Internship Opportunities for Australians in Seoul

Where to find Internship opportunities in Seoul

Austcham Korea

There are generally little to no opportunities for a young Australian to find internships in Korea which is why I am pleasantly surprised and happy to see that Austcham Korea (The Australian Chamber of Commerce in Korea) in conjunction with Austrade (My former workplace) have received funding to support up to 6 young Australians for a 3 month period to undertake a Internship at a Australian or Korean SME in Seoul. Applications close on November 1 and the full details can be found at the Austcham Korea Website. 

I am almost a little jealous in the fact that I wish this program was around 3 - 4 years ago when I was looking for such opportunities. Anyway to give a little personal insight; The opportunities will more than likely be with an Australian company in Seoul. Most of Austcham Korea's member companies are non-Korean and it is unlikely that any of the major companies will join the program as they probably already have their own internship programs. So if you were thinking of working for Samsung, Hyundai, Hanwha, LG, Doosan etc then it is unlikely that this opportunity will provide that. If you check out the Austcham Korea business directory you can get an insight into what kind of companies might join the program. 

What is impressive is that the program claims it will sponsor the successful applicants visa's. I'm not sure what visa they will recommend - I don't think an E-7 visa or other working visa's are acceptable for an intern but I suspect there is some sort of training visa available (Probably amongst the C category -  my guess is C-4 temporary work visa). My advice to potential applicants is if you are not currently in Korea but plan on applying for this program then take advantage of the working holiday visa which affords you a year in Korea and you can work freely and also study. The H-1 working holiday visa was in fact my first visa to Korea and at the time I was one of only 20 odd Australians utilising the program! You can find the details of the H-1 Visa here. After your 3 month program it is likely you will want to stay on and learn more of the language and search for other opportunities later. If your language skills are still at beginner level then take the working holiday visa and use the extra 9 months to take a language course - It is the best decision you could make! 

Also, if you aren't on LinkedIn yet then I would also recommend signing up and seeking out the Austcham Korea group and trying to connect with other Austcham members! There aren't many young Aussies in Korea trying to get into the professional field so competition won't be that tough and you are likely to be welcomed with open arms! I was always surprised when even after 4 years of being in Seoul I was still one of the youngest guys in the wider Australian business community! I was always waiting for that younger version of me to come along to an event but it never happened! (Which is why I suspect they have created this program!)

Anyway get your applications in quick! They close November 1 - More details here.

Australian Embassy

I unfortunately dropped the ball on this one. A few weeks ago on the Australian Embassy website were advertising for potential intern applications. It is closed now but don't despair because they regularly re-advertise for new applicants every few months, so keep an eye out!

The program however has always been a bit stumbling for young Australians in that most Australians are overlooked for the positions! I don't think I know any young Australian to be given an internship opportunity at the embassy yet, something which really needs to change! 

This program also runs for 3 months and applicants are deployed to a certain section of the embassy. Duties include providing support to events and coordination of VIP guests, mail duties,  updating the embassy Facebook page and Blog. Media scanning is also a common duty which will require a high level of Korean and is probably why most young Australians are overlooked. One of my mates was short-listed once but then they never contacted him afterwards so...... 

That said, Korean language skills or not all young Australians should try their luck and send in an application. The internship doesn't pay but the embassy do provide a small daily stipend  for transportation costs and lunch. After the 3 months they give you a certificate to say you interned at the embassy and that's that! Some however have been known to extend their internship for another 3 month period depending on the requirements of the embassy section. 

Good luck!

How to prepare a Korean resume - Part 2

We move along now to Part 2 of the Korean resume which covers the second page of the CV. Now remember that this template can be found here! It's available to everyone and can be customized and adjusted to your hearts content. 

On closer inspection there is not much information to cover in the second page of our Korean resume but what is needed is an explanation of the obvious missing section that is arguably the most important in an English CV - The references! 

A Korean resume does not have a section for references nor will you at any point in the process be asked to provide contact details for one! Seems weird right? As it turns out its not that they don't want to stalk your former life and find out all the dirty details, it's just rather that this information is seemingly provided to them in the first page under your previous work experience. Rather than let you determine your own reference from your previous workplaces, Korean recruitment officers will directly contact one of your previously employers and speak with the recruitment officer there to find your line manager and proceed to ask the tough questions. This entire process could be terrifying for some - let's face it, we don't always leave previous jobs under mutual circumstances and not being able to dictate who you would like a new prospective employer to contact can leave the candidate feeling quite vulnerable! That said we are 외국인 (Foreigners) and most if not all of our previous work experience is overseas and not too many recruiters will make the extra effort to dial overseas! 

Now if it you are a student and you are graduating from a Korean university you may want to do the reverse of the reference situation and request a professor to contact the recruiter directly on your behalf. Sounds unorthodox yes but it will undoubtedly get your information into the recruiters line of vision - not too many foreigner applicants (if any) are going to have a professor call up the company and say a few kind words - could be what makes the difference! Not to mention that your professors are normally well connected and there is numerous opportunities to be found through that network - so before applying to any job ask your professor first because he may well in fact know someone of importance at said company! To be honest this type of 인맥 (Personal networks) is your best tool in finding employment (which I plan to cover in separate post)....but I digress....

Ok, let's move on now to the final section of our Korean resume.

Computer Skills

So did you know young Korean graduates when they are doing their 취업준비 (Preparation for finding a job) get certificates to say that they posess adequate skills at using the Microsoft office suite? Not to be cynical but after going through a Korean multinationals graduate program as the only foreigner I can safely say that those kind of certificates are about as meaningful as the blue pen license I received in year 2 of primary school. Most workers at my entire company only knew how to use Powerpoint which they used to make their official reports! (More on this insanity in later posts!). Regardless in this section you can just put the normal spiel about MS Word, Excel and PPT. You'll notice the same scale as before of 상 - 중 - 하 (Expert - Intermediate - Beginner). You will also have a section to add some extra computer skills such as Photoshop, HTML, Javascript etc...

