Guide to finding a job and building a career in Korea

I’m now working in the field of employee learning and development, but I have 10 years prior experience as a recruiter in Korea and have lived in the country for more than 20 years. Seeing my profile on LinkedIn, people often contact me seeking advice on how to find a job and start building a career in Korea. I’ve always tried to spare some time to help out where I can with this sort of request on an individual basis, but I thought it might be more useful if I wrote up everything I know on this topic and post it as a resource to help more of the growing number of people interested in working in Korea.

In this post I'll first discuss two important base factors that will affect your employability in Korea: your eligibility for a visa and your Korean language ability. Then I'll talk about the types of employers that hire foreigners and the kinds of jobs these employers hire foreigners to do. And finally, I'll give some tips on how to go about finding job opportunities in Korea.

The visa factor

If you want to work in Korea, at the most basic level you need to be legally eligible to work in the country. For anyone who does not hold Korean citizenship, that means you need to get either a residency (F series) visa or an employment (E series) visa. I won't go into details about the different visa types here, instead I will just broadly explain and let you know how to find more information.

For those who have Korean heritage, it's possible to get an F4 visa and for those who are married to a Korean citizen it's possible to get an F6 visa, both of which permit the holder to live and work in Korea without restriction. There are also two other F series residency visas that can be obtained by those who do not have Korean heritage or a Korean spouse. These are the F2-7 point system visa and the F5 permanent residency visa. These visas both have requirements that, in most cases, take a fair amount of time living in the country to fulfill. So obtaining one of these should be considered a longer term goal, but definitely a goal worth pursuing because having an F series visa makes it much easier for companies to hire you.

If you do not have an F series residency visa, it's necessary to get an employment visa, and the three most common types of employment visa for white collar professionals are E7 (Specially designated activities), E3 (Research), and E2 (Foreign language instructor).

It's important to note that you cannot apply for an employment visa and then find a job. You can only get an employment visa through sponsorship by a company that has already agreed to hire you. So you will need to check that you meet the criteria for the kind of employment visa you need for the kind of work you will do, and the company you will work for needs to be willing to sponsor you for the visa.

As for my case, over the years I've had a number of different types of visas. I had an E2 when I was teaching English as my first job in Korea, then a D2 visa while I was a studying, an E7 when I worked in admin at an international school, and then I got my F2-7 through the point system, soon after it was first established by immigration, and I've had that visa ever since.

For detailed information on visas, go to the official source: the HiKorea immigration website.

The Korean language factor

Another important factor that affects your employability in Korea is your Korean ability. If you have native level Korean then obviously you would be able to apply for pretty much any job you are qualified to do. If you do not have native level Korean though, the options become significantly more limited.

If you have no Korean ability or are at the beginner level, employers would really only be interested in hiring you if you are able to add value through work that's done mainly independently and in a language other than Korean. Unless of course you can find a company that has adopted English as a primary language for internal communication, but there are very few companies that have done this in Korea.

If you have working level proficiency in Korean, then more options open up. Working level proficiency means, at a minimum, you are able to read and write emails, understand what is being discussed in meetings, and explain things related to the company's business and the work you are doing. You have to be fluent with this stuff too because the pace is usually quite quick. If you can reach this level though you would have the ability to act as a bridge between local and global in your work, and a lot of companies in Korea highly value this ability.

Potential employers and roles

In this section I'll go over the different types of employers that have some level of demand to hire foreigners, and talk about the kinds of roles that are plausible for foreigners to take on. When I use the term "foreigner" you can take it to mean someone who does not have Korean citizenship and speaks less than native-level Korean. I'll break the labor market into three areas: schools, government and international organizations, and businesses. For each area I'll talk about the kind of opportunities you might be able to find, but I won't mention any specific entities. I've actually worked in each one of these three areas over my time in Korea, so I'll explain what I did in each of these as well.

