Applicants should have a college degree and be native English speakers. Those with experience in journalism and knowledge about Korea are preferred. This job involves four hours of work per day, from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., and a five-day week, from Sunday through Thursday. Pay and working conditions will be commensurate with experience and ability.
More details and contact information on the job posting.
From time to time you'll see such openings posted on the Herald, JoongAng Daily (list), Hankyoreh, or the Korea Tourism Organization, but ads looking for native English speakers are less common. When I mentioned an opening with the KTO last November I talked a little about getting into the mainstream English-language media in South Korea.
[W]hen I came to Korea I thought I could work for a year or two as a teacher and transition into other work because, I thought, with all the English being used copywriters and -editors with some experience would be in demand. Hahahahaha. Those sorts of jobs are scarce---when a native-speaker writer or editor is used at all---don't seem to be advertised often, and look to go to people not only with experience and Korean proficiency, but who can start pretty quickly. Since there are a lot of people who would like a job like that---hell, I'm in line ahead of you---it would be a good idea to build up some in-country experience by helping proofread or edit local publications, such as the Gwangju News, and by contributing pieces to the local papers or English-language radio stations. You could also browse sites like Work n' Play for writing and editing jobs---such as on in-house textbooks---though again it helps to have experience, to be able to start quickly, and to of course already be in Korea.
13 comments:
Your link to the job posting had a "Malware Detected!" warning about how visiting the website could harm the computer. Strange...
Thanks for letting me know. That doesn't turn up on my computer. I wasn't trying to poison anybody's machine with that post.
The malware warnings come up for a lot of sites in Korea, including newspapers and official government pages. Always ironic when the Herald or Times would bring up a prompt "This site may harm your computer."
Judging by the poor conditions they usually offer, then the people offering such jobs seem to be well aware of the huge interest teachers have in them. I can't imagine that this 1-5pm job offers enough money to live on for instance, requiring any successful applicant to also teach English illegally to survive, and I think it was the KTO job last year you mentioned(?) that mentioned a 1 month probation period, which put me off considering moving to Seoul for it. Finally, a few months ago I applied to be an editor for a well-known English web-site here, only to receive an email expressing concerns that because I'd been a teacher then I'd have difficulties adjusting to a Korean workplace (despite them being well aware I'd been here 10 years, spoke decent Korean, knew Korean workplace culture well enough etc). It made we wonder why they advertised for a native English speaker in the first place, and after having my interview date and time changed by weeks at a time to fit the interviewer's constantly changing travel plans, I decided not to bother.
I'd echo your suggestions to get some experience Brian, but I'd add that unless that experience is a formal position with "editing" or "editor" in the title, then it won't really mean shit with Korean employers. I assume that that, at least, is why I've rarely even gotten interviews for such positions, and recently was surprised and dismayed not to get one for an editing position at a historical artifacts cultural center a few months ago, despite my Korean history major, prominent name-dropping, and the fact that a friend with a similar position at a similar institution was highly recommending me.
Sure, maybe I'm generalizing and/or just projecting: hell, in the end maybe it's all just because I'm too ugly. But after those 2 experiences just before getting my current university job, and 10 years of trying before that, then I don't think I'll bother again for quite a while, if ever.
Sorry if that all sounds cynical and despondent(!), but there you go. And seriously, it's all too typical of Korean employers in general for the English-language media to have such a disdain for people without formal experience, as if Korea is just full of native speakers with years of experience in journalism for them to choose from!
Thanks for the visit and the thoughtful comment.
This particular job does have some tough hours, you're right. This particular ad doesn't say, but it's been my experience with a few places that they won't provide visa sponsorship, which ultimately means they're looking for:
* people with an F-visa
* people who can get permission to work a second job on their E-2
* Koreans
There aren't many teaching jobs with a 1-5 window open, unless you're doing split shifts. A full-time editing position would be better, but I came across this PT one and figured I'd post it, what the hell.
But, because these ads are posted with very little notice, they're ultimately open to few people. Correct me if I'm wrong, someone, but I don't think they're going to hire somebody from overseas to come be an editor in Seoul. If you apply to one of these positions you've got to be both in Korea and---in the case of FT openings that offer visa sponsorship---be ready to break your contract to take the position.
I made the November post, and brought up the points in this one, for the benefit of people looking to get into editing and journalism in Korea, because I've had a few people ask me about that. Like I said, I assumed when I came to Korea that I'd have an easy time doing it because of "English fever," and how much English you see all over the place. Hahahahahahaha. The market simply isn't there, and more often than not it's filled by Koreans. Go to a newsroom, or visit an English-language radio station, or go to a cramschool, or attend an English Expo . . . most if not all Korean. I applied for a position last summer that was asking for a native speaker to write news about Gwangju and Jeollanam-do in English for a website that was doing that already with Koreans but wasn't making it readable, interesting, or useful for native English-speaking residents in the area. I've had a good bit of experience covering the news down there, as my site shows, but when I went to the interview, they said they wanted a Korean, which not only meant I came in to the interview for nothing, but meant they'd be back in the same position as they were already in.
