Campus Life Is All About Finding Jobs

The only thing that is on Chun Kyeong-wan’s mind these days is his final exams, which will end next Wednesday. This is because receiving a high GPA is essential to getting a good job after college graduation in Korea.

The 22-year-old senior at Handong University said, “For Korean college students, studying for school exams to get high GPA is at the top of their agenda, followed by finding good internship programs that could lead to job offers, and going overseas to study foreign languages.” He added, “Whenever students meet, they talk about who got a job where. Political issues such as the upcoming presidential election are the last thing on our minds.”

As it becomes more challenging to find good jobs these days, college life is also changing. While political and social issues are pushed out of spotlight in campus, more and more students crave useful tips and information regarding job searching and job interviews.

According to a survey conducted by the job searching portal “Career” on campus life, new groups of students have been formed in 2007; “All-By-Myself” groups refer to students who study and eat alone to save time for job searching, and “Plastic Surgery” groups refer to those who undergo cosmetic surgery to leave good impressions in job interviews.

Students who already graduated but are unable to find jobs are called the “Changmi” group, short for Korean “graduates who have been unemployed for a long time,” and those who fail to get employment and seek refuge at home are called the “Hermit” group.

Alumni gatherings are no longer just about drinking and mingling. Graduates who are employed give out their business cards to unemployed seniors and give advice. The same goes for school festivals. In the October annual festival of Pukyong University, Busan, the school provided many useful programs for job seekers such as programs on leadership and how to use their sense of humor in job interviews.

Lectures useful to job seekers are also in hot demand at universities, such as lectures on “How to Participate in a Discussion” in Seoul National University, “How to Write Essays for Job Applications” in Sookmyung Women’s University, “How to Write A+ Essays” and “How to Make Powerpoint Presentations” in Hanyang University, and “Presentation Workshops” in Sogang University.

Another essential part of college student life is group study sessions on job seeking and interviews, including one-night group study sessions to prepare for camp interviews, group gatherings to learn how to sing and perform magic to stand out during interviews, and another on attacking each other’s weaknesses or mistakes just in case job seekers are cornered during interviews.

An official from “Career” said, “To save time for job searches, some students download final papers or dissertations off the web or get them from those who graduated. There is a system where schools allow students to get credit even if they miss classes to find jobs. So some students take advantage of this even in their junior years to get a head start in the job market.”

parky@donga.com