been filled." (eventhough the ad was just posted) One guy even told me, "we're not looking for a teacher right now!" (so why are they placing ads?) I am not the most handsome guy on the planet, but I'm not a total geekazoid either. I think it must be my age? 42.

I guess I don't have what they want, so I was wondering if anyone out there has done any fruit picking in either Australia or Canada?
Perhaps they would be less concerned about my age/gender?

Cheers

[just because]

Fruit picking is pretty brutal.

It makes teaching here look like a picnic and the pay is 1/4 what you would get here.

I lived on a banana farm so i know what I am talking about. Manual labour is hard and if you are not used to it then i wouldn't recommend it.You will more than likely injure yourself without some fitness training first.

Also, hours are very very early, 5 am. starts to beat the heat.

[some waygug-in]

I'm not afraid of hard work, and as for the wage...... if I can't get a job here then it's still better than what I'm not making here.

[just because]

Kudos to you then.

Word of warning....be picky about who you work for. Just like Korean hagwon owners, Australian farm higherers are notoriously bad at paying as the work is illegal so the workers have no leg to stand on.
There are good farmers but also plenty of bad ones.

[some waygug-in]

How about Canada?

[rapier]

sounds like 42 is the age limit for hagwon teaching here...

[osangrl]

we don't have fruit in canada. Except apples in the fall and strawberries in the summer. You can't live off that.

[some waygug-in]

Bummer.

So maybe tree-planting again?

[discostar23]

have you applied to a university? They usually like to hire older people

[rapier]

I've picked 14 different fruits in Australia. I was known as the apple king inW.A and was involved in several "pick-offs". My fruity world came crashing down when the price of tomatoes fell. me and all the other crusties rioted in the streets of donnybrook, and they took weeks to scrape the rotten fruit off the municipal buildings. Them were great days.

[phaedrus]

[some waygug-in]

I planted in Saskatchewan and Alberta mainly. Tried one summer in BC, but got hosed pretty badly there.
When I was still doing it, I claimed I would never go back, but after a year of ddong chims I am thinking it wasn't so bad after all.
Cheers

University hiring season is past, for this spring anyhow. I have sent a few resumes to university job ads but they didn't even bother to respond.

The last hagwan I applied at said he's never seen so many people looking for work in Korea.

[phaedrus]

I said I would never go back as well, funny about that. It was getting up in a cold tent at 5:00AM that I didn't like. If it was getting up at 8:00 and stopping work at 4:00 I would do it for sure. I was a bit of a lazy planter though, so didn't make much. I enjoyed the woods too much.

[some waygug-in]

It's kind of an addictive job, planting trees. You get to feel sort of like your own boss, at least partly. The harder you work, the more money you make. Simple really.
I was a crappy planter, but I could still make double what I would make doing any other job. (per day that is)
But come to think of it, too many days off kind of didn't help.

Oh well, enough of the good ol' days. I better find hagwan that will hire me ssssssssssssooooooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnnn.

Cheers

[t bear]

I've picked apples and pears in Hawkes bay, NZ. Real easy to get a job in a number of regions, pay is $NZ10-25hr depending on how good a picker you are. Can be real shitty if its raining, and you know you've done a days work. The growers will sort a visa out . Problem is picking has already started in NZ, but allsorts of diffrent fruits get picked through to june or so, in defferent regions. I just read an article in NZ herald about shortage of workers.