*** Employment Guidebook for Interns, College Students, and Job Seekers
*** A global career guide for non-majors
*** Everything you need to know about resumes, interview answers, and cover letters that will get you hired!
*** A strategy book for finding employment at foreign companies, from a senior manager with 20 years of experience!

“Employment at a foreign company is not a wall of fear,
It is the door of opportunity.
The moment you open that door,
Your career will move at a completely different pace.”

Strategy is more important than specs!
From resume to interview, strategically in just 4 weeks
A book that presents a global career roadmap!

This book is not just a collection of information.
This is a strategy book that helps someone confidently take their first steps into the new world of foreign companies, and it is a solid compass that provides unwavering guidance for their future career.
Your job search, which company to target, how to approach that company, and what stories from your own experiences to share—now that you've just begun your job search—will begin to take on a concrete, practical direction.
Getting a job at a foreign company is neither a position you have to wait for nor a position that someone pulls you towards.
It is a path that you must create for yourself and choose for yourself.
Many seniors say this.
The job I initially chose ended up setting the direction of my career, and that path wasn't as easy to change as I thought.
That's why the first start is even more important.
More important than choosing a good company is deciding for yourself what kind of work you will do and what kind of person you will grow into.
A life that leads my career, not a life driven by the company.
From now on, I hope you will set your own direction and take the initiative.
I believe that you too can walk that path confidently.

Naturally, foreign companies caught my eye.
I heard that foreign companies evaluate candidates based on their career experience and practical skills, and I began to see the possibility that I could somehow utilize my experience.
Another reason was the advantages offered by foreign companies.
The point was that if you have achievements, you will be given opportunities regardless of your seniority, and if you build up job expertise, it will be much easier to change jobs.
Collaborating with overseas headquarters on a broader perspective and using English on a daily basis were both intimidating and attractive.
But at the same time, there was a cold reality.
Foreign companies have a short onboarding period and must produce results right away.
There is a lack of a long-term training system like that of large domestic companies, and work speed can sometimes be slow due to approval procedures at the headquarters.
In particular, American companies value rapid feedback and competition, while European companies value rationality and autonomy, but tend to be slow in decision-making.
--- p.21

These words were a great comfort and assurance to me.
Foreign companies value actual job performance and problem-solving skills more than titles.
And I learned that even if it was a contract job, if I completed the assigned work, it would lead to the next opportunity.
One year of contract work completely changed the direction of my career.
The pressure of having to show results in a shorter period of time than a full-time employee actually helped me grow.
I prepared the project more thoroughly.
I prepared thoroughly for the meeting and didn't miss a single small task.
This experience became a powerful weapon in my later job search process.
Recruiters at foreign companies were more interested in what I had accomplished within the position than in the formality of a "contract position."
If you're reading this and feeling a bit lost in confidence because you're a contract worker or an intern, I have something to tell you.
Whether you are a contract worker or an intern, the achievements you make there will become a significant part of your career.
What matters is not the title, but the 'density of experience'.
Foreign companies recognize that the experience actually creates value.
Although my first attempt at a job at a foreign company wasn't a full-time position, that choice ultimately led me to a bigger stage.
And then I was sure.
--- p.23

Ultimately, content comes before English.
In interviews at foreign companies, English is merely a tool for conveying a message; the key is 'what you say.'
Even if your grammar isn't perfect, it's important to demonstrate real-world work experience and problem-solving skills.
Of these, job analysis accounts for half.
Even within the same 'marketing' field, the required capabilities vary depending on the company, product, and market environment.
Before applying, you must analyze the company's position and industry trends.
Let's prepare our own case.
Stories you haven't experienced won't last long in an interview.
If you prepare your answers in the structure of 'situation-action-result' based on actual experience, you will not be shaken by any question.
I will explain this in more detail later.
If you don't let failure be just failure, it will eventually help you grow.
After my first failure, I completely changed my approach to preparation.
I continued to study English, but I spent more time practicing connecting my experiences to my job.
I looked at my resume and broke down the tasks I had been responsible for, identifying examples of problem-solving, experiences collaborating with teams, and performance indicators.
And I summarized all the cases in both English and Korean.
As we repeated this process, English was no longer the main character.
--- p.26

The will to ‘do it little by little when I have time in Korea’ was not enough.
I decided to change my living environment altogether.
So I set out on a one-year language study trip.
This time the goal was different.
It wasn't because I vaguely wanted to do well, but I focused solely on 'training myself to say the right words.'
I opened my mouth without hesitation dozens of times a day, and I didn't stop even when I made mistakes.
Then, at some point, my mouth started to open little by little.
And I definitely realized.
In English, it is more important to be able to say what you need to say at the right time than to be good at it.
The key to success is not fluency but the ability to convey the message.
In foreign companies, people with perfect pronunciation and fast speech are not necessarily recognized.
There are many cases where people speak fluently in meetings but miss the main point.
My English wasn't perfect.
The sentences were short and the grammar was sometimes awkward.
But I focused on 'what to say'.
And I put all my energy into getting that message across clearly.
--- p.32~33

