Lost in Your Career in Korea? Run This Ikigai Exercise Before You Send One More Resume

Are you currently struggling to find a career path in your life right now? Whether you have a job, or you’re job searching, I’ll help you find the right things that you should be working on to have a fulfilling life in Korea.

The scary part isn't sending out résumés and hearing nothing back. It's not knowing which path to aim for in the first place.

What is Ikigai

Ikigai is a Japanese idea. It comes from iki (life) and kai (worth), and it roughly means "a reason to get up in the morning." Researchers in the Ohsaki Study in Japan even linked having a strong ikigai to lower mortality risk.

Your ikigai sits where four things overlap:

• Passion: what you love and what you're good at
• Mission: what you love and what the world needs
• Vocation: what the world needs and what you can be paid for
• Profession: what you can be paid for and what you're good at

Most people who feel lost are stuck in one circle. The teacher who's good at their job but no longer loves it. The job-seeker chasing roles that pay but drain them. Ikigai forces you to look at all four at once.

Why this matters more when you're a foreigner in Korea

For you, this isn't just soul-searching. It's strategy.

Your visa is dependent on a specific job position. You need to know which roles are worth going after, because those are the ones a Korean company will actually sponsor you for on an E-7.

Aim at the wrong target and you burn months you don't have. Aim at the right one and everything gets easier especially as a foreigner.

5-min exercise

I created this simple, interactive quiz that you can take right now which will give you a clearer pathway into your ikigai.

Some questions worth asking

Beyond the quiz, here are some thoughtful questions to ask yourself:

What You Love

• What did you love doing as a child?
• What hobbies make you lose track of time?
• What brings you joy in your daily routine?

What You Are Good At

• What skills come easily to you?
• What do people ask you for help with?
• What strengths do your friends or coworkers notice in you?

What the World Needs

• What local or global problems make you feel frustrated?
• Who or what inspires you to help others?
• How can you make someone else's day better?

What You Can Be Paid For

• What services or products can you sell?
• What do people already value enough to spend money on?
• Which of your skills fit current jobs or industries?

Keep coming back to it

The quiz is quick, but the real value is sitting with the questions after. Your answers will shift depending on where you are in life, and that's fine. What you love, what you're good at, what pays, and what Korea needs from you right now: all of it moves over time.

So treat this as something you return to, not a one-time test. When the job search gets hectic and every application starts to overwhelm you, this is the thing that reminds you which direction is actually yours.

And when that direction is clear, the rest gets simpler. You stop applying to everything. You start aiming at the roles that fit yourself.

Remember your purpose, and you'll know your sense of life worth living. Start there.