Korean Job Discussion Forums

[simone]

Been in Korea pretty much continuously since 1997, except for that brief trip back to Canada to get an MBA. Was scared that my years of teaching English had rotted my brain, and that I'd barely be treading water in my classes with past-and-future accountants, wall-street types, and your general Masters of the Universe... but in fact, it wasn't so bad. I certainly had the people management skills, people asked me to help them with their presentation skills, and all in all, it was great being a student again.

When I left to go back to school, I wasn't sure if I'd come back to Korea. Keep the options open, you know? But the reverse culture shock was too much - and Canada just got on my nerves. The job opportunities were there, but they weren't appealing: A five-year short track postition at P&G or J&J, and maybe, just maybe, I could be a BRAND MANAGER of my own brand of shampoo. Yippie. It just seemed so small, being a cog in a wheel. Thought about entrepreneurship, but didnt' have the cash, so back to Korea. Glad to be back.

So here I am at the new job, IT company, International Marketing and all that. The HOURS! The INEFFICIENCY! Spend your days playing computer games, but you have to stay until 8PM? Why do 12 hour days seem necessary to demonstrate your dedication?

So, those who have made the switch - I'd love to hear how you managed it. Do you join your colleagues for lunch everyday? Do you try to keep similar hours? What silliness do you engage in just to "fit in?" I'm the only non-Korean here.. and I think the biggest difference is that when you're teaching ESL, you're MEANT to be different - you're the Native Speaker... But here, I feel totally "Wang Ta". As though I need to shape up and become more Korean, fast. Don't want to.

So, any advice? (I've already upped my goofing quotient by posting this during work hours...

Simone

[periwinkle]

I bought some stuff for my office- plants, a coffee maker, and a wall clock. Our dept. looks like crap compared to other depts. I figured that if I spend so much time here, I want the place to look "livable". I also occasionally bring in Dunkin Donuts or cookies that I baked. That really helped me to fit in (none of my co-workers radomly bring in food- must be a western thing)- people appreciate the efforts, even if they don't say anything. I have gone out to dinner a few times with the group, even if I didn't want to. If you don't go, or rarely go, you're not a team player, in your co-workers' books. Also, collections are made monthly for upcoming weddings, miscellaneous office expenses not covered by the company (coffee and tea are not company-provided, for example). Make sure you get in on the collections, because if you don't contribute, or complain about feeling obligated to contribute, they will REALLY resent you. Try to be approcahable, too. I spend all my extra time messing around on this site... I never used to post, but now it seems like I have an opinion on just about everything.

[simone]

I brought in cookies my first week. Been too tired to bake in the evenings since then.

We're out in the boonies, and even the Koreans agree that there are NO good Korean restaurants around here. Everyone eats in the crappy basement cafeteria, which they all continuously gripe about.

I've started bringing in my own lunch, which I eat at my desk. If I eat a whole bowl of rice at lunch, I need a nap. Sure, everyone else take them but I really want to avoid it if possible. No microwave in the office, though. I run down to the Super on the ground floor to heat up my tupperware containers.

Got the photos, mini bodum for REAL coffee. I've picked out the coffee drinkers and dive-bomb them with a paper cup of the good stuff when they look tired - sometimes.

It's going to get harder, though. Everyone here smokes, particularly the women. Smoke break is an institution - where I've done all my bonding. So I was upping the smoking "just to fit in", I know, terrible. Came down with bronchitis, so that's it. Quit today. It's going to stick, too. I wasn't really smoking much before I started this job, and I'll be damned if it makes me a pack-a-day for the next two years.

It's only been about a month here, so I'm sure it'll get better.

Periwinkle: How's your Korean?

Simone

[periwinkle]

Heh, I was going to sugest that you take up smoking!! People go to the roof here, and they'll stay up there for ages. They always go in pairs, too. Some people go maybe 10 times a day or so!!

My Korean is passable, but I don't use it here, because there are plenty of foreigners in my company, and many of the people in my dept. have a pretty good grasp of English (many studied and lived overseas), so I'm lucky. If I were you, I'd study Korean if the people you work with are really low level English speakers.

