Monday, January 24, 2011

Ken JEONG- Job market research

1. Before working on the first problem, I want briefly introduce myself. At first, I want to work in financial market such as insurance, banking, and stock market fields. I am majoring in mathematics, statistics, and actuarial science and also minor in economics and management. So I think I am well preparing to work in those fields. I am also thinking about going to graduate school instead of getting a job. I am interested in making financial instruments and derivatives, so I want to study more about the financial engineering. I think this assignment gives me very good opportunity for me to know what kind of job I can apply and carry on in the future. During the job research, I found that both in United States and Korea have similar standard minimum requirements for getting a job. But there are also several different requirements such as language skills, work experience something like that. I think these differences are based on social and cultural diversity. Then let’s know more about the similarity and difference between job market in United States and Korea. In Korea, financial engineering is still unfamiliar. Of course, Korea has well advanced financial market, but not as much as that of in United States. It is still growing in these days. That is the main reason why I study and want to learn more advanced knowledge in United States. The common minimum requirement of getting a job in my field is bachelor’s degree. Company in Korea and United States also prefer job applicants who are major in mathematics, economics, statistics, and computer science. Furthermore company wants job applicants who have the work experience. But I think company in United States put more emphasis on working experience. Unlike students in United States, undergraduate student in Korea is hard to get an internship. In this reason, most of the job applicants who just finish their undergraduate in Korea have no work experience. But of course companies in Korea require working experience when they employ higher level applicants. Communication skill is also important in both countries. Company in Korea stresses more on language skill. Since most of the companies in Korea work with partners in other countries, it is very much important to workers in those companies have communication skill with English. Computer skill is also significant in financial market. Company requires not only basic skills of Microsoft word, and excel skills but also more advanced computer programming skills. The reason to require advanced skill is workers in this field need to combine tons of statistical variables to make a financial instrument. So a lot of tasks in these fields need special computerized statistical programming such as SAS, MATLAB, SPSS, and so on. There is also interesting difference in minimum requirement between two countries. The company in Korea prefers job applicants who finish their military duty. Since every man in Korea has two years of military duty before thirty years old, companies want their worker finish their military duty before get hired.

2. There are several compensation packages I can get from the job in financial market such as salary, insurance, opportunities for advancement, and so on. Generally salary in financial market is higher than any other fields in both countries. Between Korea, and United States, salary in United States is higher than Korea. However living expense is slightly higher in United States, so salary difference is no big deal. But in insurance, there is significant difference. Unlike insurance policy in United States, there is national health insurance in Korea. In this reason, most of the people in Korea have national health insurance and support medical expenses from the government. In this reason medical expenses are very much cheaper in Korea compare to those in United States. For example, I only spend less than 5 dollar to receive minor medical treatment from the doctor. So insurance is not significant factor for workers in Korea. On the other hand in United States, it is very crucial benefit for workers to get an insurance coverage from the company they work on. Another similar compensation is opportunities for advancement. In my field, it is very important to have a certification such as CPA, CFA, certification of Actuary, and so forth. These kinds of certification can prove their ability to work and important factor to decide their salary. Most companies in both countries promote and support their worker to pass the examination. But there is one thing the most significant difference between two countries is working hours. Unlike in United States, most workers in Korea spend more than twelve hours in their workplace. My father works in LG electronics in Korea and has spent about fifteen hours a day in his office for twenty five years. He usually goes to work at seven and come home at eleven. My father is not an extreme case. This is the general examples of workers in Korea. When I did the internship in securities firm in Korea last year, I went to work even Sunday because it is mandatory for every worker to work on Sunday. There is no choice for us. As we can see from me and my father’s cases, it is harder to work in Korea. In this reason, I think it is very important to enjoy their job. I should get enjoyment and some kind of achievement from my job. Unless, working more than twelve hours is like a hell.

3.
Mirae-ASSET
Mirae-ASSET is the largest securities company not only in Korea but also in Asia. According to the business philosophy and vision of this company, MIRAE-ASSET introduces itself as an emerging market expert. Indeed, MIRAE-ASSET tries to expand their influence throughout the Asia in these days. Mirae means future in Korean. Below is the website of MIRAE-ASSET.

http://securities.miraeasset.com.vn/en/Career/JobPosting.jsp

Samsung Life Insurance
Samsung is one of the largest companies not only in Korea but also in the world. Samsung Life Insurance is an affiliate of the Samsung Group. This company aims at world’s 15 largest insurers by 2015. Because of the extremely low birth rate in Korea, life insurance industry is in recession in domestic market. To maintain their growth, Samsung Life Insurance is building extensive sales networks in other Asian countries. Below is the website related with Samsung Life insurance.

http://www.clubs.psu.edu/up/ksa/plaza/job_082800_SLI.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_Group
http://www.samsunglife.com/company_en/recruit/philosophy.html

Both companies in Korea want to expand their influence to Asian countries. These Asian countries still have no systematic financial economic policy. So these countries can be the new market to Korean companies to grow.

Entry level assitant of actuarial analyst

http://jobview.monster.com/Entry-Level-Assistant-Actuarial-Analyst-Job-Nashville-TN-US-96013187.aspx

world bank- research analyst

http://extjobs.worldbank.org/external/default/main?pagePK=64273552&piPK=64273556&theSitePK=1058433&JobNo=110155&order=descending&sortBy=job-req-num&location=ALL&menuPK=64262364

unfortunately it is true for international student to get a job in United States. but If I can, I want to apply and get a job in here. I want to work with different people who have a different cultural background. It must be fun and give me very good opportunity to widen my view of the world.

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