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everything-is-everything
Joined: 06 Jun 2011
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 Posted: Wed May 01, 2013 11:11 pm Post subject: |
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| Weigookin74 wrote: |
Let me tell you a little secret about Asian cities Kiddo. You want comparable features, attitudes, perks, amenities, etc take off a "0". So, an Asian city of "100,000" people will be like a North American city of "10,000". I came from a city of 150,000 people aproximately and went to a city of around 90,000 here when I first came over. I thought how bad could it be? Wow. Not much going on. Tiny marts, no wal mart equivalent. Was a tiny emart, but it was more like a mart on two floors in the basement of an apartment building. No escalator. Had to be the smallest one in Korea. Think of emart express but two and a half of them on top of each other. A rosebud coffee shop, a lotteria, and a bunch of Korean stores and small shops. Think more has gone there since I left. But sill not much going on. My city of 150,000 had large bookstores, shopping malls, museums, large fitness centers. This town in Korea, some gyms which were tiny rooms with no air con. No large indoor venue to go on a rainy or cold or hot day. I think you've got to be in a metropolitan city to get anything close though still not exactly the same.
So, a city of 1.5 million is like a city of 150,000 in Canada. Seoul at 10 million but with Gyeong-gi surrounding it bringing the true metro population to 23 million is a bit of an exception due to being the capital city. So, better than a North American city of 2.3 million people? Though I'm sure Toronto at 6 million may have more going on in terms of amenities. But Seoul's not bad. Always something to do and I don't mean drinking. |
This is fantastic advice. |
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Threequalseven
Joined: 08 May 2012
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| Posted: Thu May 02, 2013 4:00 am Post subject: |
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| Lparsons7641 wrote: |
| My only (albeit big) obstacle is worries that I am killing my chances at a career in my field. Still trying to feel that out a bit. |
Three questions I'd ask: 1) What is your field? 2) Why has it led you here? and 3) How passionate about it were you in the first place?
If you studied something you can still do here like photography, writing, web development, graphic design, and so on, then you have nothing to worry about and a cool new environment to work with. However, if you're among the countless grads with (what I consider to be) an undervalued degree, then you have to ask why you're considering ESL in the first place. For me, I studied urban planning and worked three different internships/temp jobs in my field. However, nothing long-term ever materialized, largely because I couldn't afford a masters degree and the jobs that were available were few and far between. So after a half-dozen unsuccessful interviews and countless resumes and cover letters, I decided I had to go for a sure thing. Which leads me to question 3:
How passionate are you about your field? And as a follow-up question, do you have reasonable goals? I once knew an English major who wouldn't even apply for job unless it was the perfect job with the perfect video game company. But assuming your like me and countless others and are willing but unable to land any full-time work, are you ready to switch fields - possibly forever? Did you go to college because you knew exactly what you wanted to do, or did you go because you knew you needed a bachelors? Perhaps it's the latter, and you learned all sorts of cool and interesting stuff that you want to put to good use but can't find work in the real-world. It's tough. For me, I studied urban planning because I would always look at wiki pages and maps of different cities around the world, and I'm really interested in statistics, demographics, and the use of space. I even had the opportunity to work closely with planners in my city. But it seems the job market could only lead me to these backwater no-mans-lands in Iowa or Kansas, which I could only get if I earned a masters degree. And even if a job were to open up in my hometown, and even if I did earn a master's degree, there are still going to be dozens if not hundreds of people applying for the same job. Not that I've given up hope, but I'm just trying to see things from an objective point of view.
By working in Korea, I'm still learning about many of the things that interested me in college (demographics, different cities, the use of space, etc). So I don't see my experience here as "giving up on" so much as building on my field of study. It's also made me reconsider graduate school. I think to myself: Do I really want to go right back into debt right away? Perhaps I would rather invest in something more tangible? Whatever I end up doing, I still consider my time here as valuable, marketable experience. Perhaps the job itself doesn't exactly say much. But if, say, 10 years down the line I'm in the running for a job back home, and it comes down to me vs. one other guy, who are they going to pick? Guy who stayed in the same place his entire life, or guy who experienced how people around the world live and might have some new ideas to bring to the table?
That's just me, though. You need to think about what will work for you. I do know, however, that you won't be the only one in your situation that's teaching over here. And living here can give you a great opportunity to brainstorm some ideas you may have never dreamed up. For example: starting your own business, buying a house and renting it out, learning about a new trade, and so on.
TL;DR: Teaching English abroad isn't a career killer. It all just depends on how you make it a part of your longer term goals. |
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Paddycakes
Joined: 05 May 2003
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu May 02, 2013 5:04 am Post subject: |
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But if, say, 10 years down the line I'm in the running for a job back home, and it comes down to me vs. one other guy, who are they going to pick? Guy who stayed in the same place his entire life, or guy who experienced how people around the world live and might have some new ideas to bring to the table?
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Honestly, if I were hiring, I'd go for the guy who shows stability rather than the "wanderer" who bummed around Asia for 10 years working in a sub-professional, non technical job.
I'd be concerned you're kinda of a "transient" personality rather than a potential long-term employee.
My personal view is unless you're applying for an ESL or teaching job back home, your ESL experience in Korea will be meaningless to most potential employers.
