You and AstroFiancee might want to consider Vancouver, BC. The weather is very mild year round (I understand that that is often a consideration for Asians coming to Canada), there a great schools for her to attend for whatever level of courses she wants to take, and there are huge Asian communities if that is of any interest to her. The cost of living is high in Vancouver, but not as high as European or other countries’ major cities.
Calgary might also be a good compromise for her; excellent schools as well, lower cost of living than Vancouver, large Asian communities also, an hour away from the most beautiful mountains in the world, but colder weather. Also, the job market in Calgary couldn’t be any hotter. If she perfects her English in Canada, I suppose she would get a Canadian accent (I don’t think we have one, but I’m fairly biased) and a tendency to say “Eh” a lot.
I’ve done quite a bit of hiring, including the ‘executive assistant’ level thing and here’s my opinion:
It would be best for her to study Business Admin and try to minor in marketing or communications. With those you’re able to work right out of the gate. It might not be exciting work but it’ll keep you going as you learn the ropes.
And I dumped the ‘assistant’ titles. My entry level folks are currently ‘coordinators’ and, when they’ve got some experience (and I have an opening) I promote them to ‘XXXXX Manager’, where XXXXX covers the field in which they’re working.
See how this hits her: my coordinator right now IS my memory and right arm. It’s her job to make sure the routine stuff gets done and to make certain my instructions get carried out. She does the weekly reporting, works with vendors to make sure projects stay on schedule, and makes sure I stay on schedule.
As far as the location for ‘English Immersion’ I don’t wish to insult my non-North American dorker pals but it would probably serve Astrofiancee best if she came to the US or Canada. If she goes to Ireland or Australia or elsewhere and picks up their word selection, accent and spelling that will work against her (especially if she combines a Korean accent with the accent of her new home) in job interviews and phone work. Got nothing against any other country that speaks English, it’s just that, for the long term, I think Canada and the US (really, the accents aren’t all that different) would serve her better.
Hmm…
Now that I think about it, one of my better assistants (Advertising Coordinator and eventually List Manager) was Korean. Actually, she was from Cleveland but she came here as a small child with her parents from Seoul. Every time I tried to call her by her first name she just laughed at me and told me to call her ‘Elise’. All the kids in the family had Korean names but their father hung English names on them when they came over. So these perfect Korean girls are going around as “Elise” and “Paige” and “Ashley”.
She really might want to play up the statistics angle. A LOT of businesses can use someone who can do data analysis at some level. She might want to learn SAS, if she doesn’t already know it.
Thanks for all the advice, guys! It’s appreciated! You all may hear from Astrofiancee, as I sent her this thread URL a minute ago…
goboy, of course I read your post! We’re NOT ruling Canada out at all (in fact I love Vancouver)! Just not limiting our options as yet. As I said, money IS an issue; but it wouldn’t be her parents footing the bill. She has a rather large savings account, and could pay for the whole thing herself… sigh I was planning on buying a BMW Z3 with that money, too!
As far as the computer issue, she does know how to do all that stuff (I call her when I can’t make a computer program behave, and I know more about comps than she does! True, odd as it sounds…). But do you think she needs a certificate? Probably… hmm…
BunnyGirl, I’m pretty sure she knows all this stuff… but, again, do you think she needs a certificate? We may, indeed, e-mail you in the next day or so…
Anyways, thanks again, all! We may hear from Astrofiancee here…
One last thing: anyone have any experiences with work/study programs (I haven’t yet given up on raiding her bank account for my Z3!)?
I can’t think of any kind of certificate that would be worth the time it takes to get it. Honestly, I’m self taught in everything and NEVER had a problem getting a job. The time spent getting a certificate for most of the executive assistant/secretary type stuff would be much better spent at a local college getting a true degree.
One thing that might help is have some friends (who have done hiring before) give her some “practice” interviews. You may have all the skills in the world but if you don’t interview well, it can make all the difference in the world.
Astrofiancee, feel free to email me if you have questions and feel more comfortable talking that way!
/hijack/
I visited Seoul just before the Olympics there in '88 and had the most fabulous time. I went by myself and went to the East Gate Market, Itewon, some mountain in the middle of town that has a big park on it, and a zoo outside of the city in the mountains (but wait…isn’t Korea itself pretty much all mountains??!). It was wonderful. I’d go back in a heartbeat.
