Job Discussion Forums

d-rail · Joined: 30 Jul 2003 Posts: 12 Location: MN, USA

i was wondering if i could get some advice on a few things. i am buying a house in a few months so my situation demands that i make a fair amount of money. i am considering getting a teaching job in either S. Korea, Japan, Taiwan, or Hong Kong. I have a university degree and got my major was in TEFL. my question is this: what country would be the most profitable? I am obviously not into teaching to make lucrative amounts of money, but this first year i need to have a little more financial security. If anyone has any suggestions i am open and am greatful for any advice given. thank you
darrell

JoeJ · Joined: 12 May 2005 Posts: 4

Japan or Korea would be your best bets, although you're probably not going to be able to tuck much money away, especially your first year. Try to get a job that includes living accomodations.

junkmail · Joined: 19 Dec 2004 Posts: 377

Japan, Korea, Taiwan or maybe Hong Kong, any of them will give you financial security.

Korea's experiencing a few problems right now though, making money got alot harder.

Gordon · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 5309 Location: Japan

junkmail · Joined: 19 Dec 2004 Posts: 377

I would basically agree with what Gordon wrote but bear in mind that immigration are making it really hard to do 'extra' work in Korea at present, so don't bank on making much more than your salary. When I first arrived it was a gold mine for anyone with the will to work hard.

Glenski · Joined: 15 Jan 2003 Posts: 12844 Location: Hokkaido, JAPAN

Exactly how much would you need to send home?

Starting out at square one in Japan, you can expect to earn 250,000 yen/month (or slightly higher). You will burn half of that on basic necessities, leaving you with 125,000 or so to play around with. How much of that you SAVE (or send home) is up to your lifestyle and personal demands.

If you get outside work (private lessons, usually), you can increase that take-home salary, but you will be working an awful lot and have little time to enjoy the foreign country where you live. Plus, getting private lessons is not easy or quick for newcomers with no contacts or reputation, and they are not the most stable venue for making money.

junkmail · Joined: 19 Dec 2004 Posts: 377

With Korea, you usually get paid 2 million Won per month with your apartment thrown in. Of this you lose 10% in medical, tax and pension. Assume 120000 lost each month in utilities (varies alot), and that leaves you with 1.6 million Won. Of this you'll definitely be able to save some, and as much as 1 million a month if you don't get out much.

Privates are available, but being busted is all too common at the moment.

cevanne · Joined: 03 Mar 2005 Posts: 36 Location: Osaka, Japan

You can tuck quite a bit of money away in Japan if you don't while away your hours in the local bar. I agree with the others. Salaries are about 250,000 yen and you spend about half of that on living. Depends how thrifty you are on how much you save Smile

I don't know about the rest of Japan, but in Osaka there are a couple of really good agencies that can hook you up with privates. My friend signed up with one and in only 4 days already had 2 privates. I don't know about the legalities/taxes related to this though.

PAULH · Joined: 28 Jan 2003 Posts: 4672 Location: Western Japan

Tamago86 · Joined: 26 Aug 2004 Posts: 23

Just to add on what's already been pointed out. Korea would be best overall for short-term, most of the time the school pays for plane tickets and housing. On Japan it really depends on alot of things, but I think if you want to make money you'd have a much better chance at it in Korea, especially if you're a nightlife type of person.

Taiwan would also be good and I know people that prefer it over Korea, you should go check the Taiwan board.

Hong Kong is a very competitive and closed market, especially when it comes to EFL teaching. Mostly because it's a very desirable city to work in for alot of people but also because HK people already speak English better than anyone else in Asia and they have an endless ex-pat community that already lives there that are also well-qualified and happy to take such jobs. And in my opinion there's also a slight underlying pressure that parents have for people who teach or tutor their kids to speak Cantonese, which is of course a more than reasonable request but at the moment an unthinkable alien concept to most of the ESL market. But did you ever consider mainland China?

Henry_Cowell · Joined: 27 May 2005 Posts: 3352 Location: Berkeley

d-rail · Joined: 30 Jul 2003 Posts: 12 Location: MN, USA

Thank you all very much for posting your views on this and other issues. i am enjoying reading this thread. i'm learning quite a bit and hope it continues. Thanks!
darrell

Tamago86 · Joined: 26 Aug 2004 Posts: 23

[quote="Henry_Cowell"][quote="Tamago86"]HK people already speak English better than anyone else in Asia[/quote]
Hmmmm...[/quote]

*on average :lol: