A successful office worker is a heavy drinker

My husband and I had officially separated due to my passion of study. I wanted to study abroad and when I had a chance to study in the US, I took it without hesitation leaving my husband alone. He understood how much I wanted it, accepted the situation and agreed to help me financially. Since I lived in the US, he visited me regularly and complained about the state’s strict alcohol law.

                            

My husband- I’ll call him H- has been working for over 30 years at the same company and feels very proud of the fact. Although work ethic seems to be changing among young people in Korea, middle-aged generation think it’s best to work in a same company until they retire. They don’t like people who keep changing jobs saying they don’t have loyalty to a company.

Anyway, H entered the company he wanted and worked very hard. In Korea, “working hard” means the person should put all his/her time and effort to a company. It doesn’t matter whether you’re in/out of office, weekend, or holidays. The office hour starts at 9 am but closing time is when your boss gets off work. When the boss wants you to attend a sudden company dinner, you cannot refuse it even though you have a previous appointment. You cannot refuse drinking at the company dinner either. It doesn’t matter you’re intolerant to alcohol. Korean people seem to be very generous to drunken people. You can find a place to drink anytime, anywhere and most bars are open until dawn.

                             

Drinking party starts with a toast by a boss. The interesting thing is that one should say something fun and rhyme when toasting so people spend time creating funny phrases to impress co-workers. By the way, there is a very old Korean rule when you do toast. Korean society takes the seniority important so when you're younger or lower at social -hierarchy, you should hold your glass lower than your boss. 

                             

The popular drink is “so-mack” which is a mixed drink of “soju” and beer. Party generally lasts until midnight or even later and they go second to third round. We have a special tip to mix these two alcohol. You put a chopstick or a spoon to your glass and hit it to make a twist. 

                             

Since everybody gets so drunk after third round, they call “chauffeur service”. Korean style “chauffeur service” is that you call someone to drive your car and take you home. The service is common because drunk driving is strongly prohibited by law so you’ll get punished when you violate it. When you’re hungover the next morning, you have special soups such as bean sprout soup or dried pollack soup to ease the stomach. 

                            

H worked very hard. He went to work at 8am and came back home at midnight. When he had a company dinner, he came home drunk at 3am the next day and this happened 3 days a week. He kept this working style for 30 years until now. These days, he got drunk 5 days a week but I can’t complain because he is “working hard”.

                                        

Korean Resume : how is it different from American one?

When I decided to write a resume, I visited student support center for help. The lady in the office was very kind enough to spend her whole day build up my resume. She kept asking me many questions about my past and current job and required me to explain the detail of the jobs as much as I could remember. She also asked questions who those work can connect or benefit to my applying job.

While I was talking to her, I got flurried due to the different process of writing a resume. Of course I wrote many resume when I was in Korea however, I never consulted it to anyone for better resume since I had a table form for the resume. I thought it would be fun to compare resume form between Korea and America.

While I was trying to write my English version resume, I felt I had time to look back my life for the first time. I was required to write everything I did so I had to take time to think what I did. It was a hard work and a valuable time at the same time and I was surprised to find that writing a resume can represent my whole life. Also, you can choose your own style to represent you the best. It shows your originality and creativity.  

However, Korean resume is different. The below is the image of a universal template of Korean resume. Most Koreans use this form when they apply for a job.

Korean resume 

In Korea, it is not a good idea to try a new style. Employers prefer the original form. In order to compensate insufficient information of a resume, employers also require "self introduction". In this form applicants try to show their personality, values, personal history, family background, work ethics, and work aspiration and so on. It is similar to the combination of cover letter and job statement. 

What I was most surprised was items which should be included in the form. I believe that you never write your birth date, gender, or age.  It is against the law when you give these personal information in your resume in America. In Korea, not only the personal information such as birth date, gender, and age, but also id pictures and even family members' information should be included in the resume.

since the id pictures definitely influence on employers' decision greatly, applicants spend much time and effort to give a good impression to the employers. They work out and do diet, dress up with luxurious dark suit, and full make up before they take id pictures. They even photoshop the pictures. 

So, now you understand why most Korean young people are all thin and beautiful and why they are obsessed with their appearances.