25 yrs at a large corp★ 5.0 perfect480+ jobs doneServes Mapo·Yongsan, Seoul
When we first met, he carefully set down his tool bag and said, "Honestly, I don't look like someone who does this kind of work, right?"
He was right. A neat shirt, hair combed back tidily, a jacket pocket still bearing the mark of a business-card wallet. He looked like someone who had long walked in and out of meeting rooms somewhere.
"I was at a large company for 25 years. I left at 53."
Then he paused for a moment and added:
"I'm far happier now."
· · ·
He was called in after the quarterly earnings announcement
In November 2022, the company where he worked as a department head called him in. He'd always thought the word "restructuring" was about someone else. It was 25 years. Since he was a new hire, through marriage, while raising his children, he went to that company every day.
He said he doesn't remember how he told his family when he got home. His wife set the table but he couldn't pick up his spoon, he said.
1997 — Joined
Age 25, the first day at work
He arrived at 7 AM after changing buses three times. He thought working hard was all it took.
2022 — Age 53, restructuring
A document received after 25 years
It was titled "Workforce Efficiency Plan." His name was on it.
2022~2024 — The dark period
For 2 years he rarely left the house
He sent out over 200 resumes. Nowhere wanted a 53-year-old former department head.
Spring 2024 — The turning point
His wife's one remark
"You always fixed it yourself whenever something broke at home. You were good at that."
Summer 2024 — A fresh start
At 55, he picked up a tool bag
His first dispatch as a PanSol partner. His heart was pounding.
· · ·
For 2 years he couldn't do anything
He called those 2 years "time that didn't exist."
He wrote resumes. About 200 of them. Nowhere replied. And when they did, it was things like "your experience is excessive" or "you're up there in age."
"Strange, isn't it. When I was at the company I was a 'person with lots of experience,' but once I left I suddenly became an 'old person.'"
His wife worked part-time. The kids pretended not to know, but they knew. Sitting at the table, it was hard to lift his head, he said.
I worked there twenty-five years, and once I left, there was nothing. That was the scariest part.
Partner Park
One day the living-room faucet started leaking. He was about to call a company, but he just fixed it himself. He found his tools, watched YouTube, and solved it in 30 minutes.
"After fixing it, I felt oddly good. The feeling of having accomplished something, for the first time in a while."
· · ·
His wife's one remark changed it
That evening, his wife spoke from the kitchen:
"You always fixed it yourself whenever something broke at home. The AC, the boiler. You did it all alone watching YouTube. You were good at that."
It was nothing special. But after hearing it, he couldn't sleep all night. She wasn't wrong. Ever since his company days, whenever something broke at home, he always fixed it. Like a hobby, like a habit. He loved fixing things.
From the next day he began preparing. He bought certification textbooks. At 54 he attended an academy. Among the young students he was the only middle-aged man, but he didn't mind.
He earned a plumbing technician certificate. He earned a boiler-handling certificate. And in the spring at 55, he bought a tool bag.
The day he bought his first tool bag, his hands strangely trembled, he said.
· · ·
On his first dispatch, his hands trembled
It was the day the first request came in after registering as a PanSol partner. Hapjeong-dong, Mapo-gu; a woman in her 40s; a bathroom faucet repair.
He paused before pressing the doorbell at the entrance. For 25 years he always walked into meeting rooms in a suit; now he stood in front of someone else's door holding a tool bag.
"For a moment I thought, 'what am I doing.' But I'd come this far anyway."
The door opened. He finished the work. It took 20 minutes. The customer said this:
"Thank you. For coming so quickly."
On the bus home, he kept recalling those words, he said.
"In 25 years I never heard those words. 'Thank you.' When I presented results I'd get praise from the director... but that's a different feeling. It's not really gratitude, just a 'good job.' What that person said that day was different."
· · ·
Three months later, a phone call came
It was about 6 months after his first dispatch. A call came from an unsaved number.
It was a man in his 70s whose boiler he'd fixed in Nowon-gu. He said he lived alone, and that his son had come down for the holidays, seen the state of the boiler, and asked who had fixed it.
When the elderly man showed his son the receipt photo saved on his smartphone, the son said "this person really did a good job." He'd called to pass on those words.
Partner Park said he couldn't speak for a moment after taking that call. "He called just to let me know his son had praised me."
After that call, I sat alone in my car for a long while. At first I didn't know what it was. Much later I realized...
Partner Park — during the interview
He continued:
"...I realized this is fulfillment. Not just joy, but fulfillment. I don't think I felt this even once in 25 years. Always the next quarter, the next target, the next review. There was no end. But with this work, if you fix it, it's fixed. There's an end. I like that."
· · ·
We asked Partner Park
Do you regret your 25 years of corporate life?
No. Because that time existed, I can do this work now. What I learned at the company is used in this job too. How to deal with customers, schedule management, safety rules. It's all connected. The order was just different.
Starting this work must have been scary.
It was scary. Starting something new at 55. But someone once told me: it's not that you started late because you got older — that's exactly the right time. I now think those words are true. I don't think I'd have done it this way at 20. Doing this after coming to understand how people live at home, what's hard for them — it feels different.
How did you find out about PanSol?
At first I worked on my own, but finding customers wasn't easy. I only got work through acquaintances, and that had its limits. With PanSol, work connects to me wherever I am, which is great. And the price is disclosed first. I liked that. I too have called a company not knowing the repair cost. It left me uneasy. I figured customers must feel that way too, so I thought the transparent way is the right way.
When are you happiest now?
The moment a home gets warm. When I hear the boiler turn on after I've fixed it. When I look at their face and ask, "Are you okay now?" That brief moment is better than any greeting I received in 25 years.
· · ·
What customers left behind
★★★★★2025.09.14
He checked thoroughly, and even after fixing everything he asked once more, "Is there any problem anywhere else?" It felt like an uncle I'd known for a long time. He's a warm person.
Mapo-gu · office worker, 30s
★★★★★2025.11.03
I asked him to fix my father's boiler, and my father loved it. While working he even chatted about old times with my father. You wouldn't know how precious that time is for someone living alone. Truly grateful.
Nowon-gu · office worker, 40s (booked for their father)
★★★★★2026.01.18
He came at dawn in -15°C. "You must have been very cold," he said, worrying about me first. I think I'll remember those words for a long time.
Yongsan-gu · homemaker, 50s
๐ This post is reconstructed from an interview with a real PanSol partner. Names and some details were altered to protect privacy. Quoted reviews are reconstructed from real user feedback.
๐ PANSOL
Are you preparing a fresh start, like Partner Park?
Experience has nothing to do with age · Begin Act Two of your life with PanSol partners
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