Korean Job Discussion Forums

[sam9128]

Hi there,

My situation is as follows, my wife is from korea and currently living with me in england where I work. We are both interested in moving to korea together, however my employment prospects as it stands would be incredibly limited as my industry is protected to korean nationals only.

One of our options is to sell our house in england and give me the required funds needed to work towards an open university bachelors degree, this would be all with the future goal of trying my hand at teaching in korea.

What I would like to know is if anyone has experience with gaining employment with an open university degree, visa isn't an issue.

If anyone could help me from spending a large amount of money on a potentially flawed plan that eould be greatly appreciated, many thanks.

sam

[ttompatz]

A degree from the OU is accepted in Korea at face value as a Bachelors degree.

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[northway]

Any plan that involves selling a house to fund a degree that will allow you to teach in Korea is a bad plan.

[Kepler]

Earn a degree, give up a career and a house just so you can come to Korea and try your "hand at teaching"? Expect to live in a studio while making about £1200 a month.

[drydell]

Or....
Maybe his wife will have a decent job in Korea.. If he gets his marriage visa he can register as a privates tutor as well.. With his house sale he could get a great apartment with jonsae so they live rent free. In such a scenario they could be saving 4-6 million a month. Some people here seem to have trouble thinking outside their own experience.

[le-paul]

This int the advice you were looking for but having lived here for a number of years now, I can honestly say Korea isnt for everyone. Have you visited, worked or generally tried it out here to see if you like it?
And when I say 'visited', I dont mean a couple of weeks visiting relatives who are on their best behavior and touristy sites. This isnt like moving to France.

What you're talking about doing is leaping before you look imo. Remember, there is always a chance you wont like it here (or worst senario - get divorced) and want to return home. A friend of mine for example rented his house out until he went back, but he always had that option.

Just some food for thought...

Anyway, Tomps answered your question.

[Who's Your Daddy?]

Korea isn't for everyone. I doubt it's for less than 5%.

Don't sell your house. I wouldn't bother going to university to work here. I wonder if anyone that's here would have done their four year degree with the goal of teaching here. They may have adjusted to living here, but I don't think it was a goal to any person.

[sam9128]

I've been about 5 times now, spent about a year in korea in total, my wife has a good job there and her family are very supportive of me and are obviously keen on us moving to korea, selling the house isn't all about funding my degree, it's pretty much so i dont have to be a total leech towards my wife and her family.

Anyway, was just looking for some options to be honest, thanks for all the replies, greatly appreciated.

Sam

[Troglodyte]

If you can get an F visa then there are plenty of jobs that you could do without a university degree. Aside from teaching you could also put your English language skills to use in the publishing industry or working for a company with international connections. There are also plenty of jobs involving manual labor.

To make an accurate assessment of your situation you would need to tell us some more details. What is your current job and what educational qualifications do you already have? How old are you? Are you retiring (or near retiring) and merely looking for some part-time work or are you looking for full-time work? Do you have any business related experience? What does your wife (and her family) think of the idea of you going back to school while she works?

[sam9128]

My current line of employment is working on the rail network in the uk as a signalling technician, something i've done since the age of 17, i am currently 31.

As far as qualifications go i never even finished college as i went straight into work as an apprentice, all my qualifications are based within my own industry and are not recognised in korea, not to mention my language skills are nowhere near good enough to pursue a career within this field.

I'm currently in the process of finishing my college level education in england as a pre-requisite to study for a bsc, and my wife is fully supportive of me in terms of studying towards a new career.

From what i could gather online and from what little i know of foreign employment in korea it seems to be a very tricky prospect getting employment outside of the teaching industry.

Basically i've been led to believe that outside of teaching, the market for jobs is extremely competetive as you are completing against koreans, which is something i totally understand and respect, however with my low level korean ability, lack of formal education, well it just doesn't look too bright hah

Financially being out of work for the next 3-4 years is not a problem, but i would like to be able to find work in korea, preferibly fulltime.

Will be applying for my f6 next march and looking to move out at the end of next year.

Once again, appreciate the replies

sam

[Feebie]

Are you thinking of starting the OU degree once you are here in Korea? If so you may want to double check their rules. I looked at them a few years ago, for an MA programme, and got nowhere. I can't recall why exactly now, but I think it was because the courses are subsidised somehow, so you needed to be an EU/UK resident.

[sam9128]

Thanks for that, i had similar concerns, got that cleared up, they basically only offer certain degrees/masters/diplomas dependant on location.

[coralreefer_1]

This may be a moot point considering you will be applying for/getting an f6 visa next year before coming..but ill put it out there anyway.

You mentioned that you had not yet "finished" college, and were in the[process of..

If that is the case, it may be possible for you to transfer into a Korean university program. You could still do the OU program as well, but if you have built up some credits, you may be able to transfer into a Korean program, and get 2 degrees.

The reason I say this is because even if a foreigner hasn't finished their BA degree, if they have completed at least 2 years in a Korean university program..they can legally teach English on a student visa for no more than 20 hours a week during semester, and unlimited working hours on weekends/university vacations)

The benefit of that (assuming you found a program that related to your experience) would be that you would have networking opportunities with professors and such, would be forced to learn the language (which can only help your future prospects of employment in that field) and be able to teach (after 6 months in the program), and will likely set you up to qualify for local certifications in that field.

Whether you have enough college education at this point to transfer into a Korean program as a 3rd year student is an issue, and again if you are going to get the f6 later none of this may be of any importance...but I personally would highly recommend even if on an f6, you finish a degree in a Korean university (I dont think you have to give up the OU degree, just using what you have done to transfer into a Korean program) if you plan to stay in Korea for an extended time and hope to once again work in your field of expertise.

[SeoulNate]

[bbonthec]

Do you have at least 10K saved up (US dollar value)? If so, you can rent an apt here in Seoul. In which case, you might prefer to rent your house back home, rather than selling. The monthly income will likely pay for the monthly rent you'd have to pay here.