Korean Job Discussion Forums

[kengreen]

Here's an interesting article.

He's seems to be calling many of us table scraps.

http://view.koreaherald.com/kh/view.php?ud=20120522001122&cpv=0

[Hokie21]

The author seems to have forgotten to take into account how superficial most Koreans are and how much they value appearances. Why do they hire westerners? So they can show them off.

[edwardcatflap]

It's the same old stuff regurgitated in a slightly different format. Korea employs unqualified teachers because generally people don't want to come here so they either have to drop the bar a bit or pay people shed loads of money. Despite being a top tier country, as the writer suggests, they're still relying on the former.

[Seoulman69]

I agree with a lot of what he said. Korea should be aiming to attract qualified professionals. Unfortunately Korean companies are often not prepared to pay the going rate. Add to that the fact the quality of life in Korea is not that great and you have a lack of qualified applicants.

Take for example the author of the article. He works at Wonkwang Uni in Iksan. He most probably has a Phd in law but how many years experience does he have? Would an experienced lawyer with a Phd want to go and live in the armpit of Jeollabukdo? Probably not, and there lies the problem.

[Hokie21]

[maximmm]

Same applies to Japan/China - both are immense economic powerhouses - why single Korea out? Anyway, even in western newspapers columnists are well known to make controversial/stupid statements. The idea is to get as many responses to an article as possible -

[jdog2050]

What. the. f***. is this guy talking about?

Seriously, EVERY professional in Korea is unqualified? Has he even seen the requirements to get an E7 visa? How about a D8? How about the visas for engineers and doctors and lawyers? You have to have either the proper education for that field or *years* of work experience.

Where are the cases of foreign Lawyers who didn't pass the Bar? Where are the cases of foreign engineers who didn't work for years at other companies? Where are cases of Foreign doctors without medical licenses?

Yeah, exactly.

This guy is just yammering because he's excited to write an article.

There's zero substance to what he's saying. Korea doesn't attract foreign professionals? Well that's probably because Korea doesn't even typically TRY TO HIRE THEM. Just to get an E7 visa a hiring company needs to prove that a Korean can not do the job. That is on top of the fact that the E7 only has a range of about 20 to 40 jobs that it allows for. So, if you're trying to do something really novel and want to hire someone on an E7, there's only so many different job categories that the person will fit into. If they don't? No visa. If they can't prove within a shadow of a doubt that a Korean can't do it? No visa.

So yeah, Korea's standards are actually pretty high. The exact problem is that they're actually too stringent in terms of the range of jobs, and they don't pay enough.

[Zyzyfer]

Yeah I was about to chime in on the E-7. Getting one as an editor is "easy" (it's actually not but the difficulties are different) but every professional I've met on one outside of that field is qualified to do the work. You might hear the odd story about someone getting a managerial position based on charms or resume fluffing but it's not the standard.

I'm not really sure why he got on that business. The professor/teacher thing is something worth debating. A case could potentially even be made for the editor crowd. But the lawyer/banker issue definitely undermines his point to a degree.

[Who's Your Daddy?]

"South Korea has the economic clout to hire the best and the brightest from anywhere in the world. The country has the infrastructure and cultural attractions to appeal to such individuals."

No it doesn't. Hong Kong or Singapore do.

Where are all the international schools full of foreign kids? They're full of Koreans. I knew an investment banker in Busan. Her child was at school in Bangkok.

[edwardcatflap]

[jdog2050]

That's the thing. He's really just not saying anything at all. His comments are just inflammatory and not based on any kind of facts, data...there aren't even any anecdotal stories.

It's basically him saying every foreigner in Korea is a hack. Let's never mind that a lot of professionals are here because their home companies have a branch here (McQuarie, HP, Microsoft, etc), or that on paper these people are perfectly fine.

If Korean companies aren't doing more stringent vetting, that's Korea's problem, but I have met very few professionals here that don't do their job perfectly well.

From the article---

"The recent implementation of free trade agreements with the European Union and the United States is rapidly opening up the service industry to Western lawyers, financial and management professionals, and educational professionals.

If South Korea does not quickly improve the quality of the foreign professionals it employs, these service industries will be taken over by foreign law firms, foreign financial institutions and foreign universities or other educational institutions."
----

WHAT DOES THAT EVEN MEAN?!?

[Paddycakes]

The guy must have used the term "foreign professional" at least 50 times.

To me it sounds like he has some kind of inferiority complex.

The only people in my life I've met who have to announce to the world that they are "professionals" are:

1. People who are anything but professional and who are trying to compensate.

2. People who have real doubts and issues about their perceived social status (like a good chunk of professional teachers).


The term "professional" has got to be one of the most abused words in the dictionary.

[coralreefer_1]

I agree with the others..the article is crap.

What I find most ironic is that the article comes off as being concerned about foreign professionals (as in, not teachers)...but yet over and over uses the same stereotypes about foreign TEACHERS as justification to make a point.

So i cant help but feel that the article comes off as a rant by someone who is in Korea not as an English teacher, and making efforts to draw a distinction between himself and the self-perceived "all the other" foreigners in Korea.

[Malislamusrex]

This guy sounds like a bit of a douche with an inferiority complex. I like the way he tried to fit in the word professional in almost every sentence. I like how he calls himself a professor of law, in the 3 universities I have been to and out the 200 educators I worked with there were only 30 professors.

[TheUrbanMyth]

Gotta like how he refers to himself as a professor of law in the article but when you check out his profile on LinkedIn he is actually an associate professor and was only "promoted" to said position last month.


Hilarious.

And no Ph.D that I can see...he has his J.D though which is a doctorate.