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Permalink Reply by Cory Olson on November 15, 2011 at 12:28pm

Great points. Despite how modern Korean life largely seems to revolve around the internet and technology, it definitely still seems that the job market still relies a lot on a much more traditional model. I think the reason for this is a matter of differentiation.

Not to let the cat out of the bag, but in a future post you might be reading about the incredible number of graduates this country produces. This has created a very top heavy environment with more entrants than positions. Most of these entrants have spent their entire young life in the pursuit of "specs" or attractive features to put on a resume. So everybody looks good on paper, how does the hiring manager chose? Based on personal networks and connections. While it's true expat workers filling "foreigner" roles within a company are a separate group from the whole, we definitely aren't completely exempt from the system.

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Permalink Reply by Steven S. Bammel on November 15, 2011 at 4:49pm

Cory - Yes, you're right. Non-executive expat hirings don't go through the same procedures. But if anything, the process is even less transparent most of the time since these hires are generally for contracted outsiders working for some department and the hiring is often outsourced to low-level employees who just ask around in their network. That's how I got hired the first time at LG.... It was a completely closed and non-transparent process where the only two candidates were me (introduced through a friend) and the English teacher of the entry-level employee commissioned to do the hire. The English teacher bailed when he didn't like the pay and that left only me... That was a long time ago, but I bet things haven't changed much.

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Permalink Reply by Valentin JANIAUT on January 30, 2012 at 12:05pm

Hey Steven,

I recently had a similar story with the same company ^  ^ So things haven't change much indeed !

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Permalink Reply by Simon Hoggett on November 15, 2011 at 4:04pm

Very timely Steve. I showed your video today during my special  lecture at Keimyung University titled "Globalizing your Career". Glad to be able to show the students tangible evidence that networking is a very powerful tool. 

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Permalink Reply by Steven S. Bammel on November 15, 2011 at 4:46pm

Cool! I guess you were teaching Korean students. What was their reaction to the admonition to network and not rely just on a slick resume?

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Permalink Reply by Simon Hoggett on January 30, 2012 at 4:23pm

Ha! Many students think networking means, "kissing up" to their professor in hopes that he/she can land them a job. Still a ways to go, but I'm hopeful that things will change. 

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