Staff Spotlight: Haedun Ju

Title:
Manager
- International Program Director over 10 years
- Business Development Management
- Love to interact with multicultural folks from abroad!

What is your favorite travel memory?

Honestly, I love my travel memory every single moment since all memory is different and valuable each. If I should pick only one moment, it will be the travel I went before the pandemic. I travelled alone to Bali, Indonesia for volunteering and also personal vacation, but I didn't expect that I should stop my travel for a long time due to COVID-19. Thankfully, everything is getting back, so I am so excited to travel somewhere soon!

How have you changed/grown since working for your current company?

Korea Gapyear is not just a travel agency, we are social enterprise. Especially, our company's main business is educational service and contents provider, so I always consider how could we change our participant during their program, and what can we do for the participant to learn and grow up. I changed my mind that my task is not just to do the business, and it is about achievement about our social mission. Our team aims to help young people to find their own dream through broaden experiences.

What is the best story you've heard from a return student?

I don't know why this story comes in my mind, but I heard "I was really sorry about what I did" from the previous participant who requested to our team unexpectedly. I was touched that since our team members were hard to manage at that time, but someone takes it for granted about what we did, but don't express us - so if someone would express any words, I am so touched about their kind words. Even though it was a few words, it made me encourage.

If you could go on any program that your company offers, which one would you choose and why?

Currently, our team is providing many programs all over the world. Among them, I would like to learn a new language such as Spanish and France to learn new culture. I believe that learning a language is that the best way to understand the others. I did take part in the program running from our company, and it was nice! Definitely, I will participate in another program again!

What makes your company unique? When were you especially proud of your team?

We really care in each participant, and it is from that our team manage the whole process from the beginning to the end in order to make the participant happy with the participation through us. Also, our team is local-based, and also have awesome staff who can communicate friendly with the international participants. I believe that our service will make the people comfortable during their stay in South Korea.

What do you believe to be the biggest factor in being a successful company?

I believe that the company should be where the customer wants and also should provide the appropriate service while looking back constantly. Our team is really careful to receive the reviews from the participants. Even though it would be not 100% positive review, we are totally fine, then we could consider how to develop for our participant. I believe that thinking for the customer all the time is the biggest factor in being a successful company.