Changing careers is harder and more expensive than you think.
I actually saw an employee who had been in sales for three years and was trying to change his job to marketing.
He earned marketing certifications and even created a portfolio, but recruiters said,
“It was good preparation, but I had no practical experience.” Ultimately, he had to take a 20% salary cut and start over in an entry-level position.
Because the first three years of experience were recognized only as sales.
Your first career creates a 'salary curve'.
If your job and performance are a good fit at your first job, your salary will steadily increase and your negotiating power will be stronger with each job change.
Conversely, if you have a difficult time achieving results in your first job, you may be evaluated as having an "unproductive career" in your next job change, and your salary may not increase and you may remain stagnant.
In foreign companies, ‘expertise + immediate deployment’ is key.
If you look at job postings for foreign companies, you will often see phrases like this.
--- p.40

Now, this book's four-week completion strategy will guide you specifically on how to set that "first coordinate" and what weapons to pack along the way.
The first week, I focus on looking into what kind of people foreign companies want and finding my strengths within that.
It's time to organize my experiences and prepare an answer to the question, "How can I be of help to this company?"
In the second week, prepare the documents.
This is the stage where you write your resume and cover letter.
A resume is a document that shows what I've done and achieved so far, and a cover letter explains how those achievements connect to the company and position I'm applying for.
It's much shorter than a Korean-style self-introduction, but it clearly conveys the core message: "Why am I the perfect fit for this company and this job?"
In the third week, prepare for the English interview.
Look over the expected questions in advance and practice speaking in order about your experience, what you did in what situation, and what the result was.
This will make it much easier for the interviewer to understand what I'm saying.
The fourth week focuses on practical support strategies.
We'll go through the essential steps required for a job, from choosing a company to apply to analyzing job postings to submitting your application.
By following this roadmap, you'll be able to prepare for employment at a foreign company, which may have felt overwhelming, and establish a stable direction for your first career.
--- p.41~42

This is a question I often hear from job seekers applying to foreign companies for the first time.
Of course, both are articles introducing 'me', but their purposes are completely different.
One is to prove yourself, and the other is to convince the company.
How can two documents that portray me in the same way serve different functions? A resume is a document that shows at a glance what I've done and the results.
Recruiters look at dozens, even hundreds, of resumes.
The average viewing time per page is between 10 and 30 seconds.
So, rather than writing a long explanation, it should be written briefly but so that the main points can be seen at a glance.
For example, it is forbidden to write like this.
Instead of saying “I am involved in a marketing project,” it would be much better to say this:
“Planning and operating a new product campaign, 35% increase in SNS followers in 3 weeks” The reason this is important is because the moment you read the numbers and specific results, you immediately get a signal that says, “Ah, this person is good at what they do.”
This method is called 'Action + Result'.
Action is what I did (planning, development, improvement, etc.).
Result is the result of that action (change in rate, amount, period, etc.).
A resume is a 'certificate' that shows my activities by saying, "I worked like this and made this change."
So, how can a cover letter convince me? If a resume is a picture of who I am, a cover letter can be thought of as a letter explaining why I should be hired.
For example, let's say your resume says this:
“SNS content planning and operation, 35% increase in followers” ​​This is how it is linked in the cover letter.

--- p.62~63

A resume isn't a fancy, all-in-one gift set.
Rather, it is closer to a diary with a solid message suited to one job.
It should give the reader the confidence that 'this applicant has prepared this way for this job.'
Once that confidence is established, the recruiter prepares for the next step.
And most importantly, a resume is a document that shows 'who I am now'.
Rather than trying to force myself to do what I can't, I'm trying to demonstrate my current capabilities as honestly and strategically as possible.
So, ultimately, writing a resume is an act of self-reflection.
--- p.72

First, let's collect the core keywords of the job you are applying for.
You will probably see repeated words.
Let's show about 5 of them.
Let's not end with the sign, but connect it to my experience.
Just write one line of experience that you can connect next to each keyword.
Here we see the intention of hiring.
Let's figure out the 'attitude and competency' the company wants in a simple sentence.
And, you can reflect this in your resume.
The idea is to naturally incorporate keywords into the resume's performance sentences.
Finally, if you want to emphasize this point again, try linking it to your cover letter. Try creating sentences that connect the key words in your JD to your strengths.
That's exactly what it is.
--- p.82

