Korean Job Discussion Forums

[marlow]

Wonderfully funny in a shoot yourself kind of way that with the dollar in the middle the yen and won are playing teeter-totter. Unfortunately there's more teeter than totter.



http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=aRrNrLfP_Fxo&refer=asia

[Yu_Bum_suk]

So we can also cross Japan off the list of good holiday destinations, I suppose.

[PeterDragon]

.. And add yes to the list of currencies to purchase. God DAYUM, I think I just decided which currency to convert my paycheck to for the time being....

[marlow]

The won has declined 44% against the yen in the past year. So by how much has your savings potential compared with Japan changed? That's right.

[maingman]

Yu-Bum-Suk wrote :

So we can also cross Japan off the list of good holiday destinations, I suppose.

[hagwonnewbie]

The answer to the OP's question will be apparent in February after the new school year begins.

There are only 2 paid national holidays in 2009 from January 28 to December 24. That's 2 paid holidays and 5 days of vacation over the course of 10 months for the people getting suckered into working at academies.

Only the other hand, Japan is cleaner, offers higher salaries and has many more paid national holidays.

[oskinny1]

[Suwon23]

I predict 100+ pages.

Korea: more money, in terms of what you can buy, plus free apartment
Japan: more money in absolute terms, but high prices and no free apartment

Korea: extremely dirty with occasional shoving
Japan: pathological dedication to cleanliness and politeness

Korea: your boss might try to bully you into working extra hours or skimp on pension
Japan: your boss might disappear overnight and leave naught but a forwarding address in the Dutch Antilles

Korea: cheap food of low quality
Japan: expensive food of high quality

Korea: bitchy, ignorant foreigners
Japan: happy, well-adjusted foreigners

Korea: girls look so good it should be a crime
Japan: girls look like dental hygiene is a crime

Korea: central heating, ubiquitous AC, moderate insulation
Japan: indoor/outdoor distinction exists only in the mind

Korea: waterpark shower fixtures
Japan: waterpark shower fixtures rare, but where present coupled with indoor winter frost

Korea: cult of victimhood
Japan: rape by tentacle monster

[Tommy]

[call_the_shots]

Japan's job market for English teachers has always been more competitive than Korea's. This will be even more true now.

[maingman]

Yu-Bum-suk

http://www.airfaresflights.com.au/Deals-Holidays/53786_Baleka_Beach_Resort,.html

[marlow]

[laogaiguk]

[lov2travel]

Now if only I could find those high paying jobs in Japan. So far on the job boards I haven't seen many that pay very high when considering the cost of renting and taxes to be paid...

[noumenalself]

The high start-up costs of Japan had me seriously considering Korea for a long while, but now with the Won taking a beating and me, a recent college graduate with almost 17000 US dollars in student loans to repay, I am reconsidering.

Some things to consider: I need a job pretty soon. I have savings but I can't wait around for a year for JET. I did an interview with Interac, but even with the strong Yen I would have to pay:

Key money. Agent Fee, security deposit, 1st month's rent, airplane ticket, other travel and miscellaneous expenses... the initial exchange rate would also make it particularly brutal.

And who knows where the Yen will be in a year, and with all those startup costs, how much can I really save?

There are some job openings in Japan that will do phone interviews and sponsor a Working Visa (and ideally provide housing with no key money etc.), but since I don't have enough cash to fly to Japan and take my chances there for very long, it seems like all I have is Interac (which I might not get and would have to wait until March for) and less than a handful of jobs that I can apply for without paying for an airplane ticket just for an interview (quite a gamble!)...

Korea still has enough jobs that I can be somewhat picky about location,if I leave soon I can make the minimum payments on my loans in the cash I have saved while riding the Won out, and the minimal startup costs along with the weak Won of the moment (won't cost me many dollars to handle initial expenses in Won) might mean I could save more over the course of a year than I would in Japan.

Assuming, of course, the Won rebounds eventually...

I have a minor in Japanese, have wanted to go to Asia for years, and am not just doing this for the money. As a recent college grad in the US, however, money has to be a concern.

So I am wondering:

1) how is the cost of living in Korea holding up? Is it still much lower than Japan's? I am fine with eating nothing but Korean food... I have a spartan diet in the US anyway.

I have some Japanese knowledge (about intermediate level) I graduated Magna Cum Laude with a BA in English Literature, but I have no experience or certifications and not a huge amount of cash for startup costs. Right now I have about 4k, but I have expenses and it will likely erode sooner rather than later if I don't get a job soon. Is Japan really a viable alternative to even consider, or is Korea it for me, drowning Won or no?

I really hope some experienced people could provide me with some insight, I am reading threads and websites for hours trying to figure out what I can/should do. Thanks in advance.