Prior to 2016, I had never been out of the state of Florida in America. However, over the past six years I have found myself constantly being drawn to take a 36-hour flight to South Korea to study abroad several times. I have been a scholarship language student twice, once at Chonnam National University and Yonsei University. I have even been an exchange student at Korea University in Jochiwon and now I am an international student at the University of Utah’s Asia campus in Korea completing my master’s degree. Some may say that I have officially reached my final boss, but I like to think that there’s still many things for me to learn about Korea whether it be the language, culture, or even the way health studies are taught. However, as a student in Korea, one of the most dreadful things to think about is what to do after graduation.

In Korea, securing a job after graduation is difficult especially when the job market is highly competitive even for local students. According to the article, “To get a job, some graduates consider donning hardhats,” the writers’ spotlights how there were 800,000 job individuals seeking work, yet many companies preferred employees who could “start work right away.” Therefore, leaving students who have freshly graduated with little job prospects and little opportunity to build on their experience. In the article, “Seventy percent of university seniors have already given up on job hunting,” Ko Suk-Hyun and Lee Hee-Kwon share that 65.8 percent of university students have given up on looking for jobs. As a result, foreigner student job prospects tend to be equally dismal with the addition of visa sponsorships, language barriers, etc. For that reason, it is essential for foreign students to gain experience through straight out of college in order to successfully integrate into the workforce in Korea.

However, many are missing out on one of the biggest resources that can help combat the difficulty in finding jobs and internships to gain experience. That resource being the Career Center which is equipped with tools to help students excel in the workforce. Studying in Korea is great and has many appeals that have kept me coming back for years. The career center has been one of the biggest features on campus that has been consistent in helping me reach my goals of living in Korea long term.

I remember one of the biggest cultures shocks I experienced was writing a resume in Korea. I nearly had a panic attack when I learned that I would need to put a picture of myself resume. Of course, I was saved by the bell with Photoshop’s amazing editing. However, finding this out made me realize that there were many things I needed to learn and little online guidance to reference. Therefore, I turned to my university’s career center to learn about the resume writing and job process, but little did I know how many doors this would open.