The Briefing
Career communication, personal branding, AI ethics, marketing strategy, and 24 years of Seoul. Written for professionals who treat communication as a craft, not a task.
Six sections, six different jobs
Everything published here lives in one of six sections. Pick the one that matches what you are working on right now.
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What to Actually Write in a LinkedIn Summary as a Korean Professional
Almost every LinkedIn summary I review during coaching sessions starts the same way: a restated job title, followed by a list of responsibilities that already appear lower on the profile. That is not a summary. It is a repeat. And it wastes the single most valuable piece of real estate on the entire profile. The…
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Common English Interview Mistakes Korean Candidates Make
After coaching candidates through English-language interviews for years, the same handful of mistakes show up again and again, and they are rarely about English ability itself. They are about habits that work fine in Korean interview contexts and quietly work against candidates in English ones. Answering With Modesty When Directness Is Expected Deflecting credit toward…
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What’s Actually Trending in Seoul Right Now: A 2026 Field Guide
I have lived through enough Seoul summers now to notice when the city actually changes shape, not just when a new cafe opens. 2026 is one of those years. Between the Han River, the neighborhoods, the number of tourists on the street, and what people are actually lining up for, the city feels different than…
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What ATS Software Is Actually Looking For in an English Resume
I have written before about how ATS filters explain resume rejections in general terms. This is the more specific version, for the growing number of Korea-based candidates writing an English resume for the first time and discovering that the formatting rules they learned for Korean-market resumes do not transfer. The ATS Does Not Read the…
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Preparing for an English-Language Interview When It Is Not Your First Language
Of everything students ask me before an interview, the question I hear most is not about content. It is some version of: what if I know the answer but cannot find the words fast enough in English? That fear is real, and most ์์ด ๋ฉด์ ์ค๋น (English interview prep) advice ignores it completely, jumping straight…
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STAR in Practice: A Real Interview Answer, Sentence by Sentence
I have written before about why the STAR method is lying to you… how the format alone cannot save a forgettable answer. That argument still holds. But I hear from readers constantly that they understand the critique and still cannot produce a strong answer under pressure. So this is the companion piece: not why STAR…
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Getting Hired at a Foreign Company While Based in Korea
Every year, a wave of my students and coaching clients decide they want to work at ์ธ๊ตญ๊ณ ๊ธฐ์ … a foreign or multinational company operating in Korea… instead of a domestic conglomerate or startup. The appeal is obvious: different hierarchy norms, often more English usage, sometimes better work-life balance. What is less obvious is that getting…
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What South Korea’s Defamation Laws Actually Mean for Social Media, Reviews, and Being Found
A question that comes up constantly with clients and students working in or with Korea, on either side of a screen: what can I actually say online here, and how anonymous am I really. The honest answer surprises most people, expats and Koreans alike. Korean defamation law is stricter than what most Western professionals assume,…
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How to Prepare for a Job Change in Korea, Step by Step
Almost every professional I coach through a job change in Korea asks some version of the same question at the start: am I doing this in the right order? The anxiety is not usually about whether to leave. It is about the sequence… what to do first, what to keep quiet, and when the risk…
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The English ์๊ธฐ์๊ฐ์ Is Not a Cover Letter. Here Is What It Actually Is.
Every semester, a student sits in my office with a Western cover letter template open on one screen and a job posting from a Korean company on the other, trying to force one into the shape of the other. It does not work. And the reason it does not work is that they are not…
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The Questions You Should Be Asking at Every Networking Event in Seoul
Seoul has a specific networking event circuit that most foreign professionals discover within their first few months in the city. The international chambers of commerce, the startup community events in Gangnam and Mapo, the alumni association gatherings. The food is usually good. The name tags are usually unreadable. And the conversations follow a remarkably consistent…
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What I Think About Every Time a Semester Ends
The semester ends the same way every time. Grades posted. Emails trail off. Students scatter. And I sit with the same quiet mix of hope and worry I’ve carried since the first time I walked into a classroom. I can’t speak for other educators… we all have our own philosophies, our own methods, our own…
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How Korean Workplace Hierarchy Actually Works (And Why Most Foreigners Read It Wrong)
Korean workplace hierarchy is real, consequential, and almost always misread by foreigners in the first months. Here is how it works.
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Seoul Spring Trends 2026: What Is Actually Happening in Food, Fashion, and Culture
Every year has its thing. Here is what is actually moving in Seoul this spring โ food, fashion, nightlife, and neighbourhoods.
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The Subscription Economy: If You Are Not Paying for the Product, You Are the Product
Consumers think they spend $86/month on subscriptions. They actually spend $219. And paying for the product doesn’t mean you stopped being it.
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Integrated Marketing Communications: Why Every Campaign Needs One Argument First
IMC is the discipline of making sure every piece of communication in a campaign makes the same underlying argument. Most campaigns get the execution right and skip the argument entirely.
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Korean Music 2026: What Korea Is Actually Listening To Beyond K-Pop
K-Pop gets the global headlines. What is actually happening inside Korean music culture in 2026 is more interesting.
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Professional Blog Writing: How to Develop a Voice That Sounds Like You
The voice problem in professional blogging is not a writing problem. It is a thinking problem. Most professional blog posts sound the same because they were produced by the same process. Here is how to make yours sound like you.
The Briefing goes out twice a month. Practical thinking on communication, branding, and career strategy. No filler.
What’s in The Briefing
Career communication insights for professionals navigating English-language job markets in Asia