Odd, exciting part-time jobs

A part-timer acts as a street beggar at the Korean Folk Village in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, Nov. 30, while Aris Kim, a street artist, plays saxophone. / Courtesy of Korean Folk Village

Youth can enjoy unique experience, handsome pay

By Nam Hyun-woo, Baek Byung-yeul and Park Ji-won

There is one golden principle in Korean society: "No work, no pay." Since we live in such a society, we have to work and get paid to make a living.

But at the same time, people tend to seek jobs that require the least amount of effort for the greatest rewards, even though finding work is a challenge for most, especially young people, in this sluggish economy.

According to a recent survey by Albamon, Korea's largest online part-time job recruitment site, more than 78.9 percent of young college graduates make their living from part-time jobs where the pay is low and the work is hard.

But, there are some exciting part-time jobs out there that pay well.

Job of a beggar

A month ago, an amusement park's job recruiting notice drew attention on the Internet.

The Korean Folk Village announced it was looking for an actor to play a "beggar."
The job was literally to act as a beggar in the folk village and do whatever you want as long as it was consistent with the behavior of a beggar in the Joseon Kingdom (1392-1910).

Since the beggars don't come under anyone's supervision, they could lie down and sleep during their working hours. Of course, they are paid by the hour. In addition, they can earn more through begging from tourists.

Though the job could make them lose face, numerous people sent in their resumes and cover letters expressing how desperately they wanted to become the beggar, said an official at the Korean Folk Village.

Pretend friend

Going to a wedding hall as a guest every weekend is a nice job for Kim Woong-sun, a 26-year-old university student living in Busan.

Though he doesn't know or care who is getting married, he goes to the ceremonies and fills one of the vacant seats.

He receives an average of 20,000 won ($19) for each event usually take about 40 minutes, plus free buffet.

"I was introduced to this part-time job mostly from my friends. There are also many online job posts seeking ‘fake friends' for weddings," he said.

Kim analyzed this weird phenomenon as something you might only see in Korea that grows out of people's "desire to attract more guests to show off their social status or influence."

"Korean people believe the number of guests they have at their wedding is a yardstick of their social status. So, I guess that's why there are so many seeking fake friends to show off their large social network," Kim said.

A wedding ceremony proceeds for North Korean defectors at a wedding hall in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul, in this file photo. Some couples pay people to act as their wedding guests. / Yonhap

One-day jobs for holidays

For those who want to have a special experience and also be paid during the Christmas season, Albamon has recently opened a recruiting page with three themes: indoor jobs, jobs for special events during the year-end and New Year's holidays, and active outdoor jobs in ski resorts.

"I could have fun without taking serious responsibility in the daily jobs," Park Ji-eun, a 24-year-old university student, said.

"The work is tough though. I could get paid more than 50,000 won per day with some good friends I made at work," Park added.

Highly paid but risky

Jang Hwang-kyu, a 23-year-old collegian, underwent several human body experiments, called "bioequivalence tests," to earn money to pay his college tuition some two years ago.

Unlike clinical trials for a new medicine, the test is to determine the bioequivalence of a to-be-marketed generic drug, to see if it has the same effects as the original.

For this, pharmaceutical companies recruit young volunteers in good health to test the bioequivalence.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety designates testing agencies, which hire volunteers - usually university students through the Internet - by offering relatively high pay.

"Usually, you can easily find such recruiting advertisements online," Jang said. "In return for participating in a somewhat creepy test, you get paid a lot."

He said participants usually get paid about 500,000 to 600,000 won for a three-day test.

He explained the "creepy" part-time job is quite simple. On the first day, participants are dosed with one generic product pill. Except for drinking alcohol or smoking, they are allowed to do whatever they want. They are provided comic books, Internet access and television.

"The only thing they have to do is let test officials draw blood every two or three hours," Jang added.

The test is focused on finding out whether the generic product has bioequivalence to the original one so that it can make a commercial debut, according to the ministry.
The ministry says there is no safety concern about such a tests. However, Jang believes that there can be some side effects, although they are not serious.

After Jang took part in a test in 2011 to earn his college tuition, he felt some symptoms of dizziness and vomiting on the last day of the test.

"It was nothing serious, but somewhat frightening," he recalled. "I don't know why, but dosing safe medicine in a normally functioning body can cause some minor problems, doctors there said."

An official at the ministry said, "There are some people recklessly applying for such tests for money, but the ministry now thoroughly regulates such practices, since it is highly related to not only people's health but also other social issues."

The ministry mandates that one cannot participate in such tests twice within three months.

Jang said, "Though it's safe ― according to test officials ― and highly paid, being a guinea pig doesn't feel very good."

"If I had no college tuition problem … I would never apply for such tests. I saw many applicants there who had similar problems to what I had," he said.

In a 2011 survey of some 1,500 university students in Korea by Albamon, 58.3 percent of male students said they were willing to be the subject of such testing as long as they were highly paid.