Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Who's Your Daddy?]

When I first went to Korea in 2003, I met a co-worker half-way through a second contract, and I thought, "wow, she's lived here a long time" - ha, ha it was only 18 months. Not many people stayed for a second year then, many people didn't even make a year. I remember people that cracked up and left after like nine months. [One guy phoned in his quitting from the airport departure lounge].

About six months in I went to a staff meeting of people from other branches. I asked these two guys, "so are you going to do another year?" And they were like, "hell no." That was the prevailing attitude at the time.

So it was a very short term thing then. I doubt on average people even stayed through one contract.

==
I guess things have changed. So what I'm curious about is, how long do you plan to stay in Korea in total? Do people arrive with 3 year plans, say?

[nicwr2002]

I planned to come here for just a year, but now it has been 4 years...

[chrisinkorea2011]

ive been here for 5 years and love it. Plan on staying another 10, then using my hard earned savings to purchase a big plot of land in another country and sit my ass down and relax at the ripe old age of 40 lol

[jvalmer]

I remember the average intake for epik pre-2008-ish was 100 to 200 for the whole country. Only about 10% wanted to renew, and most were. Of the 90% that didn't renew, I'd guess a good quarter (minimum) of them didn't last the full 12 months. The ages of people varied from a 21 to 55, with the bulk being in their mid-20's.

[ttompatz]

I came to Korea for a year and that was 14 years ago.

No plan to return home yet (but a year off (again) while sitting on a beach somewhere might be nice.

.

[Stan Rogers]

I honestly cannot answer the question because I just don't know. I have many good reasons to stay and don't have many good reasons to leave.

I originally planned to stay for a year or two but that was a long time ago.

[BigBuds]

Came here in 2001 for a year. Still here.

[J Rock]

I came here and wanted to stay for a year or 2, then met a girl, had a kid, now its been 9 years of ups and downs. One day I think it's the best place ever, another day i'm thinking about jumping out a window.

I would like for us to move back to Michigan but she is worried about missing her family which I understand. I'm worried about trying to find a job back home with ESL being my only experience for the last 9ish years.

Wife does have a good job, and her family helps us out a lot so we are saving good money, around 30 Million a year.

My dream is for to save as much as we can and retire early on a beach. Her dream is to save and spend it all on our kid, buying a nice apartment when he gets married. I can see this being a big arguement in a couple years.

[tob55]

It has been 12 years since I arrived in Korea, not knowing anything about the people, culture or anything else concerning Asia. Today, I have dual citizenship, a flourishing business, and plenty of opportunity to live out my life here where the conditions are in many ways better than I had back in the home country. I never say never, but Korea has been good for me and to me, so living here until the end seems more and more likely every year.

[Yaya]

[DaeguNL]

[DaeguNL]

[Qonny]

[northway]

[atwood]