Schools

Foreign language teaching is a very common job for foreigners to have in Korea and both private academies and public schools employ foreign teachers. Demand is particularly high for English teachers, and for some jobs no prior teaching experience is required. There's a huge number of private English academies for children in particular, and these places are where many English teachers get their first jobs. There are also a number of academies and consultancies that focus on teaching business English for adults. Sometimes these jobs involve going onsite to companies to teach classes to business executives, which can be interesting work as you can learn a bit about the Korean corporate environment from speaking with your students.

If you do not have much previous work experience, language teaching is one way to start your career in Korea, and this is, in fact, the way I started out. I taught English for children in private academies for a couple years, and then also did some part-time business English teaching for adults while I was pursuing my Masters degree. Teaching English as a second language helped me become really good at breaking down concepts and explaining things to others, and this skill has actually been quite valuable for me in the corporate world too.

Korea also has a number of international schools and they hire foreigners for both teaching and school leadership roles. I worked briefly as an admin at one of these schools and part of my job was helping to onboard new teachers. I found that international schools generally require more previous teaching experience than English academies, but the pay and work environment are very good so these jobs are quite highly sought after.

If you have a graduate degree (Masters or PhD) and teaching experience, you could potentially find a job as an instructor at a university. Universities get extra points toward their international ranking when they employ more foreign professors and these days Korean universities are seeking to offer more courses taught in English so there is incentive for them to hire more foreign professors. Most of the opportunities would be in areas like business, foreign languages and literature, international relations, cultural studies, and to some extent high-tech engineering and science.

Government and international organizations

The Korean government puts significant resources towards promoting tourism and foreign investment, and there are opportunities for foreigners to work in government organizations dedicated to these areas. In these kinds of organizations foreigners can work as copywriters creating content for external use, and potentially also in program management but this kind of role would likely require significant internal communication and therefore working level proficiency in Korean. Additionally, the Korean government runs a number of centers dedicated to supporting migrants and expats living in the country, and there are opportunities for foreigners to work in these centers as well. I worked at one of these centers for four years, managing its various programs and building a network within the local expat community.

A number of international organizations, in particular ones related to sustainability, international cooperation, and security have offices in Korea. Many of these offices are quite large and employ a significant number of foreigners. Since these organizations would use English as their primary language of communication, foreigners can take on a wide variety of roles even without having any Korean ability. However, expertise in the area of focus of the organization would of course be needed.

Although kind of a different sort of case, I'll also mention that a lot of foreigners in Korea work for foreign governments in diplomatic / foreign service roles or, in the case of the US, in the military.

Businesses

As mentioned earlier, for foreigners who do not have native or close-to-native level Korean ability the range of employment options is quite limited. Generally, in businesses, if a role is mostly locally focused and requires significant internal communication then native level Korean will be required. However, if a role's work product must be in a language other than Korean and/or the main customers, stakeholders, or objects of analysis are outside of Korea then employers are more likely to be open to hiring a foreigner for that role. Other than these "global facing" roles, there are also opportunities for foreigners who have strong skills in technical fields that are in high demand in Korea such as software development.

First let's look at big businesses. Korea has a number of large multinational companies that do business globally and have locations all around the world. Since a large percentage of revenue comes from overseas in these companies, foreigners are sometimes hired to work in roles like overseas sales management, business and partnership development, and global marketing. If the company is in a high-tech industry, it will also need many engineers with world-class skills in specific areas that are difficult to hire in large enough numbers from the limited pool of talent in Korea. So there can be opportunities for highly skilled foreigner engineers in some of Korea's big tech companies. Additionally, large Korean companies may also hire foreigners for roles that involve managing relations with global stakeholders such as suppliers, investors, and the media. There are also some opportunities in human resources since these companies have workforces spread around the globe and need to attract top talent from around the world to be competitive. This is the area that I'm working in currently. I wouldn't say there are a lot of opportunities for foreigners to work in HR in large Korean companies but there are some.

Outside the big name large companies, there are also opportunities for foreigners in smaller companies. Korea has a vibrant startup scene, and many Korean startups are targeting global markets with their new technologies and products. So there is potential for foreigners to work in roles like marketing, product management, product development, and business development in Korean startups. Additionally, a fair number of foreigners work in places like venture capital firms, accelerators, and other kinds of startup support organizations working to help Korean startups build their business and compete in the global market.

