Worldwide trends on jobs

CAN YOU imagine what the language of future is? It is spilled over when people talk about their aims, the future plans. Patent attorney was highlighted in Korean society because of its high salary. Then, what will be the desirable occupations on the other side of the earth from the past to nowadays? Exchange students shared their thoughts about the trend of jobs and the main criteria in building their life plans.
 
ANNALS: Please introduce yourself with your previous life career to achieve the occupation you have dreamed about.
 
Emma: I’m from Helsinki, the capital of Finland, and I studied management and organization. I want to change my major to something that is more interesting and has more to do with numbers since I want to be a consultant for at least ten years and move on to something else.
 
Bjorn: I’m from the Netherlands, the city of Maastrich. Up to now, I pretty much have just been in school and I don’t have any full time occupation or employment yet. I just had a couple of sales jobs, but mainly I studied to finish high school and got into the university, majoring in marketing. I came to Korea as a part of my study, because the students in our department are free to go abroad for one semester. I chose Korea because I wanted to experience completely different cultures in a country of which I do not speak the language. I think it will also give a good chance to get Certificate Public Accountant (CPA).
       
Cedric: I’m from Paris, France, and I’m studying international business, marketing, and communication. I came to Korea because I just wanted to discover a country in Asia which gets spotlighted nowadays. I would like to work for a French company in Korea later on and contribute to the business conditions in Korea. At the moment, I’m learning Korean with different cultures at Yonsei Univ. Next year, I’ll work in the French embassy.
 
Max: I ‘m from Germany and studying economics and international business. My area of interest is pretty much same to what Emma said like consulting company. I’m here for similar reasons as the others, but I had to study one semester abroad. I just wanted to go as far as possible away from home to get some experience about agriculture and new food cultures. In Korea, everything is new and strange to me. 
 
Amy: I’m from Toronto, Canada and studying international business right now. In my school, studying abroad is mandatory. I came to South Korea, because I wanted to work at the international level with people in Asia, Canada, or the United States in the future. After studying international business I hope to go to the law school to study corporate law. During high school, I worked at a library for about four or five years, as Canadian high school students normally get part time jobs. Two years ago, I worked in China as an assistant marketing manager at Pepsi. Finally, I’m here hoping to study Korean language and culture.
 
Casey: I’m junior studying political science at Colorado College and I’m originally from New York City. I have been to UNICEF as an internship at the non-profit sector. I came to Korea because it has upper coming economy and I think Asia is the new place to be.
 
Marin: I’m from Holland, but most of my life, I was in Switzerland. I studied in Hague University and my major is public administration. I would like to work for NGO or UN. As I want to have these kinds of occupations in the future, maybe I will be set up in Africa or Middle East about five years after. The reason why I chose Korea was the UN secretary is from this country, of course. To me, it is a new society far away from European countries like Germany or Holland.
 
Matthew: I’m French-American and I was born in France. I also have been to Saudi Arabia and the United States. I attended the Arizona State University in America. I studied international business and maybe I will work at an NGO or an airline company in order to keep my international mindset. I’m not really sure about my concrete specialization which is the reason why I’m here. I think that Korean culture is so much different from that of the United States. Even if it should not be obliged to every single American to go outside of the United States, it is so important now to do so in this era of globalization.
 
ANNALS: Can you explain the job which has been popular in the past? What are the jobs of latest fashion which become popular?
 
Emma: In Finland, about 50 years back, anything that has something to do with heavy industries, such as paper, metal, shipping industry, or engineering was the most popular occupations. It was because those manly jobs were growing studiously and had a great future in the 1950s.
 
Max: Germany and France had similar situations in those days; mining industry was popular. They are pretty much the same economic blocks.
 
Bjorn: We also have a big mine industry in Netherlands, rather than becoming the major port, which caused huge employments. In Netherlands, there have been developments and renovations nowadays. In the past, if the sea aroused just couple of meters, there were no protections. That’s why in the 1950s to 1960s, we had a lot of delta works, new engineering constructions to prevent the water from floating our countries. When it came up to the past, logistics dealing with trains or trucks became more and more popular.
 
Amy: In Canada, there are various natural resources such as wood or fish. In the past, there were a lot of agriculture things or natural products which were exported. Therefore, most labor was related to these social economies like shipping industry, similar to Finland.
 
Emma: Currently, Finland has a lot of aging population, and many people are getting retired. It seems that we have highly educated people who graduated from universities. For example, we don’t have enough construction builders and fixers. For overall commune of employment situations, everybody thinks of being plumbers because they can be really rich, but that’s not a trend. People graduating from Helsinki University, in the field of social science especially go on working at a supermarket. It means that it is not simply enough jobs for highly educated people. In the 1990s, being a consultant was very trendy, but now, in the 2000s, finance, investment, and business are popular in my field.
 
Bjorn: People are getting higher education in Holland, too. So, they also want to get higher jobs. They do not take the jobs that need low skilled works. People are coming over from the east of Europe or southern Europe, for example. They prepare to take on the jobs and it pays a lot in their countries. In contrast, education system in Holland is relatively cheap. Also, we can get the central government funding.
 
Emma: Highly educated people might get lower jobs such as a plumber because there are not enough supplies for them. However, getting into universities is the most common trend to get better jobs. The situation is changing, because aging population is getting bigger. Also, the education including university is free in Finland. Many people go to university even though it doesn’t suit their interest or they are not so good at understanding and that’s why we have to pay a lot of tax.
 
Cedric: I think it’s the same in Europe. In France, there is a lack of workers engaged in service industries like plumbers which require lower diploma. It’s because nobody wants to get those kinds of jobs.
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 Money could be the main criteria to build your life career. But, there are some possibilities that people cannot see the wood for the trees. In that, high salary cannot secure your happiness in the future. Therefore, the world citizens who live in this society should start on their voyage to adjust their future plans with international viewpoints. 
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