Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Synn057]

Well,

As a long time lurker/user back when I taught in China (2003-2004), I came here to get the scoop of working life for a job I was going to be offered in Korea.

The catch here was that it had nothing to do with education. Rather, I was completing a Masters and was being recruited by one of the Chaebols.

I came here for assistance and found it readily available (thanks to those of who you PMed me). Any reputation you guys think you have for being jaded pricks is just not true (at least based on my opinion).

So now that my process is over, I felt it was only fair to share this little story of corporate Korea and the economy at large.

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This fall, I was actively recruited by numerous firms for a position starting this summer. Even with the economy being in shambles, Human Resource specialists were still in demand. One of the firms is a rather large Korean multinational that met me on campus.

So I went through a three step interview process and was notified in January that I would be offered a job. Now call me American for this (or any nationality you want....), but I had multiple offers, and therefore expected some information about salary. Apparently this was not the way recruiting with a Korean company works.

Numerous discussions lead me to the impression (and to be fair, I could be wrong), that the general prevailing attitude was "people should be happy to work for us regardless of money". After batting around within this process, I made the decision to go with another company. None the less, I was interested in seeing what kind of salary this company would offer someone they directly recruited from their home country with a Masters degree at a top 5 institute.

The offer was under 500,000 won a week. Yes folks.. you as teachers make more and work less than someone working for one of the largest Korean firms.

Apparently, the economy has caused the Korean government to lean pretty hard on Korean companies to use less foreign talent. This company decided that in order to appease the government, they would go ahead and slash the salaries of foreign recruits.

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Anyway, this is not intended as a "name or shame" thus I have no intention of naming the company involved or other details. I post this because some of you might get a little smile out of hearing it and knowing that no matter how much crap you take on a given day, you are pretty highly valued.

Best of luck and once again thanks for all the info provided.

__Synn

[Draz]

It's Samsung, isn't it?

[ThingsComeAround]

Actually, your post doesn't make me smile.

I think its ridiculous that your company put you through the hoops to work for them and they won't even give you a hint *before hiring* what your starting salary would be. But I would say that is a very Asian style of doing business, the corp. heads want you slaving away because "that's the way things are" type of attitude.

Another thing is, what type of visa do you get? IMO, the E2 visa stinks to heaven. E1 is far better as there aren't as many checks and restrictions to get that visa. Working for a chaebol, you may not have an E1 nor E2- so you may fare better than many of us.

Third, (and this is attached to the second point) you aren't at a "fixed rate" if your contract doesn't limit you to working only for the chaebol. By this I mean you could quite possibly tutor and rake in 500K Won a week on your own tax-free if you had the drive. Anyone on an E2 would be deported really fast

[the foystein]

Why would a Korean corporation recruit in USA? If it is to work for their operations in the USA they will have to pay the going rate if they think they can hire someone.

[IlIlNine]

[theatrelily]

I am sorry to contradict what the OP wrote, especially since it was meant to be encouraging, but not all companies in Korea pay that low of a salary.

My best friend works for one of the chaebols, has a master's degree and gets paid much more money than that (and he is still in his first year).

He actually negotiated his salary with the company, and when you figure in the bonuses he gets every few months along with the fact that they pay for a return ticket for both him and his wife once a year to Canada, he makes out pretty well.

[nobbyken]

My brother-in-law is a fork-lift driver for a company serving a car manufacturer and earns about 2 million a month. Mind you, that is mostly on the night shift, but still.

[Synn057]

[I-am-me]

Koreans are bad with numbers. Maybe they meant 50,000,000 not 500,000 a week? Doh!!