Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Korea30003000]

This is a question for male English teacher lifers. When will you retire from teaching English? As we know it gets harder for males to get work the older they get. So at what point to you call it a day?

[cmxc]

"That's what I love about these high school girls, man. I get older, they stay the same age."
Dazed and Confused

[FDNY]

[wooden nickels]

[edwardcatflap]

[Stan Rogers]

I've heard that some universities are getting away from hiring young people. Maturity and experience seem to be the words that keep coming up.

[Lazio]

[basic69isokay]

Not a lifer yet, but do have a chunk of years here for sure.
The lifers I know never completely got out of teaching, but definitely stray away from it.

Teach PT at a Uni while owning a bar
Work for a newspaper/magazine/website
Own a hagwon/bookstore/study room

None of these are retirement exactly, but it's also a way to bypass slimy recruiters and their racism/sexism/ageism (which is what you seem mainly concerned with)

[Roman Holiday]

[northway]

[crescent]

[Handsome Boy]

FDNY! Well said sir, that's exactly what I did, only difference being with Adults not Kids.

[PRagic]

I've known a couple of guys who made it to retirement at university. After that, they moved back to N. America or to points in SE Asia.

All of the guys I know who are possible lifers have plumped up their TESOL credentials and have a lot of university experience. They plan on just working at university. Most, if not all, supplement their incomes by writing, recording, or teaching on the side. All are married, but not all to Koreans.

Some guys opened up their own study rooms. They make bank, but they work for it. Still, they do call the shots and make their own hours. All are married and all to Koreans.

One guy only does translation work for corporate PR stuff. Charges a pretty penny, but he's spot on and has work coming out the ying yang.

Couple of guys I've come to know got out of teaching and opened their own bar or restaurant. Think they're having a pretty good go of it. Not an easy slog at first, but an interesting way to go if you can handle it.

Couple of guys got out of teaching and went into financial editing here. Awesome pay and perks, but not easy jobs to get these days.

Couple of guys, myself included, got out of ESL and did doctorates in other fields. Land a tenure track job, stick to it, get tenure, and you have job until retirement with decent pay and with annual, albeit small, salary increases. Nice perks, too, depending on the university (paid to publish, generous funding to attend international conferences, research funding, housing subsidy, etc...)

Where there's a will, there's a way.

[GJM]

Opening an 'after school' study room or Hagwan is one way to go, and with a Korean wife, that makes it a whole lot easier to negotiate, and understand culturally, socially and academically what Koreans want.

I am not convinced by the option to go into editing, text books etc -- yes, there are opportunities there, but in my experience, these gigs are few and far between, generally found by word of mouth, contacts, and a stroke of luck, and even then, they are rarely regular gigs, and don't pay well anyway. I know there are notable exceptions to the above, but I haven't met many people here (or back home) who've made much money from it.

The newspapers here only employ a very small number of foreign staff, and lots of them are young Kyopos, fluent in both languages and cultures.

[Cave Dweller]

I posted a similar thread to this one a few months back.

We are still undecided but if we decide to make a life of it here, the first 2 things I will do is

1. do an online masters and try to get into a uni and
2. start branching out of teaching and into related fields.