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bobbyhanlon
Joined: 09 Nov 2003
Location: 서울
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 Posted: Mon May 31, 2004 3:05 am Post subject: love korea, don't love teaching |
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i really want to stay in korea, but get a more serious and higher-paying job than teaching. do any of you guys know of decent jobs which foreigners can get into here? my korean is ok for someone who has been here six months, but i wouldn't say it were good yet.
my academic background is in politics/economics, so maybe some kind of finance job would be possible?
i would really appreciate any useful comments.
thanks |
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kangnamdragon
Joined: 17 Jan 2003
Location: Kangnam, Seoul, Korea
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| Posted: Mon May 31, 2004 3:11 am Post subject: |
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| It is possible to get a better job, but I would really wait a lot longer than 6 months before you think about it. Most Korean companies would want people with much more experience and/or a higher level of Korean. Good luck to you. |
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Homer
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| Posted: Mon May 31, 2004 3:39 am Post subject: |
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Yes indeed.
You will need to improve your Korean quite a bit and get some experience living here.
6 months is not much. |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Mon May 31, 2004 3:46 am Post subject: Re: love korea, don't love teaching |
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| bobbyhanlon wrote: |
i really want to stay in korea, but get a more serious and higher-paying job than teaching. do any of you guys know of decent jobs which foreigners can get into here? my korean is ok for someone who has been here six months, but i wouldn't say it were good yet.
my academic background is in politics/economics, so maybe some kind of finance job would be possible?
i would really appreciate any useful comments.
thanks |
I would think most finance/bank jobs would acquire english staff via transfers from their north american/european/australian offices.
After english teaching there's usually editing/journalism. Although if you have no experience in that area you would find it tough to get a job as you'd be competing with a lot of ESL teachers with editing/journalism backgrounds.
IT is another avenue but again if you're not a programmer or engineer you'd be SOL there too.
If you're tired of teaching and want to work a white collar job in Korea, probably the best thing is to move home, find a job in a company with offices in Korea and leverage your Korea experience that way. Alternatively, find a head hunter that does international placements.
The down side is you're looking at probably 2 years down the road before you get back to Korea. So if you want to keep your Korea fix going, you might have to grin and bear teaching. |
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mudguts
Joined: 24 Apr 2003
Location: Toronto
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| Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 9:21 am Post subject: |
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I actually scored a part time job there working with a magazine as a reporter. the pay wasn't anything to write home about though.
I would consider looking for a sales job with the local english newspaper selling advertising. OR as a recruiter for a school.
bartending is another option.
though with a business/political degree.. and not a lot of experience, it could be tough.
just do up the resume and literally hit the streets.
you never know what's around the corner.
I scored that magazine job just by starting a thread like this.. |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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| Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 5:54 pm Post subject: Re: love korea, don't love teaching |
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| bobbyhanlon wrote: |
i really want to stay in korea, but get a more serious and higher-paying job than teaching. do any of you guys know of decent jobs which foreigners can get into here? my korean is ok for someone who has been here six months, but i wouldn't say it were good yet.
my academic background is in politics/economics, so maybe some kind of finance job would be possible?
i would really appreciate any useful comments.
thanks |
Unless you have better qualifications than a B.A. or a ton of experience related to the field you want to work in, your chances are slim/non-existent. Sure you could get "lucky", but most foreigners who get "lucky" here have pretty decent Korean and have been here for a while. And there aren't more than a few of them anyway. |
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ryleeys
Joined: 22 Dec 2003
Location: Columbia, MD
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| Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 6:05 pm Post subject: |
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| You know, I could honestly see myself being happy opening up a nice little galbi restaurant... but I don't think it'll happen. |
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bobbyhanlon
Joined: 09 Nov 2003
Location: 서울
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| Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 7:19 pm Post subject: |
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thanks for your comments- i'm thinking of doing a university korean course now, to help me along.
a galbi restaurant, there's a fun idea! not sure i could put up with everyone shouting 'chogi-yo' or 'dongsaeng' at me the whole time though!
as for my education, yes just a BA i'm afraid, but it is from oxford, which seems to get everyone all excited around these parts.
you can, apparently, apply specifically to the asian division of investment banks, so maybe thats a way in. not sure 80 hour weeks are my thing, but anyway... |
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just because
Joined: 01 Aug 2003
Location: Changwon - 4964
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| Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 7:23 pm Post subject: |
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When i first came back here from Australia earlier this year i didn't have a job for about 6 weeks.
They were fantastic weeks, I walked around with a big smile on my face and everything was great.
Its when i started teaching again that the old annoyances came back a little bit, just if you have a bad day there it magnifies everything.
I started getting a bit angry again but realised that if I kept my job and other life apart i would be a lot happier.
It appears to be working  |
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ghostshadow
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Wed Jun 02, 2004 9:35 pm Post subject: |
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| I got another job instead of teaching here but it doesn't mean that it's better. Korea office work is much different then how it is in other places. They usually stay very late and some even past 12 am. There are a lot of grunt work. I guess it would be a little different for some one from out of Korea. The Korean workers get screamed sometimes too. |
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mindmetoo
Joined: 02 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Thu Jun 03, 2004 3:47 am Post subject: |
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| ghostshadow wrote: |
| I got another job instead of teaching here but it doesn't mean that it's better. Korea office work is much different then how it is in other places. They usually stay very late and some even past 12 am. There are a lot of grunt work. I guess it would be a little different for some one from out of Korea. The Korean workers get screamed sometimes too. |
I'm given to understand office workers can't basically leave until the boss leaves. |
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phaedrus
Joined: 13 Nov 2003
Location: I'm comin' to get ya.
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| Posted: Thu Jun 03, 2004 3:49 am Post subject: |
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| mindmetoo wrote: |
| ghostshadow wrote: |
| I got another job instead of teaching here but it doesn't mean that it's better. Korea office work is much different then how it is in other places. They usually stay very late and some even past 12 am. There are a lot of grunt work. I guess it would be a little different for some one from out of Korea. The Korean workers get screamed sometimes too. |
I'm given to understand office workers can't basically leave until the boss leaves. |
This is a "secret" to success at all companies. It sucks if the boss gets there much later than you though. The best would be a lazy boss. |
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kangnamdragon
Joined: 17 Jan 2003
Location: Kangnam, Seoul, Korea
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| Posted: Thu Jun 03, 2004 5:44 am Post subject: |
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| mindmetoo wrote: |
I'm given to understand office workers can't basically leave until the boss leaves. |
There are different rules for foreigners and Koreans in a Korean office. I leave before my boss goes home and no one has any problem with it. |
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barrybrown
Joined: 18 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Thu Jun 03, 2004 6:22 am Post subject: . |
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A decent job would mean working 8-11+ and half day on Sat.
Are you willing to put forth the effort?! |
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jajdude
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Thu Jun 03, 2004 7:54 am Post subject: |
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| Strange i often have the opposite feeling. I like teaching. Korea however...... |
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