Interviewers look at countless resumes.
Among them, the most memorable are the short but powerful sentences.
Even if you just write 5-6 good one-line sentences, your resume will change completely.
And these sentences can be reused in everything from cover letters to interview answers and even self-introductions.
This is the 'asset that you create once and use for a lifetime'.
Write down five experiences you've had so far.
Let's organize each experience into Action + Result, and if possible, include numbers, duration, and scale.
You can make it into a 'company language' by adding job keywords.
Earlier, we practiced creating key sentences for a resume.
It is a structure of Action + Result, short, strong, and with specific numbers.
But if we take this one step further, the same content can look much more 'professional'.
The secret is the use of AI.
Especially if you use ChatGPT well, you can quickly refine sentences and even extract core keywords that fit the job posting.
Many people think of ChatGPT as simply a tool that "writes for you," but to be precise, it's a secretary that upgrades my sentences.
I know my own experience best. AI serves as an assistant, translating that experience into clearer, more professional language.
For example, let's say I have a sentence like this:
--- p.99~100

An interview where the applicant leads is different from simply saying, "You're good at talking."
Rather, the essence lies in creating a conversation through words.
This conversation is a way to demonstrate, not just in words, but through a "structured experience" about who you are, how you solve problems, what kind of culture you're drawn to, and what kind of team you'd fit in well with.
To unpack a structured experience, it's a good idea to use the STAR technique.
It's not just a list of "I did this."
It is a living, contextual experience organized into situations, tasks, actions, and results.
For example, the statement “I did a team project” is essentially meaningless.
But if we structure it, it changes like this:
--- p.117

When preparing for an English interview, many people try to have answers to roughly '100 questions'.
Download the 'Top 100 Frequently Asked English Interview Questions' from the Internet and start preparing by memorizing each sentence out loud.
I think I've prepared thoroughly, but I'm still anxious.
When the interview actually approaches, your mind will go blank.
'Which of these memorized sentences actually come out?' 'Do I have to memorize all of these to get them?' That's when I realize.
That the English interview is not a test.
In other words, this is not a place to check your memorization ability to see how well you can memorize sentences, but rather a place to find out 'what kind of person this person is'.
And we learn one more important fact.
The number of frequently asked questions is less than 100.
In reality, the questions asked in an interview are very limited.
--- p.119

When job seekers think of foreign companies, most of them first think of large corporations like Coca-Cola, Google, and Apple.
However, surprisingly, the places with high passing rates are not these large corporations, but rather small, specialized foreign companies.
At first, I also only applied to famous foreign companies.
However, the competition rate was hundreds to one, so I was eliminated in the document screening.
Then, on a friend's recommendation, I applied to a foreign construction equipment company with about 100 employees. The interview went smoothly and I was eventually accepted.
Although the company was small in size, its scope of work was broad, creating an environment for rapid growth.
This experience gave me the confidence that even small foreign companies are attractive options.
The biggest advantage of working for a small foreign company is that the competition for applicants is low.
Since there are not as many applicants as large corporations, the probability of passing the document screening is relatively high.
So how do you find small companies? Try searching on recruiting platforms like LinkedIn or People & Jobs using the "50-200 employees" filter.
This applies to more foreign companies than you might think.
It's best to avoid narrowing down your industry too much and keep it open to a variety of fields, such as software, medical devices, and consumer goods.
Also, the smaller the company, the more important it is to show immediate availability on your resume.
Rather than having long-term training programs like large corporations, they look for people who can produce results right away in the field.
So, even if you don't have much experience, it's effective to express what you did in numbers and write sentences that show the results.
For example, instead of simply writing “I have internship experience,” try writing this:
--- p.188~189

What's the biggest worry job seekers have? I had the same issue, but it's the feeling of regret that I lack experience.
But I really want to say this.
A career is not a ‘period of time’ but a ‘record’.
In other words, even if you worked for a year, it's difficult to write off a "year without anything" as experience. Even if you made a difference in just one month, it can be considered a career branding tool. Here, we'll introduce how to turn your experience into branding.
If you leave work as something that has to be done every day, like a daily routine, it has no meaning.
You need to change that to 'in what situation, with what goal, what was done, and what result was achieved' and record it.
This is the career branding note.
--- p.215

When I first took on the challenge of working for a foreign company, I too was very afraid.
I felt like my English skills were lacking, and I hesitated countless times, wondering if I could survive in this environment.
There were times when I had to spend hours thinking about a single email, and I was afraid to say a single word in a meeting.
But looking back now, all those times became assets that solidified my career.
There is only one thing I learned then.
It's not about taking on challenges when you're ready, but about becoming prepared as you take on challenges.
And what matters is not the speed at which you reach the right answer, but the courage to admit your mistakes and look back.
These days, many juniors say, “I feel like I’m still lacking” or “I’ll apply when I’m a little more prepared.”
I really understand that feeling.
But the desire to perfect oneself and then take on new challenges is endless.
Because perfect timing never comes.

--- p.226