Anyway, there are apparently people who think they'll just come here and get a job writing by virtue of them being a native speaker, or an English major, or having done some writing back home. That's simply not the case, and it would behoove them to do some volunteering with a local radio station or English-language magazine to get some experience and a title, and build up knowledge of the country.
When I started the blog, James, it was in part because of something I read on your site. I'll paraphrase: if you want to be a writer, write My chances of getting into journalism in Korea would increase greatly if I already have a body of work built up and have already shown a commitment to doing it, I thought. And by blogging and staying with it for a while (relatively speaking) that opened up a lot of opportunities with local papers and magazines, to the point where yeah, if I had stayed in Korea I probably could have found work as a writer or editor. I'm not sure I'd want to do that for a living in Korea, but that's a whole other story.
In an earlier draft of this comment I was going off on some other tangents, but it's probably safer to keep my mouth shut for the time being.
Not "safer," I guess "easier" is better. It's a post about a job ad, no reason to get into an essay about the state of the press, as I was sort of doing in an earlier draft of a comment.
Oh don't get me wrong Brian: it's good that you're getting the ad out there, and I would have hugely benefited both career-wise and financially by knowing from the beginning that I wasn't going to be simply walking into an editing job like I fully expected, so I'm sure a younger generation of readers fully appreciate the heads-up.
Not to denigrate all the work you've written for local newspapers and magazines by any means either, but one other thing to people thinking of doing the same that can't be stressed enough is that you shouldn't expect to be paid for it, as your own unfortunate experience with the Korea Times well illustrated: not only does it violate the conditions of most teachers' visas, but a great many simply can't afford to pay their writers.
So for sure, if you want to be a writer then you need to write, and a blog is indeed a great way of getting started doing so. And hell, is de rigueur as an online resume, means to establish a reputation in a field, and tool for networking and so on anyway. But my own advice for prospective writers here (not that I think you'd disagree Brian!) would be to recognize a blog as only ever a means to an end, and one that has to be combined with work for many other, more traditional media, like academic journals and overseas periodicals (on and off-line) that (way-hey!) actually pay, even if it's just 25,000 won for an article. As I contemplate the 1000s of hours spent on my own blog by this stage, for virtually no financial return, I wish I'd devoted some of that time to those other things MUCH earlier!
p.s. Sorry *cough* if I got a bit off-topic myself.
No, those are fine points. And you're right to remind people, as I've done at times, that writing usually doesn't pay. That's fine for some, unacceptable for others.
Damn, don't get me started on the topic of mixing blogging with payment. That's a tangent I'll go on from whence we'll never return.
Most of us who edit for The Herald do get visa sponsorship. This may not, as the assumption appears to be that the applicant will have another job that happens to leave the afternoons open.
It's a good chance to gain entry into the field if that's what you want, plus it offers writing opportunities, particularly through Matt's page. Those of us who have worked here have gone on to find other opportunities at magazines and other media outlets.
It seems as though most of the points have been covered, but I'll try to add my two cents. ^_^
All I can say is that positions and environment really depend on the place where you work. All the ones that I applied for and have worked in did provide visa sponsorship and full-time working hours, however, at one, the pay was much lower than teaching English and with no time left free to get any sort of side work, illegal or otherwise.
Some places will accept you without much experience (Korea Times), but I find that the visa requirements from the government get a bit tricky if you don't have a degree or ample experience in that field, much unlike the E2. It is an E7 visa, which is a general work visa. You also need if you try to get a job as an English teacher at a private company (i.e. Samsung, LS Nikko, etc.) If I remember correctly, for a copy-editor, I needed a degree in Journalism (or a related field, English might work) and at least two years of work experience to get my visa and it still took awhile to get approved. So definitely think about that beforehand and talk with whoever is hiring you. Sometimes there are ways around that if the company really wants to hire you. (And goodness knows there are always loopholes.)
But if it's a job for you, then go for it. As my company is a broadcasting company, it has led to more opportunities in the different departments and I've gotten to work in radio and TV outside of editing for the news team. Just be warned, it's definitely not going to be as easy as teaching English and it really helps to have a working knowledge of AP and news editing as some of the publications can be picky about style-editing (or maybe that's just my company). And editing for news is different than editing for text books, etc. Also, I have heard from friends that have worked at/applied for the Korea Herald and they seem to only take those with previous experience. One co-worker started at the Times, since it was easier to get a job there and went on to work at the Herald after about a year. Feel free to correct me if this is wrong, but it's just what I've heard.
And these companies don't provide a lot of the benefits that hagwons or schools do. No key money, no apartment, lower pay and sometimes no health benefits. I love my job and my company, so it's definitely worth some of the benefits I had to give up, but you really do have to consider all things before entering the field.
Hope this helps!
Thanks for the informative comments, Emma and Rob.
Emma, how long did you work at the Korea Times before you moved onto the position at the broadcasting company?
I was there about a month. I would have stayed, but my current company offered me a job about three weeks in with less working hours and more pay, so I switched over.
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