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For people who are from South Korea or who have lived in South Korea, what would be the real probability for a foreigner student who earn a bachelor such as International Business administration or International relations in a good ranked South Korean university such as Hanyang or Kyung hee university to start his career with a job related to his degree in a big South Korean company? (Fluent in Korean of course) Companies will be more favorable to hire South Koreans although is there any preconception with foreigners that just graduated from South Korean Universities?
Well, from what I hear South Koreans are probably the most xenophobic people in Asia, and probably about 99% of non-Asian foreigners only teach English or some other language as their job. My Korean sources tell me the only Westerners they feel most "comfortable" with are southern Europeans because of the white skin, black or dark brown hair, and brown eyes. You know, look Korean except for the nose and eye shape.
Well, from what I hear South Koreans are probably the mostxenophobic people in Asia, and probably about 99% of non-Asian foreigners only teach English or some other language as their job. My Korean sources tell me the only Westerners they feel most "comfortable" with are southern Europeans because of the white skin, black or dark brown hair, and brown eyes. You know, look Korean except for the nose and eye shape.
I'd say those days are LONG gone, especially the younger generations. It's not too hard to spot a non-Asian person anymore. And some of them come up on several TV shows speaking fluent Korean!
I'd say those days are LONG gone, especially the younger generations. It's not too hard to spot a non-Asian person anymore. And some of them come up on several TV shows speaking fluent Korean!
Somehow i don't think it happens as often as it does in Japan though. Japan seems to be a more open country than Korea
I agree that I cringe at the comments by "Korea experts" on this forum trashing Korea how bad it is there for foreigners. My guess is either they went there over a decade ago, or got dumped badly by a Korean girl.
Here is a clip of a popular Korean entertainment program Non-summit. It has people from various different backgrounds discuss topics in fluent Korean. In this particular clip a French guy and an Italian guy discuss wine.
As has been mentioned, younger Koreans are more open. However, they are...young, so they aren't the ones in positions of power in Korea yet. If you are fluent in Korean, perhaps there wouldn't be much of a problem, but you gotta consider also the cultural differences, particularly related to work in this case. Of course countries in general try to look after themselves first and hire their own people over foreigners when possible, but in Korea one reason some employers do this is the work culture differences. Work culture in Korea sucks because Korean society is so hierarchical, more so than Japan. Also, as far as culture in general, Korea in particular is really similar to the conservative, southern US, even in terms of religion. I was really surprised and disappointed when I learned a few years ago that Christianity is now the biggest religion over there (25-30% of the population). So yea, basically abortion is illegal, homosexuality is just not really out in public and even considered a western disease by some older people, and gender equality is still lagging behind a lot of countries too.
I agree that I cringe at the comments by "Korea experts" on this forum trashing Korea how bad it is there for foreigners. My guess is either they went there over a decade ago, or got dumped badly by a Korean girl.
Here is a clip of a popular Korean entertainment program Non-summit. It has people from various different backgrounds discuss topics in fluent Korean. In this particular clip a French guy and an Italian guy discuss wine.
Moderator cut: personal attack. Another thing too, you're not going to get a job from young people who are more open minded, your boss will most likely be the 1960s-1970s generation, you need to impress them, not the Koreans born after 1985. Korea is not Japan, Japan really exposed itself to Westerners circa 1980s, for Korea this started around 2000. Korea has 20 years to catch up to Japan in terms of exposure to foreigners
I agree it will be hard but not impossible, especially if you speak fluent Korean and have a Korean degree as the OP is asking.
My father has a trading company and has hired a European and an Indian math genius already, though both do not speak Korean but are exceptional at what they do.
It's harder for people who just drift in with some teaching position and think they can land a nice office job that is already almost impossible to get for native Koreans.
South Korea is quite homophobic. Much more so than its neighbors.
I think abortion is legal in South Korea under certain circumstances, and those circumstances are quite wide open so basically, it's legal.
Gender inequality is serious problem, probably slightly better than Japan, but still pretty bad for Western standard.
But well, most of the issues above wouldn't really affect expats(unless you're really gonna settle there or even start a family and stuff).
Yea there are exceptions of course, but it's not as easy to get as in a lot of other developed countries. The World's Abortion Laws 2014
True, if you just want to work there for a few years, then you might not be affected much (unless you are LGBT or you are more progressive and you've lived much of your life in a conservative area like the southern US and you are just looking to escape because you can't stand the general atmosphere that exists in those places any more). Public transit in Korea is nice and the cost of living is lower than a lot of other developed countries, so you can save a decent amount of money. Working there a few years would look nice on your resume too and it would also make visiting other nearby Asian countries much easier if you want to take a trip to any of them.
I'd be curious to know about more progressive, western womens' experiences with living and working in Korea. I know, like Japan, foreigners kinda remain outsiders while they are there and may not be subjected to the same social expectations, but I'd be curious if foreign women felt any pressure or awkwardness related to Korean gender expectations while being over there. Unfortunately, the only western women I knew that lived or worked in Korea were somewhat conservative...and yea, no surprise I guess, they liked it over there.
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