One of the most common jobs foreigners have in Korea is producing content in English, and to a lesser extent other languages, and there are a few different kinds of employers for this kind of work. Korean companies need to produce a lot of content in English for global audiences and they often use external PR and marketing agencies to do this. Since there is so much work that needs to be done for global audiences, these agencies quite often have a significant number of foreigners on their staff doing work like copywriting and content development. Most major Korean news outlets produce publications and have websites in English, so foreigners who are skilled in journalism and writing can find opportunities to work in these organizations. And there are companies that specialize in translation and editing that hire foreigners too.

I would say that the kinds of companies and roles I've mentioned above cover most of the opportunities that foreigners can find in businesses in Korea. I do know that there are some foreigners working in services such as law firms, management consulting, and the hospitality industry but to my knowledge there are not many opportunities in these areas.

Finally, it also bears mentioning that a fair number of foreigners run their own businesses in Korea. To do this you must have a residency visa or enough money to get an investment visa. Foreigners in Korea have been successful starting a fairly wide range of businesses. One example of this is consultancies. Companies based outside Korea often look to the Korean market as a business opportunity and some foreigners run consultancies that help foreign companies with things like go-to-market strategy and staffing. Another example is foreigners who have been able to find success opening restaurants that serve international cuisine.

Tips for finding opportunities

In this section, I'll give some tips on how you can go about finding job opportunities in Korea. It's not an easy task, but with a realistic perspective on the kind of role you would be capable of taking on, and some perseverance, you can find yourself a good job in Korea.

Before you start searching, the first thing you need to do is make an honest assessment of your experience and skills, and ask yourself what kind of job you as a foreigner could do in Korea that would add real value to an employer. If you do not already have expertise in an area that Korean employers would value (eg. marketing, business development, high tech R&D) then you probably need to consider taking a long-term view of building towards a role working in a company, if that’s your goal. I'm definitely one of those who took the long road to where I am now. If you lack experience in an area that Korean employers value, you could first come to Korea to study in a degree program related to the area you want to work in. Or you can work in an area that entirely depends on your existing language abilities such as language teaching or editing, and build other skills independently on the side. However you decide to start your career in Korea, the most important thing you can do to increase your employability is to learn Korean to a working proficiency level. If you can do that, far more opportunities will open up for you.

Next, you need to do some research in your target field to figure out which employers you could potentially target in your job search. Think broadly, include companies from all the types of employers I discussed above, and consider both domestic employers and foreign ones with overseas offices in Korea. Make a list of employers that could be a good fit for you and continue adding to it as you learn more about the opportunities that are out there through your job search.

Finally, you need to prepare your resume and your profile on LinkedIn to highlight the experience and skills you have that will be of the most interest to Korean employers. On LinkedIn in particular, if you are currently located in Korea be sure to set that as your current location. Also make sure to add your Korean language ability and include descriptions of any work you've done related to Korea. Recruiters on LinkedIn commonly use location, skills, and language ability as keyword filters when searching for potential candidates, so including these will increase the chances of you being found and contacted. LinkedIn is the most important tool for job seeking in general so I'll be mentioning it often in this section. If you have enough Korean ability to do so, you can consider writing up a resume in Korean, but Korean recruiters and managers at companies doing business globally are quite accustomed to reviewing resumes written in English these days so I would say this is not really necessary in most cases. I do however recommend writing short introductory messages and cover letters in Korean, but ONLY if you have the ability to do so. These can help to explain your motivations for applying and showcase your Korean ability at the same time. But don't get someone else, or an AI, to write these for you. You don't want to give an impression of having a higher level of Korean than you actually do.

Once you've established what kind of work you can realistically do, done your research to identify potential employers, and prepared your resume and LinkedIn profile you are ready to start your job search. There are a number of different ways to find opportunities and I'll discuss each one.

