Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Marcilla]

I'm planning to try and go to Korea in late January/early-mid February now

How's this cover letter look?

Subject: Application to English teaching positions in Korea

Body:
Dear Mr. Lee,

I saw your job postings on Dave's ESL Cafe, and would like to apply for an English teaching position between 6 and 12 months. My name is Ray Marcilla, and I currently live in Spokane, Washington. I'm a native English speaker. I recently graduated from the University of Washington with a BS in Electrical Engineering.
Before I settle down as an Electrical Engineer for the rest of my life, I'd like to see some of the world outside of the US, and I think teaching English in Korea would be an excellent way to learn about Korea's culture and language.
I don't have any formal teaching experience, but I have tutored many of my friends on Electrical Engineering, Math, and Physics. Also, I've studied Spanish and Japanese, so I'm familiar with many of the difficulties of learning a foreign language.
I'm very enthusiastic about finding a job, and eagerly await your response. I've attached a copy of my resume for your perusal.

Thank you for your time and consideration,
- Ray Marcilla

Attached: (Resume)
http://students.washington.edu/mnrtyman/pub/Resume_2005_December.doc

And which of these photos should I use? I'd like to use the second, but I don't know much about Korean culture
http://students.washington.edu/mnrtyman/pub/suit.jpg
http://students.washington.edu/mnrtyman/pub/suit_smirking.jpg

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Don't use the second photo. Change 'with a Northwest accent' to 'with a clear, American accent and good pronunciation'. Mention that you like working with kids and include any experience like working as a camp councellor, Sunday school teacher, boy scout leader, etc. The rest looks fairly good.

No offense but you don't pose well for photos. Koreans might find the serious one a bit too scary and the smirking one too odd. Try a gentle smile in the suit.

[Marcilla]

man, I try and try, but can't manage a good expression

Maybe I should just submit both of those and hope they can interpolate.. haha

Thanks for the tips, I'll update my resume about the accent

I'm not that good with kids, though, and haven't had any experience with them

Yesterday at my buddy's christmas party this 9 year old was bugging us the whole time, and all I could really figure out about keeping him in line was to ignore him for the most part, although he was still pretty much climbing up the walls and begging to play various games

[Ya-ta Boy]

[JacktheCat]

Koreans don't like job application photos with people smiling for whatever cultural reasons.

Dress neat, look as white as possible, and for the guys, whatever you do, don't take a photo with yourself and an Asian girl.


As to the OP, the first photo looks about right.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[MeanyMichi]

I'm not sure you should include these in your cover letter:

[ilovebdt]

[joe_doufu]

The photo is much better than before. I like the suit. However, I still think a smile wouldn't hurt. If you aren't sure whether you're smiling, ask yourself this question: "Do I feel a breeze touching my teeth?". If the answer is "no", try the classic technique of saying "cheese". If you have a digital camera you can do this all day and have several choices.

Nice suit!

PS: You could also just use Google images and find somebody that looks like you (like that Al Franken picture)... when you arrive, they'll say "gee you don't look exactly like your picture" -- they're going to say that anyway!

[Marcilla]

[ddeubel]

[Marcilla]

okay, here's a revised version of the cover letter:

Subject: Application to English teaching positions in Korea

Body:
Dear Mr. Lee,

I saw your job postings on Dave's ESL Cafe, and would like to apply for an English teaching position. My name is Ray Marcilla, and I currently live in Spokane, Washington. I'm a native English speaker. I recently graduated from the University of Washington with a BS in Electrical Engineering.

I'd like to see some of the world outside of the US, and I think teaching English in Korea would be an excellent way to learn about Korea's culture and language.

As far as applicable experience, I have tutored many of my friends on Electrical Engineering, Math, and Physics. Also, I've studied Spanish and Japanese, so I'm familiar with many of the difficulties of learning a foreign language.

I'm very enthusiastic about finding a job, and eagerly await your response. I've attached a copy of my resume to examine.

Thank you for your time and consideration,
- Ray Marcilla

Attached: (resume)


I guess that I'm not that worried about little kids.. they aren't usually that hard to control so long as you have a cool head, just annoying. I'd imagine that adults wouldn't be that interested in working hard and learning, and teenagers would have an attidue problem, so I'll go with whatever decent-sounding job I can find

Here's a few different photos; maybe one would be more suitable:
http://students.washington.edu/mnrtyman/pub/suit_expr1.jpg
http://students.washington.edu/mnrtyman/pub/suit_expr2.jpg
http://students.washington.edu/mnrtyman/pub/suit_expr3.jpg
http://students.washington.edu/mnrtyman/pub/suit_expr4.jpg

I know my tie is a little out of place in some of those, but I can just photoshop it, or maybe retake the photo (but the weather is awful in Spokane now, so the background won't be all perdy)

Thanks again for all the advice

[wwidgirl]

expression 2!

[OiGirl]

I like this cover letter much better.
And picture #1 is my favorite, but they all look not bad.
Do you have a strangely massive chest, or is the camera distorting you somehow? I mean that in the nicest way possible...

[ddeubel]

Are you sure you have a BS in Electrical Engineering????????

I'm sure they'd look much more favourably on your application if you had a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering. Immigration might get suspicious of a BS diploma.

DD