…In the armed services of a foreign nation? (Damn that came out long)
Some background:
Being a male citizen of South Korea (where there is conscription), I have to serve in the military for a few years. I plan to do this after I graduate in the spring of 2008 and there are several ways I can do this. I can enlist in the army, navy, air force or riot police (among other military groups), or I can put my shiny new undergrad degree and my mad engrish skillz to work and test to become an officer, working in translations.
For a variety of reasons, becoming an officer is advantageous except I will have to serve for a bit over 3 years, as opposed to the 2 years enlisted men have to serve. I’m already bitter about giving my up a part of my youth for this stuff and it doesn’t make it better that I’m in a serious relationship with an American girl and I don’t know what’s going to happen to us after 2 or 3+ years apart with very limited communication. She says she’ll wait but that’s easier said than done.
ANYWAY, I hope to go to law school after all this and even if that doesn’t work out, I want to find a job in the States, Canada or UK (maybe) and I wonder if anyone really cares where I served and as what. Giving up an extra 1+ year will become somewhat less appealing if it turns out that being a Korean officer isn’t worth diddly outside of S. Korea, and will be factored into my decision.
I’m sure no one really has a 100% foolproof answer, but anyone care to speculate?
(sorry if this all came out kinda jumbled)
My WAG, being an officer is being and officer no matter what, or whose army you serve in. It carries a little more clout in some circles. As for whether or not it would make a difference in what job you get after? I doubt it.
Become an officer, it gives you evidence that you have taken on responsibility, that you can lead others as well as work as part of team.
Also Translations would be an excellent bullet point; employers look for people with communications skills, and if you become an officer, you will have proof of strong communication skills.
Becoming an officer shows ambition and motivation.
Two years of enlistment would be a professional black hole, while being an officer would be an accomplishment that you could point to that shows you have character, and can work hard.
When I look over a resume from someone with military experience, I assume that the officer probably has some management experience, where the enlisted person probably doesn’t, unless I hear otherwise. That’s pretty much it.
If the kind of law you want to practice has anything to do with helping people do business in Korea, the translation experience would be a clear plus. Also, if law school doesn’t work out, the officer experience will be more generally marketable.
I went to law school with a number of people with military experience, though all served in the US military. I don’t recall there being much difference in perception of those who had been officers and those who had been enlisted either within law school or in hiring. Legal employers tend to focus on law school grades and directly law-related experience, with less consideration of prior work, unless it happens to be specificaly realted to the specialty under consideration (i.e. the guy I knew who had been a naval officer was hired into an admiralty law firm).
On the other hand, language skills can be tremendously important (though not necessarily translator-grade skills). Many large law firms have Asian (or even Korean) practice groups and many Korean-based companies need bilingual legal counsel.
Well, enlisted men are usually sergeants by the time they’re done and get to boss around and bully lower ranking soldiers, which is kind of like management experience, right?
Incidently I’m looking at the Navy more than any other branch if I were to apply to become an officer. Not sure if I’m particularly interested in admiralty law though.
You’re right, and there are officers who wouldn’t know the first thing about motivating anyone, but I’m giving you the impression of someone who might look at several hundred resumes in a couple of weeks (like me). Unfortunately, fair or not, in that case impressions are important in making your resume stand out from a hundred others.