Applying through job postings

The effectiveness of this method varies depending on the type of work you are trying to get into. For English teaching, there are a number of job posting aggregation websites you can visit and you'll find tons of postings specifically seeking foreigners for teaching jobs. I won't list them here but a quick Google search for "English teaching jobs Korea" will turn up quite a few of these sites.

For jobs in other areas though there are no job posting aggregation sites specifically targeting foreigners, so you need to do a lot more work to find postings for jobs that could be a good match for you. LinkedIn is by far your best bet for finding jobs you could apply for as a foreigner. When using LinkedIn you can search postings by keyword or you can see all the postings for a particular company by visiting their company page. You can also set up alerts for your job searches to get automatic updates when new jobs are posted. If you have some Korean ability you can try looking through postings on some of the Korean language job boards websites such as Saramin, Incruit, and Job Korea but companies posting on these boards are generally not considering foreigners for their roles so the chances of finding a suitable opportunity will be low. In addition to these more traditional Korean job boards, a platform called Wanted has become very popular, especially in the startup space. This platform has both a website and a mobile app, and it even has an English language user interface, although, as of the time of writing, the postings themselves are still mostly in Korean. You can look for roles that require strong English abilities as a clue that they might be willing to hire a foreigner for the role.

Finally, if you have specific companies in mind that you would like to work for, you can visit their websites and apply to their job postings directly. Some companies might have an English language careers site too, but these will often not have job postings. Instead you might be able to find an email address you can use to send in an application.

Networking with recruiters and potential hiring managers

Outside of English teaching, it's generally quite difficult to find a job as a foreigner by applying to job posts alone, so you need to do more than just toss your resume in the pile through postings. Networking should be a big part of your job search strategy, and this is where LinkedIn really shines. In the past, Koreans did not use LinkedIn much, but this has changed and now you can reach a lot of Korean professionals on the platform. If you have done your research and have a list of the target companies that might be a good fit for you, you can use LinkedIn to reach out to their recruiters and the managers who are leading work in your area of expertise. Bear in mind that busy recruiters and managers cannot respond to every message they receive on LinkedIn so if you don't receive a reply, don't take it personally, and just move on to the next option. But if they do see your message and are interested in your profile they will respond. Additionally, you can try connecting with external search firm recruiters on LinkedIn who work on placing candidates in your field of work. You can find search firm recruiters using keywords like "recruitment consultant", "executive search", or "headhunter" with location limited to Korea in the people section of LinkedIn.

Getting a referral

Employee referrals are an important source of hire at most companies, and your chances of getting an interview are likely to be greater through a referral in comparison with just an application to a posting. Before applying to an open role you've found, look through your network to see if you have any existing connections at the company and reach out to these people to see if they can refer you for the role you are interested in. Many companies pay their employees for successful referrals so besides just doing you a favor, they may also have a monetary incentive to help you out with this.

University career offices and campus recruiting

If you are a student at a university in Korea you can visit the school's career center to learn about suitable opportunities that might be out there for you. Universities career centers have online job / internship posting boards for students, hold regular job fairs, and arrange company campus recruiting visits during which students can drop by booths to learn about opportunities and submit their resumes for later consideration. The career center should be able to give you information on all of these ways to find opportunities. Additionally, the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) holds an annual job specifically for international students in Korea.

Additional tips (not necessarily related to Korean job searching in particular)

LinkedIn has an "Open to Work" option you can set that is visible only to recruiters on the platform who use premium access. Setting this indicates that you are open to new opportunities and increases your chances of being discovered by a recruiter searching for candidates.

Other than having just the usual resume and LinkedIn profile to showcase your knowledge and skills, consider putting together a portfolio, writing posts on platforms like Medium, or starting a personal website (like mine^^) to showcase what you can do online. Especially in this age of knowledge work, I think having publicly visible examples of your professional skills and continuous learning goes a long way towards setting you apart in your field.

And, when you do start getting opportunities to interview for jobs, you can refer to another post on my site in which I give some tips on how to prepare for interviews.

I hope everything I’ve shared in this post will help you find a job and start building your career in Korea.

Additionally, if anyone reading this has their own Korean career story or job search tips to share, please feel free to add that in a comment below.