Korean Job Discussion Forums

[CarolinaTHeels]

I graduated college in 09 and have pretty much just been traveling for the past two years coming home to work at a restaurant when I run out of money.

So pretty much I dont have anything I feel is of value to put on my resume besides my business degree and my gpa which is not bad.

Whats the best way to fluff up your resume? This might not even be that big of a deal, but just wanted to hear some of yalls opinions.

Also I sent my FBI CBC app off at the beginning of this month and was just gonna wait till July (when i have all my doc's ready) to start looking for a job. Plan to start in August. Someone said I should go ahead and look for jobs now. Question is will a recruiter or hagwon hold a job/offer open for me while I wait on my documents for the visa?

[CtotheB]

I'm a first-timer too. I fluffed my resume up by up-talking any experience I had with regards to travel, something you can probably do too. I mentioned that I spoke multiple languages, translated and communicated, and lived in a foreign country successfully. Just take anything you possibly can and try to squeeze as many management words out of it as you can.

As far as jobs, just send your stuff to any recruiter that has a job that looks promising. Jobs for August are just starting to pop up here and there (I want to start in early August as well) and so I'l just skimming through the ads on Dave's and craigslist looking for jobs that start around then. Most are in crappy areas and/or have bad working hours, but it's still worth trying to get a good one even this early in the game. Most places are okay with people still having their visa docs in process, you'll be asked over and over whether or not you have your stuff ready to go, and for the most part, just constantly repeating "they'll be ready by X date" is annoying, but works. I'm just waiting on my FBI CBC apostille, which is my last document I need. Sent it off about 2 weeks ago, so I should have it by late May or early July - the sooner the better! But I'm still interviewing right now, even without it.

[CarolinaTHeels]

how long did it take you to get ur fbi cbc back?

[PatrickGHBusan]

My advice as someone who was on hiring committees in Korea for a while and as well as in Canada: be really careful what you "fluff up" in your resume.

Doing this too much will just lead your application straight to the "no thank you pile".

Saying you have traveled is good. Turning that into experience is a stretch. That is just one example!

Saying you could get by in a couple of languages while traveling is not the same as saying you speak multiple languages.

Why?

These things can come back and bite you in the butt during the interview too when questions are asked about this and you come off sounding like you exagerated.

Bascially your GPA is also irrelevant to employment and will not be considered at all.

If you have a B.A. from a University in one of the 7 approved countries and are a native speaker of English, you qualify.

Letters or recommendation can make a heck of a lot more difference than a fluffed up resume.

Your cover letter can be a better place to discuss travel experience than your resume by the way.

Basically, your resume should stick to the basics. Anything longer than 2 pages is a drawback. Stick to job-relevant experiences only unless you have no other experience to include.

The same logic applies to the other sections of your resume: stick to what is relevant.

ClotheB is right, you can apply before you have all your documents but I would say it is better to have them all in hand, especially the crucial docs like the CBC as it has to be clean for you to be approved for a visa.

Starting to look now is a good plan like ClotheB said. It an be a godo time to educate yourself on Korean jobs and to refine what you want in terms of location, level and type of employment.

Good luck and feel free to pm me if you have more specific questions. I worked in Korea for 11 years before going back to Canada.

Cheers

[andrewchon]

Patrick: you ought to have added that a good professional looking photo gets more jobs in Korea than resum�s do.
Professional Korean style is: looking straight forward with no smile. If you can manage 'warmth' with your facial expression, that's OK but don't go any further than that. Do NOT show teeth. Wear sober style of clothing, and do up all the buttons.

[northway]

[CtotheB]

I use a photo of me with a nice blazer, Oxford, and tie. I'm smiling and showing just a little teeth, so you know I'm happy but professionally minded.

Also, my CBC took 4 weeks to get back, fasterthan the average I think, but I took steps to make sure it went as fast as possible (big envelope that gets in their way, typed it up on the computer instead of hand writing, faster delivery, etc)

[PatrickGHBusan]

[lifeinkorea]

[lifeinkorea]

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[Hokie21]

[lifeinkorea]