Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Scaggs]

I am working on my resume to post for ESL jobs before I leave and find a silly quandry. I have been using the same resume, just modified and tinkered and specified, for a long long time.

In my employment history, I give a brief summary of relevent functions I performed and skills that were required. In these descriptions I usually use phrases formatted like sentences. I am curious if anyone thinks this will look bad to some employers given that I am supposed to be demonstrating my English skills.

Example:


Lame Company
Provided friendly customer service. Counted dots on the ceiling. Stroked supervisor's ego.

OR

Lame Company
While working at Lame Company, I provided friendly customer service to our clientel. The job also required me to count dots on the ceiling and regularly stroke my supervisor's ego.

I know this is a pretty silly thing to worry about. I just always thought the first way sounded nice and concise, but now see how it might sound like I don't know what a sentence is. Please forgive my ridiculousness; I blame the nervousness of getting ready to go.

Also I just read this ... which both made me feel good about myself and then made me nervous about making stupid mistakes:

http://www.killianadvertising.com/coverletters.html

[CBP]

I can anticipate what some of the folks around here are going to say to you, and they'll start with THEY DON'T CARE WHAT YOUR RESUME LOOKS LIKE! I'm finding that job offers are abundant, so do what you'd do in the States (or where ever you're from). But if you're like me and care about what your resume looks like, I suggest the following:

Keep it to one page. They don't need ten years of employment history, unless you're applying for a university position and you feel that's what they're looking for. In the States ten years is standard. But I only included five.

Use short-hand for the job descriptions. If you're a native English speaker and have a college degree, then you're already considered to be an expert and really don't need to go to any great lengths to prove yourself. But do carefully edit your resume for typos.

At the top include your date of birth, nationality and date of availability. Maybe you already know this. But I didn't and was rather shocked when someone told me to do this. They need to know these things, though.

And you probably already know to put your education and any teaching/volunteer experience at the top.

Cheers.

[CBP]

P.S. I would like to emphasize that you are not at all being ridiculous. Your questions are more than welcome around here, and chances are they've been asked dozens of times but NEVER BY YOU. Finding a good job overseas involves lots of detailed research and question-asking. You can always try the search engine, but months ago when I tried searching for resume, nothing specific to my questions came up. So ask away. You'll find that I'm having to do the same thing.

[ajuma]

Use the first. When I'm reading resumes, I want the facts, not an essay! Keep it short!!

[Son Deureo!]

Definitely keep in short and simple. The reality is that there are often people here making hiring decisions for English schools in Korea with very limited English ability.

[PRagic]

If you are just going for a hakwon job, make sure you have an electronically attachable and recent photo of yourself. Make sure it is touched up to the point that you are yourself surprised when you look at it. This will get you in the door more than any resume. Remember, hakwon jobs aren't really in education - they are in the business of providing warm bodies for classrooms. If they can rope someone in with an MA, they will, but they will advertise it to get them more business.

If you are going for university work, start with your education; the higher the better, and certificates, followed by employment in the field of EDUCATION. Nobody likes to sift through resumes with non-related experience.

I'm serious. I really think that resumes in Korea should be an annotated list of degrees completed followed by a large picture. Why not save them the time?

[Moldy Rutabaga]

Absolutely true. My interview for my present uni job was a disaster-- amazed I got it at all. They barely looked at the resume, and all they did was scold me for not bringing the 'right' paperwork-- where's your original degree parchment, where's your transcripts, where's your letter from your last job, where's your letter proving you worked pumping gas at Shell in 1995? These are things you need to work on, and keep the resume very short, listing only degrees and teaching experience.

Ken:>

[Thumbnail Postermonkey]

OK - let's take this one step further; what would you do if you're writing a resume and you've had a couple of jobs that have ended before the contract date? Do you mention them, or do you leave them off the resume and spin a yarn about the time gaps in one's resume? I myself am leaning towards listing all the jobs regardless of how things turned out. Any opinions? Thanks!

[bosintang]

[Thumbnail Postermonkey]

Without giving the goods, I see where you're going with that - thanks! I appreciate it! I have other job expreience that I can use. Thanks boshintang!