Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ddeubel]

I have a few jobs. Would you pay me if I guaranteed you a job (given you meet certain academic and other requirements)?

I'm asking because maybe with the demand - this could happen..... (I'm not saying it should, not for one second).

Here's an interesting article from today's N.Y. Times ...

[andrewchon]

I think you'll become very rich from all the F-4s wanting to bust out of their obligations.

[Moldy Rutabaga]

There is a special plane of hell, I think, for people who 'sell' jobs to people who are by definition vulnerable. I get angry each time I think of all the universities which charged me upwards of $100 to apply to them so that they could throw my papers on a pile and then turn me down with a two-line e-mail. I think about the hundreds of jobs I have applied for in my life: waiter, gas pump attendant, serviceman, meter reader, clerk, and whatever professional jobs I've gone after. I wonder what would happen if this sort of cancer spread and if employers across the country got the bright idea of charging $5 for accepting job applications, which then became $10, $20, $100? There are likely desperate people who would pay it. And in this case, there were.

Ken:>

[Hornbill]

I wouldn't. But if you do, write it off on your taxes.

A growing trend in the USA is 'paid internships'. No, not THAT kind. The kind where the employee has to pay the employer. That kind. And these go for 8,000 and more.

[The Gipkik]

Yep, I can see this crassly antisocial and grossly capitalistic (not that capitalism is ALL bad) trend picking up speed. Pretty soon any kind of polite behavior, a smile anyone?, will cost money as a lack of social cohesion and gated communities become more predominant. Vulnerability breeds contempt--and the vultures gather.

[Hornbill]

True. But vultures are weak animals that can be dealt with easily. The real problem is the vultures have learned when to congregate and pounce. Those who roll over and take abuse have taught the vultures well.

The people preserve the spirit of resistance. Unfortunately, TESOL is filled fatalistic morons who choose to 'obey' rather than resist.

[sulperman]

If you were asking about getting a job back home, I would GLADLY pay a few thousand bucks for a nice job. Hunting for a job back home is the most stressful, depressing, awful thing in the world.

But here....not yet, hopefully not ever. UNLESS you were offering some sort of extremely low hours, high vacation dream job, in which case, yeah, I'd pay a million won for that. Why not?

[Morning_Star]

[sulperman]

Morning Star- I guess we just have different ideas about how to best spend our money. For me, the value of finding a perfect job is more than a million won, and I would gladly pay it. I just don't enjoy job searching, and yeah, it does make me nervous going into interviews. That said, I have been gainfully employed for 98% of the last ten years, so I can do it, but if I could throw some cash at the problem and be rid of the headache, I'd do that in a second!

Some people might spend a million won (I know, I made that figure up myself) on a big TV. I like TV as much as the next guy, but it is not for me. Seems like a waste of money to me. I feel like money spent towards a comfortable life in a good situation is worth more to me than a big TV. Plus, I am not exactly hurting in the money department these days, so a million won isn't much. Does it sound like a lot to you?

I guess if that attitude makes me a loser in your eyes, so be it. What does that matter to me?

[Hornbill]

[sulperman]

Thanks Hornbill, that's what I am saying. Just a little cost-benefit analysis....Is what you get worth it? All jobs are not created equal, and I would pay a bit to fall on the good side of that spectrum.

When you are applying to jobs back home, unless you are somebody with a special, in demand skill, you are going for whatever is out there. Whatever place in your field (or supermarkets, if that is what you are going for) will have you. And you have to battle for each position, no matter how great or mediocre it may be. You'd have to be out of your mind not to sacrifice a bit of cash for a good job, if you were lucky enough to fall into that kind of situation, which would really never happen.

Payout vs. return.

Simple as that.

[Hornbill]

That's true for most jobs. However...I noticed when I applied for jobs right out of college, I was told by many a potential employer that 'we're not hiring'. Yet weeks later, many of the people following behind me at college and graduating a semester later found jobs at those places. They were connected.

The world is that way. I divide people into two groups--the designated winners and the designated losers. Designated winners win because it's in somebody's interest for them to win, so that 'somebody', another designated winner, of course, ensures they win. The designated losers are those who aren't connected and are thus helpless. These folks are also politcally and economically neutered, by design. Society needs both the winners and losers. And it makes sure it keeps a healthy supply of both.

[PRagic]

NEVER, NEVER, NEVER EVER PAY FOR A JOB. End thread.

[ddeubel]

PRagic,

I totally agree with your first thought but the second I don't.

I find it interesting that it seems relatively acceptable to most people (living in the West) for teachers from poor nations to "pay" for access to a country's job market whereas Westerners seem to feel "entitled" to a job without having to pay (and in many cases even expecting a free plane ticket etc...)

I'm not sure of all the issues involved but I posted because I think you might even see the Korean government start the same model by hiring many Filipino teachers who will "pay" to teach here. The model could even be extended to western teachers.

But the "hypocrisy" remains IMO and I'm just wondering about that and also the future of the job / recruitment market.

And just to be sure - NO, I don't have any jobs for sale. I started this discussion by saying that "tongue in cheek".

Cheers,

DD
http://eflclassroom.com
http://teachingrecipes.com

[andrewchon]

That'll be such a bad news to F-4s frantically financing to break free from their rustic rudeness.