Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Medic]

Found that the best English speaking students are those in buisness or international relations. Buisness is buisness, and if you really want to do well, wether it be in a trading company, or as an entrepeneur you need English. Majority of the students in that department seem to realise this so they make the effort in their English classes. Kyungboak National university actually teach some of their buisness classes only in English, and the students end up coming out of that programe quite fluent. Nothing like being pressured into learning to really learn.

Why the International relations department has good English speaking students beats me. The professors were all educated abroad, so they probably push their students, and I would suppose that the only way to comprehend what's really going on in the international scene would be to know English well.

I have also heard that POSTECH professors will purposely teach some of their classes in English if they have foreign students attending. Kind of sadistic on the part of the professors, but in the long run good for the students.

Handong university in Pohang used to teach mathematics entirely in English. The professor was guy from New York. They also have an International Law department staffed completely by U.S. nationals who as well as trying to get their students through a good internationally recognized programe are also preparing them to take the U.S bar exam. That is a proper bar exam not like the farce any Korean graduate can study for in Seoul to become a Korean prosecutor.

[ersatzprofessor]

Well, if you're looking for jobs that are not posted on the internet, here are a few things you might try.

First, tell everyone and his dog that you are interested in teaching at a university. That is, everyone you know in Korea. A lot of jobs here are arranged by introduction, or come up at the last moment. If you can be introduced, or catch wind of someone who's desperate to hire right away, you might improve your odds quite a bit. To those ends, you may even want to get involved with KOTESL. You know, go to the big convention in Seoul this fall, maybe you end up having coffee with the right Korean professor, and who knows? But this route takes time.

I don't know if you're too young, but unless you have a masters degree, you might be rejected for lack of experience just the same. Did you teach at an adult hagwhon this year? You say you got along well with your director. If you can't get a university job this year, you could always get your old job back, gain the needed time in, and campaign for a position next year. Then you could have some time to leave your hooks in the water awhile, so to speak. As well, you might want to consider at least starting in a distance MATESOL program - a fair number of places seem to consider being enrolled in a program as sufficient, or so I've been told.

But, as other posters said, all university or college positions are not created equal, and can sometimes be much worse than the better hagwhons. At least at hagwhons students actually want to be there (or at least can skip if they don't), and the hagwhon atmosphere, in my experience anyway, can be a lot more relaxed and more fun. At colleges students have to be there - that makes a big difference in their attitude. And you certainly have to do your research just the same. Conditions vary a lot between schools, and so do expectations. Anyway, I hope this is of some little help to you.