Korean Job Discussion Forums

[stew1988]

Hi there everyone and happy New Year!

Actually I was hoping to get some advice regarding my wife. My wife is South Korean and is currently looking for jobs. As my wife it would be easy for her to move to a European country and have the right of abode, so my research tells me anyway. That being said, I was wondering if anybody knew of any of the following...

1. Korean speaker job websites - Websites may be in either Korean or English, not a problem.

2. Specific jobs for native Korean speakers currently available.

3. Any further information about the prospects in Europe for a native Korean woman with good communication skills in English and without a degree unfortunately.

Thanks in advance!

[ttompatz]

[stew1988]

Yeah, it doesn't look promising on the EU front. She's hunted around to no avail. I'm not sure about finding jobs once in the country, whether that would be more feasible or not?

In terms of worldwide and not including Korea itself, where do you reckon is the best place for her to find a job?

[Captain Corea]

Kind of a broad question, no?

That's akin to asking "where's the best place in the world to find a job?"

What are her skills, goals, education, work experience? Where does she WANT to live, and what does she want to do?

[stew1988]

I was a bit vague.

- In terms of work experience, it's not exactly vast, but then again she is still young. She has worked in customer service roles and hospitality roles, for example: MC for children's Birthday parties and working as a receptionist in a guesthouse. She has also worked in creative positions, for example as a video camerawoman in charge of marketing and for a nightclub in Seoul. In addition to this she also worked as a Korean teacher and English teacher temporarily in a hakwon for young learners.

- In terms of education, she does not have a degree. She was half way through her college degree but did not finish to attain the certification. For reference this was in 3D Computer Graphics. She is quite talented in this field and can use all the related software programs to a high level. The trouble is she doesn't have any formal qualifications to prove that.

- She is of course fluent in Korean and her English skill are quite good. (vague, but to be clearer, she can communicate well these days, however grammatical accuracy and fluency in speech have by no means been attained yet.)

- Goals: She doesn't want to just sit at home all day and be some kind of housewife. She wants to use her skill set, which relates to 3D Computer Graphics. She wants to use her native Korean language if possible. She wants to be in a career in which she can progress and climb the ladder as opposed to stagnating in an underpaid position somewhere in the middle of Asia where she is worked to the bone for less than no respect and hardly any money to match.

- Where: There is no where I suppose, it's more a case of Where not. We don't want to return to Korea and not the UK either. In terms of preference, that would be somewhere in the EU. Top of the shot would be somewhere in Scandinavia or maybe Holland (not going to happen) or some of the following:

1. Germany: Big Korean community but I'm not sure about her prospects.
2. Spain: Again, completely uncertain about whether speaking Korean would even be an advantage here at all.

The more feasible option would be Asia again. China is up there. I understand that the North of China has a large population of Korean speakers. That being said, I have a bad feeling about relocating there on both our parts. Failing that the bigger cities like Shanghai or Beijing. I'm not sure about her prospects there either.

I also realize that there is a big demand for Korean in South East Asia, for example Thailand and Vietnam. It's not Europe and thus our marriage does not provide any real benefit in terms of VISAS and relocation. That being said, she would probably be able to be attached to my working VISA if I found a job out there. The trouble with that is that this may not entitle her to work and it would all become illegal and part time bit work all too quickly.

It's a tough one and our situation is nightmarish at the moment. We have no substantial savings and we have to leave the UK by the end of April. We have the support from my family but it is slowly eating away at relationships and slowly destroying things between me and them also. Whenever I look for a job on my part I always think about her and thus limit my options substantially. Whenever I mention to a prospective employer that I have a South Korean wife who cannot find a job of her own in advance and would need a dependent VISA, that's pretty much the end of their interest in me. It's tough and I want to get us out of this rut but nothing seems to be materializing.

Thank you all for your advice.

[minos]

You don't need a degree for a 3d graphics jobs or art jobs.

It will depend entirely on her portfolio.

Alot of graphics work is freelance so I suppose she can find some sort of niche as an asian artist.

[sbp59]

It's a tough one and our situation is nightmarish at the moment. We have no substantial savings and we have to leave the UK by the end of April. We have the support from my family but it is slowly eating away at relationships and slowly destroying things between me and them also. Whenever I look for a job on my part I always think about her and thus limit my options substantially. Whenever I mention to a prospective employer that I have a South Korean wife who cannot find a job of her own in advance and would need a dependent VISA, that's pretty much the end of their interest in me. It's tough and I want to get us out of this rut but nothing seems to be materializing.


Oh man, I feel your pain OP. I feel like I went through this exact same thing, except I wasn't married yet. This was the main reason my longtime korean g/f and I broke up. It's ridiculously difficult for most koreans to find work in another country unless they have some terrific qualifications and need to be fluent in English.

So, after going through this process of her trying to find jobs abroad, it came down to me living in Korea for an extended period of time, maybe forever. Unfortunately, that was the breaking point. Korea can be fun at times, but it sucks the life out of you after a few years. So, my relationship ended because of the extreme frustrations of job hunting and being limited to finding work only in korea. I'm sure we'd still be together today, if she was able to come with me and teach where I had planned.

I hope it works out for you.