[sistersarah]

i don't teach anymore. i work in an office environment. i have good days and bad, times when i feel like i fit in and times when i feel like a freak. in general, my co-workers mean well, although they often have no idea how to approach me. some of them really get worked up about it. a few of them have no problem.

one thing that really bothered me was when a bunch of the women decided to start bringing their lunches to work. so everyone brings a side dish and they all share. looked like a great idea to me, but i didn't get an invitation. they've seen me eat korean food a million times, but still. i let that go and now go out with a few other co-workers every day. whatever.

we don't go out very often and it usually isn't organized. maybe 6 or 7 will go out for sam gyeop sal and noraebang. i usually go and eat some meat, shoot some soju and they say how much they wish they could speak better english and we take some pictures together. they're sweet, but they're re really young and don't have experience with foreigners. that's fine.

i wish i could say i had time to play computer games and read daves, but my schedule is pretty tight and i usually don't have time for a break in the afternoons. although, my co-workers seem to have more time, like for taking naps, socializing (sometimes very loudly), surfing the net, etc.

the thing i like about it is the flexibility. if i need to take a friday off, i'll just stay late on wed or thurs. if i sleep in and come in and hour late, i just stay another hour. my boss told me he doesn't really care about my exact hours, as long as the work gets done.

i don't know. it's not all i thought it would be, but when i get down about it, i just think.....hey, you're not teaching. not that i hated teaching, but it's good to be getting some different experience and i didn't feel like taking the chance at another teaching position.

sorry for the ramble!

sarah

[bobbyhanlon]

i managed it, and to be honest i feel a lot more comfortable in my new working environment than in my days as a hakwon jockey. i suppose i was very lucky- since our company is full of gyopos, english is the main language spoken in our office.
my job is kinda strange- i'm trading american stocks, at night, from an office in seoul. thankfully this is my 'training period' so we'll hopefully be plying our trade on the korean market next year, and working normal hours. the most difficult part was getting used to working at night, and the havoc this played with my social life, sleep patterns etc. also the changeover from easy street hakwon life wasn't easy, but as ridiculous as it sounds, a hard day's work can sometimes make you feel good.
all in all i'm so glad i made this move... i'm more involved in regular korean society now, so i understand this place a lot more, and have made many more good friends as a result. also (sad to say, but true) you get so much more respect from people if you're not an english teacher.

[Ya-ta Boy]

[simone]

[billybrobby]

[sparkx]

I hated teaching with every fiber of my being. Now that i'm out of it I feel a much greater sense of accomplishment which I honestly never felt as a hogwan jockey. Korea as a whole is MUCH MUCH easier to deal with now that i'm free from that life (for me anyways).

I love dealing with tangible things now - talking with overseas distributors and hammering out ideas and plans and then watching them come to fruition. Creating an entire International Program and getting feedback from all corners of the globe...these days, thats the stuff that winds my clock. I honestly like being the only foreigner here in a major Korean company. I either dog it and no one cares or i am given 100% creative control to complete some major project all on my own with no one breathing down my neck.

I also love the fact that i have a hand in almost everything that happens here from marketing and training to courseware development and PR.

[eamo]

[Derrek]

[simone]

[JongnoGuru]

The thread title makes ESL sound like the Gilligan's Island of career choices. But after reading the OP, it sounds like Korea is Simone's Gilligan's Island of places to live in the world. You were an English teacher here for years. Scared that might have given you brain rot, you returned to Canada and got an MBA. You didn't like the jobs you were offered, so what do you do? You went to Korea. Again. Off in the boonies, where all the women employees smoke (that one's just bizzare, but what hell do I know about the Korean boonies), with no good Korean restaurants and a crappy basement cafeteria. Oh yes, and you're feeling "totally 'Wang Ta'," as though you need to shape up and become more Korean, fast, but you don't want to.

Um... I know we're all the masters of our own destiny to some degree, but seriously, I must be missing a crucial piece of this puzzle.

[Len8]

Most Korean office workers go to English hogwons in the morning and the afternoons after work. Maybe they have Korean hogwon classes in the mornings and the afternoons. Ok just joking.

The Korean Herald English Bulletin has people advertising for language exchange get to-gethers. The Bulletin also advertises free Korean classes as well.

For you guys not working in the ESL industry how did you get your Visas. What's the status there?