Activities and Honours
I've noticed in some English resumes that this section is often left out; For a Korean this section is often the place where they list activities such as if they have been overseas on exchange (Which they almost all have!) any volunteer work experience and any involvement with hobby groups or other organisations.. In my Korean CV this is where I listed information about my scholarships to study overseas, my involvement with the Korean - Australian chamber of commerce; Alumni groups and also the few times I was Emcee at various events. 

So with that all covered, all that's left is the declaration under which you should type your name and stick on a digital signature and we are done!

With our Korean resume now complete is time to get our Korean writing skills in motion and begin preparing our 자기소개서 (Self Introduction) or rather cover letter.

Continue to Part 3 - The Self Introduction>>

How to prepare a Korean resume - Part 1

Resumes written in English despite a basic general format are generally different depending on the individual. Decisions such as which font; formatting; colour and margins are left to individual preference and gives applicants the opportunity to express their own individuality all be it in a very subtle manner. In contrast a Korean resume is amazingly standard across almost all companies big and small. Most major corporations will use their own resume form when applicants are applying on-line however the format and questions on the resume are more than likely to be similar or identical to one another.

This Three part series will focus on the Korean resume and the self introduction to help foreign professionals when applying for jobs with Korean companies.

So What does a Korean Resume look like and why is it important?

In this post I have attached a basic template of a Korean CV which you can fill in with your own information. Remember this format is STANDARD you do not need to change anything nor feel bad about using the template - it's not copying! Below I will cover each section of the resume and explain what information needs to be jotted down and where.

 But first, Why should we send in a Korean resume as opposed to an English CV? 

 I recommend to always send in BOTH; an English resume will often be scanned by any foreign employees in HR; While the Korean CV is immensely important. As this format is standard across the country it not only helps HR and the recruitment team to jot down your credentials in their own systems, this is also the version which is passed around to interviewers and to company directors. As you will notice by the style of the resume example below it is completely different to an English resume. A Korean resume wants the basic facts and only the facts. There is no room for embellishment or explanation nor does it require references! Where did you study? what did you study? what where your scores? Simple - YES! but highly discriminative (It's the Korean way) but alas don't despair there is an opportunity to sell yourself with the "Self Introduction" section which I will cover in part 3 of the series.

OK! so now I've explained why the Korean CV is much more important than your English one lets get onto how to fill it in! I will be explaining in English but this information should be of course provided in KOREAN! so if your skills are a bit rough it's time to ask a return favour for all that English editing you provided!

A Korean Resume

Personal Information and Education Details

This is what the first page top half will look like. Self explanatory bar a few sections. Entering a hobby and a special comment seems rather weird and it really has no meaning but what it does do is give you a one word chance to express your personality through one of your hobbies and/or mention something special about yourself. Say if you are a president of an organisation or you represent your country in some event or sport then you can put that down into the special comment section. If not then you can also just leave it blank. And yes you need to supply a photo and also your age! Illegal in some countries but heck...when in Rome..... 

The Education details unlike English resumes will require you to list all of your schooling (Down to at least High School). Most foreigners residing in Korea would have already noticed the emphasis placed on education and this is represented in the resume format. Now  Grade Average will refer to the Korean GPA system of out of 4.5. For example 4.1/4.5; Those from an American system should find it easy enough to convert their out of 4 average but those from a British system of distinctions and percentages then that's where it gets tough! 

As an Australian there is no formula for converting our university scoring system over to the Korean GPA system; on top of that fact is that Australian grading is traditionally tougher, biased and non-standard! For example a 70% or over grade is considered a distinction and a decent score at many if not most Australian universities, but to a Korean recruiters eyes a 70% average looks like a 50% average - it's rubbish! So what do you do? One option is to just average it out yourself and self evaluate (But you will have to explain how you come about that score when they ask for a copy of your results). I averaged that a common distinction (D) is around 4/4.5 and a HD is somewhere around 4.5. Alternatively and probably your best course of action is to call your local embassy and refer to the education section; they should be able to help you convert your scores and also will be willing to vouch for that adjustment with recruiters. How do I know this? When I worked in the Australian embassy the education team would field calls regularly from complaining students and confused recruiters! So yes....it's OK to call them! 

Note: I have deleted the sections which ask for family information and health. It's not relevant to a foreign applicant but just sympathise with the local applicants for a moment in that they have to list who their family are and where they work as well as declare any health issues.

Work Experience and Language Ability

You would notice that there is not much room to describe your job role. In an English resume you are often asked to go into brief detail as to what projects you worked on and what achievements you might have made at the company. NOT in Korea. All they want is the basic information of your role? IE. I was a HR generalist; I was a Salesman of ABC Product; Accounting of B Subsidiary; I was  IT support etc.

Recruiters will also ask for your mode of leaving your previous companies. Were you fired? did you quit? did the contract end? or are you still currently employed? 

Now for language section; the three categories you can see is to express what level you are in that particular language. Left to Right is (Expert; Intermediate; Beginner) then on the next table you will have to list down the proof (if any) that you have said language ability. This is based on the Korean love of standardized testing of languages - The TOEIC's; IELTS; HSK etc. If you have taken the TOPIK Korean test then list the details down here. If you are a native then naturally no certification required.

Continue to Part 2>>

Download the Korean Resume Template Here!