I’ll be moving back to the US soon, and will need to find a new job to assist me in the sacred task of keeping my belly filled with chili and beer! My problem is this: I’ve been in Korea so long that I no longer have any idea of what type of job I am qualified for or could get with a little on-the-job training. I’ve been browsing through Monster.com, and some other sites looking at advertisements… and I’m a bit overwhelmed. So I turn to my friends and advisors at the SDMB: anyone have any suggestions of career fields for me?
I won’t post my resume (actually, I haven’t updated it yet… that’s a task for this week), but here’s a bit about my education and past jobs:
Education: BA in English Lit., with minors in Psychology and Creative Writing.
Work Experience(only the highlights… sprinkle in assorted other minimum-wage type jobs here and there as necessary…):
Auditing and bookkeeping at a series of hotels (during and shortly after university).
Licensed Health Insurance Agent (that sucked! Hated it… only did it for a short time…).
Mental Health Therapy Technician (in a mental hospital, and also in group homes working with severly autistic children.).
ESL Instructor (for the past 5 years in Korea).
Academic Director (of an ESL school here in Korea. Basic hiring of teachers, overseeing the program, stuff like that…).
Proofreader, Editor, and Director of Research for a small business (which Tommy Two-Ties and I started, and is still in business now. Barely. A learning experience!)
Co-Author of 3 published books (a Dictionary of American Idioms, and 2 related workbooks for students of ESL.)
So, what am I qualified to do now? I’m open to any ideas. I’d like to get into a computer related field, somehow, but I’m sure I need additional technical training before I can seriously look into that…
What do you all think? Any suggestions?
Thanks, guys!
By the way, I’ve had to rule out gigolo… you-know-who won’t go for it!
I’ve had a few friends who have had similar experience overseas as you have had. Most employers are interested in what you have been doing within the past 1-3 years. In your case it has been teaching, administating, and writing. So, why don’t you seek out work in writng/editing and teaching.
Regardless of post 9/11 security issues, the market for ESL teachers is still fairly active. Becoming a certified TOEFL instructor would be a big plus in the US. If you have a good writing portfolio and are truly skilled (especially in taking editing tests) then you can catch on with the zillions of contract agencies in metro areas in the US. Most of them have needs for folks to prepare training and technical materials for companies and organizations.
You also need to hook into the network of professional writers and editors in the area you settle in in the states. They will turn you onto the contract book editing gigs that form a foundation for bigger jobs. Your mental health and interpersonal communications skills should help you big time here. Good luck.
BA in Linguistics and Psychology, MA in Writing here. When I returned to the US after teaching overseas, I was able to get two jobs to start–one teaching English, one proofreading. This held me until I could get a Master’s in Counseling.
You may want to stop in at your local community college or state university when you get to the US. Many have career counseling services that are available to anyone in the community. Even if not, they are likely to have a not-for-credit career explorations course, a career library of some kind, referrals to career counselors, academic advisors, and possibly access to some career counseling tests. They may have a set of career biographies or other characterizations of people who hold partivular jobs and enjoy them.
Failing that, What Color Is Your Parachute has helped many people clarify what they’d like to do and what they’re qualified to do.
Parachute is a great guide. You could do worse than read it.
It looks to this manager (I’ve done quite a bit of hiring) that your primary skills revolve around language. Given the lack of such in the United States there are several places you could exploit that. You could try some of the larger corporations who are looking for liaisons who speak Korean or even the State Department here in Washington. They almost always need foreign language speakers. You wouldn’t become an ambassador (without giving a million dollars to the RNC) but a nice steady career could be had.
And you can always teach ESL and Korean. Plenty of space for that on the west coast, I’d bet.
Good suggestions. I suspect that I’m going to have to accept whatever job I can get fairly quickly and take some courses at night. To be honest, I’m hoping to get away from teaching ESL. I enjoy it, but it just isn’t much of a challenge. I’ve gotten bored with it.
Hmm… I have some stuff to think about now, thank you!
Spook. You should look into becoming a spook/intel analyst with the CIA.
Remember all the kerfuffle about how the intel folks didn’t have enough Arabic speakers to analyse intel pre- and post- Sept. 11? Now that Kimmy has re-started his nuclear program, I’ll bet the intel folks are busy “analysing chatter.” If you’re fluent in Korean (even if you don’t think you can teach it), there may be opportunities.
[Cue theme music: “Astroboy - Defender of the American Way - Enemy of the third branch of the Axis of Evil” etc.]
Actually, JC, the average donation for political ambassadors last year was only 25K.
Astroboy, have you considered looking up some of the big consulting firms in Seattle and LA? You’ve got the qualifications to run small -to-meduim-sized business junkets, set up cross-cul;tural counseling services, or look into the Dept. of Commerce as someone who’s been on the ground before.
A learning experience!)