During my thesis I got a great part time job (albeit teaching at a Korean engineering company) for three months. After that I had 6 months of teaching (illegally) at a variety of part time gigs, privates and whatever to make ends meet. These jobs are so fickle, come and go, end without warning, I need 500 words just to get started on the bullshit you have to face..all while studying Korean from 9-1pm everyday and spending more cash on tuition and expenses than what I was earning.

There are plenty of foreigners not working in ESL and I was lucky enough to know a few and managed to get a leg up for an interview into a 1 year entry level position (which did involve some proof reading and abuse of native english skill), I got the job and after learning the business I secured a permanent position - no ESL no proof reading.

The thing is, in Korea you always have teaching as a back up - and that can be a bad thing..and too many foreigners fall in that trap in Korea. Like Australia, US or anywhere, you have to know the right people, have the right skills, and be determined. Someone will see this and give you a chance.

In the corporate world, you will not be competing with other ESL teachers for a job. You will be competing with bilingual Koreans out of Yonsei and Seoul Dae, with other expat workers who have the right experience and education. What value can you add over these people?

My suggestion:
Get specific - what exactly do you want to do?, get specific knowledge and education, get experience (maybe an internship), get to know some people in the specific field or industry.

If all else fails….learn the secret handshake!

James, if this is the nail:

“…in 7 years here I’ve met precisely ONE person, a Gyopo, who didn’t have a job teaching English here.”

…then this is the hammer:

“I know, I need to move to Seoul”

In Seoul, you’ll find plenty of non-ESL expats, myself and my wife included. You may not meet them your first week here, but if you ask around, you’ll find ‘em.

Besides being probably a damned good English Teacher, what are your other professional skills, whether by training or practice ?

it’s getting to the stage where I think anyone claiming to have a non-ESL job here is part of some big conspiracy to keep my hopes alive…

I have a non-ESL job, Brendon Carr has a non-ESL job; Sperwer has a non-ESL job; Robert Koehler has a non-ESL job… I’m sure there are others.

“#27, you are not trying hard enough. I know many foreigners in Korea working for Korean and foreign companies. Some have great deals and some might start off getting paid less than teachers and working more… but in the long run much more opportunities.

Myself, I took a 9-6pm (sometimes 7 or 8pm) job for a year with a finance company at 2 mill a month. Now I’m enjoying much better pay, overseas travel and future opportunities in HK, Tokyo, Australia and Europe”

Baek Du Boy (#33), thanks for the advice, but in all seriousness, Westerners in Korea who are not ESL teachers are like…ahem…feminine lesbians as fare as I’m concerned.

I know they EXIST, I’ve read about them, seen them in videos, and hell, am reading a blog written by one, but like all the lesbians I ever knew back in New Zealand, some of who were friends but who were all so uniformly butch that they could probably have beaten the crap out of me had they so desired, in 7 years here I’ve met precisely ONE person, a Gyopo, who didn’t have a job teaching English here.

Seriously, after banging my head against a brick wall trying for 5 years or so to get a non-ESL job here, I feel like somehow, somewhere there’s this secret cabal of non-ESLers out there, with secret handshakes and party cells and very stringent rules for admitting new members. I don’t know what I’ve been doing wrong, maybe I’m just butt ugly or something, but it’s getting to the stage where I think anyone claiming to have a non-ESL job here is part of some big conspiracy to keep my hopes alive…and then relish in them being crushed so mercilessly. I don’t know, maybe they survive by feeding on my life force or something.

I know, I need to move to Seoul, and am quite happy…oops, I mean prepared…to take a pay cut down to 2.0 million or so but again, with a baby daughter and non-working wife in tow, then I need a job to go to before I do that.

This alone may end up driving many successful expatriates out of Korea in the long run.