Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ghostshadow]

Does anyone here have an office job or any other jobs besides teaching? I want to get an idea of what other type of jobs people can get in Korea besides teaching.

[Sucker]

I had an office job last year.

I was working for an American who owned a Korean business.

The job was terrible, long hours and low pay (even by ESL standards). He was of the opinion that ESL teachers are "boogers" and that his staff should be happy to have a low paying (but non-teaching) job.

Some posters on here work for large companies though and they sound like they really have it made.

[ghostshadow]

I'm sure that there are big trade offs between office work in Korea and teaching in Korea... I want to see what those are..

[kangnamdragon]

I cannot think of any advantage the hagwon has over the office job other than the hours, but my hours are not too bad.

[Sucker]

Well that depends entirely on which company the office job is with.

I am much happier at my current job (university) than I was with my office job last year.

[kangnamdragon]

[ghostshadow]

I guess not a lot of office job people out there...

[the_beaver]

I have a friend with an MBA who's looking into coming back to Korea (but not to teach) so I thought I'd resurrect this thread:

What kind of non-teaching jobs are available and how do you get them?

[Wangja]

I'm not an English teacher, but an "office worker". Generally, I work on short-ish specific assignments (contractual problems on large projects) which can last a month or a year. The pay rates are usually good (about 12-15,000 USD) per month, but activity in that period is intense, seldom less than 60 hours per week. Mostly, such assignments come from former colleagues and hours of social networking ....

[klaasb]

Here you can see what kind of jobs are being offered (still a lot of English teaching jobs though)

http://jobs.seoul.go.kr/

[mindmetoo]

An office job wouldn't be all that hot I think. First, you'd have to really dress up. Most hagwon jobs are pretty casual dress. Second, you'd be expected to work some pretty long hours. Lots of hagwon jobs work you 4-5 hours a day. An office job count on putting in 8-10 hours a day. And no one goes home until the boss leaves.

There's editing work but you and 5,000 other ESL teachers are competing for those jobs. Most seem to be word of mouth. You have to network big time.

[saharzie]

Unless you have some required skill and some experience, getting a non-teaching job is not easy. The hours can be long, but depending on the size of the company, you can negotiate. In my experience, the same is not always expected of you as the Koreans. The money can be excellent, but a lot of jobs offer 2-2.5 million won without housing/other benefits and longer hours.
If you are just hired because you are a native speaker, then none of the experience will likely be transferable home ("I edited faxes for a year").

A better way is to get a low hours hagon job with the benefits and do stuff part time. There are opportunities everywhere, you just have to go out there and get them. Contact companies, network and who knows what you might end up with.

[manlyboy]

I got offered an office job at YBM in Jongno a couple of months ago. They said they offered it to me because I'm bi-lingual (Indonesian. They never checked this though ). Almost took it but the housing allowance was a bit too small. The job was listening to and grading recorded interviews for their in-company clients. Just sitting at a desk and listening to recordings of people answering the same questions all day long. Easy-peasy-Japanesy! But perhaps not very fulfilling!?

[teachingld2004]

Maybe a few hogwan jobs are 4 or 5 hours a day, but only very few. Most hogwon jobs are 30 hrs a week, and that to me is 6 hrs a day.

[diablo3]

Usually for foreigners to get a non-teaching job in Korea, you must network. I had the help of some of my students to land me a job. If you learn to read and write Korean, you can try to find what you are looking for in some websites, but then again that is still not easy. Learning Korean will certainly go a long way. Having an interest in Korean culture will not hurt either. I got a job as a researcher and I am in the process of preparing my visa. But then again, my qualifications (masters and bachelor degrees) are not related to teaching. I hope to become a successful researcher in Korea.

Teaching adults and networking with them was my stepping stone for gaining a job in Korea outside teaching.