Job Study Helps Loosen a Tight Job Market
Job Study Helps Loosen a Tight Job Market
  • 임남규, 배정인 기자
  • 승인 2010.10.01 20:25
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Most university students hope to enter the workforce after they graduate university. In order to help jump-start their careers, many university students try to make themselves more marketable through study and development programs such as TOEIC, TOEFL, and interview classes. Employment opportunities are becoming increasingly difficult to come by, so university students are also increasing their efforts. For this reason, study groups are now being subdivided into several categories, and the atmosphere in these study groups is just as intense as those comprised of high school seniors. It is possible to find out about the passion of these study groups through true stories of students who join them. In Korea, the term study group is a newly-coined word that refers to a group of people who meet in order to study a particular subject and then report their findings or recommendations. These kinds of study groups in Korea are divided into two types. One type studies English or for a specific certification, and the other type prepares specifically for getting a job. Job study groups study interview skills, personality test, and aptitude test. One of the reasons why study groups are booming is that many companies have eased their staffing requirements, but they are also becoming more determined to diversify their hiring selections. These companies are changing in hopes of hiring more talented people who are creative and have more potential. Therefore, job study members practice many types of interviews based on what they believe are realistic situations. Yeungnam University students are no exception to this trend. For this reason, the Career Placement Service Team at YU supports 33 job study groups. In order to gain this support, job study groups are required to meet more than once a week. Foreign language majors, state examination, and certificate studies are not eligible. If these groups were included, there would be too many groups to help. Therefore, the Career Placement Service Team restricts support only to those that deal with job study. However, the team received applications at the beginning of the school term, so the number of applicants was fewer than they anticipated. This has led the university to think about additional recruitment. If students select job study groups, the university supports them with money and study rooms. When an operation report is rendered along with a receipt by the 25th of each month, these groups can receive up to 80,000 won. The team also provides 100,000 won a year for buying books. They are also assigned to study rooms through an agreement. However, the team doesn’t give unqualified support. The operation report and receipts must be submitted before the deadline, and job study groups have to keep study rooms clean. If a group member gets a job, they must submit a postscript of the interview. When members are added, the groups must hand in an operation report. However, the Career Placement Service Team doesn’t evaluate the grades of members or employment rates of group members. In order to better understand what actually happens in these study groups we interviewed some active members of “Master of Work” and “Be Majestic.” On the whole, Master of Work and Be Majestic are very similar. They began operations after discussions with each other. There are 8 – 15 members in most job study groups, and they are mostly juniors, seniors, or graduate students. Notably, when they recruit new members, they don’t care about career data. They just look for congenial colleagues. They meet twice a week for three hours a day. They usually have enough time for meetings during vacation, but they often don’t have enough time during the semester. Therefore, it is difficult for them to focus on study group activities during the school year. Mainly, they study about presentation interviews, discussion interviews, and character interviews. They divide themselves into interviewers and interviewees, and the atmosphere of the interviews are similar to real interviews. After the trial interviews, students can receive feedback from other group members. This is one of the most worthwhile activities in job study groups. Most students realize their mistakes and bad habits through this feedback. Trial interviews help to ease tension when they go on real interviews. However, this kind of practice does not help them answer unpredictable questions because they focus primarily on proper forms. Another benefit of being in this kind of group is sharing information; group members exchange ideas and news with each other. They get more information from graduate students who have already been hired, so they can naturally from social networks. Most students are satisfied with their activities. They seem to enjoy preparing for employment. Along the way, we wondered if they ever think about other career paths such as self-employment or working for a small business. One student in “Be Majestic” said “I was hired by a small company, but I quit the company.” At first, he decided to join the company because he trusted the vision of the company. However, he had to live on a small income. After he understood the reality of the situation, he started to prepare to find a job at a major company. Job study students said “we don’t only want to enter major companies, but we want a stable life.” Study Groups for a Job English conversation study group "The Cafe" "The Cafe" is composed of six members and the members are able to have free talk or discussions about their thoughts with other members. Min-Ho Yoon Senior, Major of Pharmacy Q) What are some typical activities you go through during your group time? A) We usually conduct discussions with a focus on current issues and members speak their minds about the main topic. Every week, we have a role-playing game where each member acts out their part in English. In addition, every member takes turns making a presentation about some topic. Q) What support have you received from the university? A) Until now, we have received no support from the university. The university only provides support to study groups that focus on job preparation. Therefore, I'm preparing a request to the university to change that policy. Q) How has this study group helped you? A) I have been able to improve my confidence and skill in English conversation, and I have improved my sincerity and diligence through regular attendance. Moreover, we can prepare for English interviews when we look for a job. Q) What are the negative points of English conversation study? A) It is more about concern than a disadvantage. I thought that English conversation study was a more effective and substantial way to get a job than job study. However, YU just wants to focus on groups that are directly concerned with getting a job, so YU only supports job study. Preparing to become a Flight Attendant The flight attendant study group is composed of ten members from diverse majors. The group members always practice smiling, walking, a variety of poses and interview skills. In addition, they share information like sample questions from previous tests, interview experiences and interview questions as well as proper answers. They generally study and prepare for personality interviews, newspaper scraps about airlines, know-how regarding applications and reacting quickly to rapidly changing situations. Q) What do you think about the study groups offered at YU? A) YU provides support to our kind of study group, but the application process is very difficult, so we didn't apply for support. We need a study room more than we need money. A study room with a pleasant enviroment was placed in the One-Stop Service Center. However, it is already used by job study groups. Q) How has the flight attendant study group helped you? A) I have been able to develop good interview habits through my time here. Everybody gets nervous when they are in front of an examiner, but we learn methods to ease the tension. The preliminary exercises we do are very helpful when it is interview time. Moreover, we can also save money because we can participate here instead of going to flight attendant academy. Most flight attendant academies have too many students for a teacher. Therefore, most study group members are satisfied with our study activities. The success of friends also helps to motivate me. Q) What are the problems in managing this kind of group? A) We are sometimes a bit lax when it comes to rules because all the members are friendly with each other. We usually forgive a member who violates a rule if it does not cause a big problem. However, if somebody is frequently late or absent for study without advance notice, we can dismiss them from the study group. The biggest problem is finding a study place. Flight attendant interviews are conducted while standing but in the case of the Central Library group study room's desks and chairs in the room are disturbed and the YB room is too exposed to the outside because of the glass door. Therefore, many people look in to the room that is annoying to us. Q) What do you think about other people's opinions of aspiring flight attendants? A) At first I rejected this interview because I was concerned about the opinions of others. Nobody knows that I am preparing for the flight attendant test other than my family and close friends. If I tell people that I am preparing to be a flight attendant, most responses are usually negative. So, I don't usually talk about my dream around other people. Another annoyance is that some people think that becoming a flight attendant is very easy. This has led to many people attempting to become flight attendants which has increased the competition for these jobs. Q) Do you ever think about entering a job study group? A) I don't think about entering a job study group now, but I may enter a job study group in the future. My family wants me to make it easier on myself to find a stable job. Flight attendant job skills can be applied to other work. So, I'm considering entering a job study group or an English conversation study group to broaden my ability. Entering a job study group allows members to share a lot of information and supplement each other. Every university student’s dream is different from each other. However, our goal is usually the same. That is getting a job. Everybody wants to be hired by a large enterprise. But that is not always possible. Students who join a job study group believe that having a big dream is not bad at all. However, we should have dreams with more vivid goals rather than just big and good dreams. There are many methods to help students step up and realize their dreams.

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