Korean Job Discussion Forums

[NYC_Gal]

I'm constantly seeing comments about how many people here were unemployable and came here as economic refugees. Why is this an automatic assumption?

Did anyone else come here, after leaving a decent job, to experience something new? Yes the economy was tanking, but I had a secure job. In fact, the company is still doing fairly well. I just wanted to move to Asia for a bit.

Of course, I can use the economy as an excuse when I do move back west in a couple of years, saying that "My industry was suffering, so I decided to move to Asia until it sorted itself out," but honestly I wanted to do this years ago, and figured now would be a great time to do so. If I'd done it a few years prior, it would have seemed odd to leave a good job to do something like this.

Are there any other qualified people who came here?

[snowysunshine]

I actually just left a really decent job back home to come here. I had been here before, and was very eager to return, so my husband and I both left our jobs and came back. It didn't really have anything to do with being unable to find a job.

[SeoulMan99]

I had a good job in Chicago, and I was just offered an interview for a good job there, but I just want to travel some more for now. It has nothing to do with not being able to get a job. If you're in less employable areas where there aren't many businesses, etc then maybe that is true for some people.

[NYC_Gal]

It's nice to know that I'm not the only one here. I see all of these hateful comments saying that we couldn't get jobs back home, and was curious if that was the case with most people here.

I just dig travel, and this was a cool way to do it comfortably.

[SeoulMan99]

I dig trave too. I'm sure there are quite a few people in Korea who aren't employable back home for whatever reason, but the fact that you're teaching in Korea shouldn't imply that it's a last resort for everyone.

[Perceptioncheck]

Perhaps it's because to many people, moving from a good secure job to a relatively low paid one in an unpopular country during the worst economic recession the world has seen in many years is a bit just, well. . . inexplicable.

Just saying.

[SeoulMan99]

[Sector7G]

[hauwande]

this is an interesting one.

what is interesting though is not so much the attitudes of some koreans that might think that we are only here because we are unemployable. they have been fed stuff through the media for years now, as well as having things like CPN, and the minute minority's relatively slight shortcomings blown out of proportion and splattered all over the country for all to see, soak in and potentially scorn! ! haha... i dont blame the few koreans really.

what is really interesting is the attitudes of some weigookins that live here. these same weigookins who live in the same place, do the same jobs, run in the same cirlces; generally live the same life as the very people who they deride. the antagonism that i have read here, and heard personally by some i run into regarding their fellow teachers is astounding. these people have no idea of the people's life circunstances surrounding their decisions to move here.

none.
it is almost like they think the entire universe exists within their own very mind.

i think it is sad and pathetic when i hear a weigookin teacher take such a negative view of their own fellow teachers.

as for my story, i graduated from a top university in australia and worked for a few years in australia. the job bored me to tears, so i got out. i have been working overseas now for about seven years; here and taiwan. i also worked in england for 18 months.

it is true my degree is worth very little now. if i wanted a good job, i would need to go back and study again. i certainly wouldnt be able to get a job like my siblings (doctor, lawyer, banker, journalist... the list goes on! yeah, smart folks my siblings! ) some part of me feels that i should have done a job like theirs, and, yes their jobs are much better than esl teaching in SOME ways. but choices are choices in life and we all make them. in many ways, teaching is a good job too.

what happened with me though is that i was not sure what i wanted to do for a long time. after a few years, i still wassnt sure. so time keeps a ticken. waits for no man. then suddenly i reach mid thirties and im doing esl teaching. from here, i can choose to do certain things involving the teaching business or i can change to something else.

they are the facts. it has nothing to do with not being able to get a job back home.

[NYC_Gal]

Oh, I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with being an economic refugee. It's commendable. I think it's much better than sitting at home collecting unemployment and crying.

Publishing was hit pretty hard. We suffered some cuts, but I was doing alright.

It's just that so many people think that everyone here was unable to find work. It's just not true, and insulting in some cases.

[themagicbean]

If you're referring to the office supply thread I directed that comment towards one person who was commenting unhelpfully in a way that suggested they had no professional experience; though the verbal slap may have been unnecessary I stand by the assumption (as directed towards that single individual) as fair.

There are a lot of economic refugees. There are a lot of non-refugees. C'est la vie. I find it not too difficult to separate the two quickly, online and in real life. (Same comment for "real" teachers (or at least dedicated newbies) and "not-so-real" teachers.)

[NYC_Gal]

[hockeyguy109]

Am I unemployable back home? I'll let you know in a month!

Of course nobody (here) is unemployable back home. If you have a 4 year degree, you can find something - somewhere. Think about it this way - 10 percent unemployment only means 1 in 10 people can't find jobs. How many people have no college degrees back home? Your chances are good.

I think a lot of people refer to themselves as economic refugees in Korea because the jobs they can get back home really suck (customer service, fast food, factories, etc). Most people say "economic refugee" in the sense that they are unemployable for jobs they WANT back home. Teaching English in Korea isn't that bad and the money is good.

If you are a 24 year old with a Journalism degree like me (no experience), I would consider myself unemployable in the field I wish to enter. When you have journalists with 30 years experience getting laid off, a fresh face like mine probably doesn't look like such a good bet.

[dosed_neurons]

i would be making over 80k this year...working on an oil rig, but still...taking waaay less money to live in asia since asia is where it's AT!

[NYC_Gal]