It'll be abstract to them; they won't really understand or relate to it. |
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Threequalseven
Joined: 08 May 2012
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| Posted: Thu May 02, 2013 6:58 am Post subject: |
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| Paddycakes wrote: |
| Honestly, if I were hiring, I'd go for the guy who shows stability rather than the "wanderer" who bummed around Asia for 10 years working in a sub-professional, non technical job. |
To each their own, I suppose. However, I don't know if someone with holes all over their resume shows stability just because they stayed in the same city the whole time. I'd say they show lack of initiative, if anything. Maybe some employers think that way, though, I don't know. Probably depends where you're trying to get hired. I'd like to think that travel counts for something. |
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joelove
Joined: 12 May 2011
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| Posted: Thu May 02, 2013 7:12 am Post subject: |
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| Weigookin74 wrote: |
| Let me tell you a little secret about Asian cities Kiddo. You want comparable features, attitudes, perks, amenities, etc take off a "0"... |
Yeah, heard that before. Doesn't really work sometimes. Some big places just don't have anything like what you might be used to or hope for. There are some real dumps if you're unlucky enough to end up in one. Then I guess there are also smaller places that can surprise you and have plenty of good stuff. |
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Lparsons7641
Joined: 17 Jun 2010
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| Posted: Thu May 02, 2013 7:20 pm Post subject: |
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| Threequalseven wrote: |
| Lparsons7641 wrote: |
| My only (albeit big) obstacle is worries that I am killing my chances at a career in my field. Still trying to feel that out a bit. |
Three questions I'd ask: 1) What is your field? 2) Why has it led you here? and 3) How passionate about it were you in the first place?
If you studied something you can still do here like photography, writing, web development, graphic design, and so on, then you have nothing to worry about and a cool new environment to work with. However, if you're among the countless grads with (what I consider to be) an undervalued degree, then you have to ask why you're considering ESL in the first place. For me, I studied urban planning and worked three different internships/temp jobs in my field. However, nothing long-term ever materialized, largely because I couldn't afford a masters degree and the jobs that were available were few and far between. So after a half-dozen unsuccessful interviews and countless resumes and cover letters, I decided I had to go for a sure thing. Which leads me to question 3:
How passionate are you about your field? And as a follow-up question, do you have reasonable goals? I once knew an English major who wouldn't even apply for job unless it was the perfect job with the perfect video game company. But assuming your like me and countless others and are willing but unable to land any full-time work, are you ready to switch fields - possibly forever? Did you go to college because you knew exactly what you wanted to do, or did you go because you knew you needed a bachelors? Perhaps it's the latter, and you learned all sorts of cool and interesting stuff that you want to put to good use but can't find work in the real-world. It's tough. For me, I studied urban planning because I would always look at wiki pages and maps of different cities around the world, and I'm really interested in statistics, demographics, and the use of space. I even had the opportunity to work closely with planners in my city. But it seems the job market could only lead me to these backwater no-mans-lands in Iowa or Kansas, which I could only get if I earned a masters degree. And even if a job were to open up in my hometown, and even if I did earn a master's degree, there are still going to be dozens if not hundreds of people applying for the same job. Not that I've given up hope, but I'm just trying to see things from an objective point of view.
By working in Korea, I'm still learning about many of the things that interested me in college (demographics, different cities, the use of space, etc). So I don't see my experience here as "giving up on" so much as building on my field of study. It's also made me reconsider graduate school. I think to myself: Do I really want to go right back into debt right away? Perhaps I would rather invest in something more tangible? Whatever I end up doing, I still consider my time here as valuable, marketable experience. Perhaps the job itself doesn't exactly say much. But if, say, 10 years down the line I'm in the running for a job back home, and it comes down to me vs. one other guy, who are they going to pick? Guy who stayed in the same place his entire life, or guy who experienced how people around the world live and might have some new ideas to bring to the table?
That's just me, though. You need to think about what will work for you. I do know, however, that you won't be the only one in your situation that's teaching over here. And living here can give you a great opportunity to brainstorm some ideas you may have never dreamed up. For example: starting your own business, buying a house and renting it out, learning about a new trade, and so on.
TL;DR: Teaching English abroad isn't a career killer. It all just depends on how you make it a part of your longer term goals. |
My field is Libraries. I have a B.A in history. It was rather useless job wise. I wouldn't have changed what I did in undergrad though.
Right now I am a graduate assistant at a science/academic library and I telecommute for a document delivery service. I also tutor someone in english every friday morning, though it's very informal. Some days we don't even "do" anything, we just get coffee.
I have asked a few people in the library world what their opinion is. Some have said that in libraries having any thing that shows you can do some sort of instruction is really big, as would the ability to work with people of different backgrounds.
They generally thought it wouldn't hurt, it wouldn't be as good as getting into a library and going to conferences etc etc. But in a lot of the country it can take 6 months- 1 year to get in on the ground floor in a library. (Full time, entry level/career position) none of the "something a high schooler can do" jobs.
Ideally I should try to stay connected to "the biz" while abroad, but I doubt there would be volunteer opportunities in Korea.
The extra interesting thing on my resume, plus the skills I could possibly study in my free time (Korean, maybe some techy stuff) could help my resume more then a 2 year gap of library work, or it could hurt. There is no real way of saying either way.
But the potential to nuke part of my loan is huge for me personally, as is a chance to travel.
Thanks for the advice on city size. I am torn on that. The extra money of provinces really looks good, but so does the possibility of being near Busan (I doubt I'd get in Seoul, I have no real special qualifications)
B.A (not in english)
TEFL (this summer)
MLIS (January)
A bit of tutoring experience. And my experience in libraries/customer service. I am reasonably good with people, especially compared to some in my program, but I am not a bubbly exciting young blond  |
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