Korean Job Discussion Forums

[English Matt]

Hi everyone. I'm currently in the process of updating my CV / resume in preparation for moving back to Europe. I am not planning on continuing to work in the EFL field and was wondering if anybody had any advice as to how to best present the core competencies / transferable skills they have gained from working as an English Teacher and that are sought after by employers in other sectors.

I'm not looking for anybody to write my resume for me as it were, I have my own ideas, but was hoping that within this thread others in a similar situation (or those who have been in this situation in the past) might be able to share resources and / or their own experiences and help each other out.


For starters, this handout for JETs returning to Canada looks pretty useful and may be especially useful to any of you, who like me, work in the public school sector in Korea.

http://www.jetprogramme.org/documents/conference/crj/2007_crj/CanadaHomeCountryHandout.pdf

Thanks

[morrisonhotel]

Cheers for that link, Matt. Really useful.

[pkang0202]

I would focus on your experiences adjusting to a new environment. The challenges of being in a new place with no support structure. Overcoming the language barrier. Adjusting to a new culture. etc...etc...

You want to sell yourself as someone who faced a challenge and rose to the occasion. Someone willing to work with others in an unfamiliar place. Definitely about how you effectively handled the stress.

Employers don't care that you taught English or that you went to Korea. What they care about is how that experience has helped you. They want to know how they can utilize your experience to better their company.

[fustiancorduroy]

What pkang said is good advice, but it is also worth asking: What new skills have you acquired while you were here? For example, is your Korean good as to where you can do well on a proficiency test? Employers that are worth working for are the ones that value self-motivated people who try to better themselves at every opportunity.

[Old Gil]

Very good idea for a thread. One thing that might be useful (if you did public schools) would be to emphasize the creation of the English camps and frame it as project management. For example, creating the levels, interviewing students, and co ordinating the curriculum with parents, students, co teachers, admin, etc. In my case there was literally nothing set up to begin with and me and my co teacher had to create the whole thing from scratch, so that's what I emphasized when I did my interview (this was with a school in China).

[English Matt]

bump

[morrisonhotel]

I seem to recall you saying that you wanted to work in politics. Have you had to write any reports during your time in Korea? If so, might be an idea to emphasize that a lot as it's a useful skill for that kind of field.

[Daniel_D]

Hopefully, you took some language skills out of this. Also, if you can successfully illustrate how you were able to handle yourself in difficult situations... it will help you a lot. =)

[rgv]

What you highlight will probably depend on what sort of field you're looking to go back into and how you've organized your resume. For instance my resume is split into a few different sections (e.g. profile, relevant skills, work experience, and leadership). From there I decide which section is most appropriate for what I want to highlight.

I've listed the Korean job under work experience and chose to focus on things I did that speak towards the field I want to go into. I want to go into some sort of teaching when I go back at the end of Feb, so I've listed things that I did that are related to my teaching development (e.g. worksheet preparation, changing tactics to address the specific needs of my students, etc).

(This is actually from my resume, comments are welcome)
� Taught Korean 3rd-6th grade elementary EFL classes from the national curriculum
� Designed and delivered a beginner phonics curriculum for 1st/2nd grade students
� Revitalized classroom environment by introducing new second language acquisition strategies (STAD)
� Created supplemental materials, study aids, homework, and worksheets for student use
� Planned three and executed seven week long English immersion �camps� for students
� Customized pronunciation coaching to target key phonetic difficulties unique to Korean speakers

But yeah.. if you were going into say... management I would highlight skills you learned that are related to that. For instance (again this is something from my resume, I just have it under leadership instead).

� Coordinated and catered a rafting event for over 40 foreign teachers living in Korea
� Organized use of accommodations and whitewater rafts with local company
� Budgeted funds for rafting, lodging, and two meals for all participants

Granted if I were going into management (or even event planning specifically) I'd rewrite those points and expand on the budgeting aspect of it, allocation of resources, and probably also mention the need to coordinate transportation. I'd also be sure to mention more things about the various English camps I've done. Either way, what really matters isn't the experience itself, but how you go about selling it as a valuable asset to your overall professional appeal.

As for things like adaptability, cultural understanding, language skills, etc.. I chose to put them into a section where I'm talking about my skills in general. People looking at your resume will be able to put together comments made under your profile/skill-set about cross-cultural coordination with a later mentioning of your Korea job, but (at least imo) I'd focus specifically on the professional development side under the job listing and the personal development elsewhere.

Cheers for a great thread idea though. That pdf had some great information in it and gave me a few ideas on things to change on my resume as well.

[aishiii]

Yer all screwd.

[Old Gil]

[English Matt]

[PatrickGHBusan]

ah honestly...

But many good suggestions here.

My take:

Do not put too much emphasis on un-referenced experience (previous employers you cannot rely on for a reference)

Do not embelish your duties but present them professionally.

Tailor your resume to the job you target...do NOT think its wise to put ALL your experience and ALL your education back to High School on the resume..that is a fast track to the discard pile.


Language skills are a plus...only if you actually master the language at a high intermediate level...and actually do master it (back to honesty).

[stevieg4ever]

nice to see your German coming a long Matt. I will be starting French soon mysef.

One thing as Brits we have in our favour is that even a laymans knowledge of ESL doesn't really exist among recruiters and HR departments. And thus certainly not among our fellow European counterparts. Stress the linguistic side of it, the organisation and even, if you like, the project management side. Highlight all the usual UK bs we get fed: problem solving skills, team work, working to deadlines, prioritisation stuff etc.

[plato's republic]

OP,

I found myself in a similar predicament to yours when I left Korea about one and a half years ago. I returned to the UK to do an MA International Relations, and recently landed an internship in Israel with an NGO starting next month.

Some good points have already been mentioned, such as highlighting certain aspects of your Korean experience like team-working, problem-solving, meeting deadlines, project management, adapting to a foreign culture without any support structure etc..so do focus on those.

Beyond that, I would recommend pursuing further study if at all possible, as it does help to push your CV further up the pile above all those candidates who do not possess a post-graduate degree in a related field.

Good luck with your future move.