Korean Job Discussion Forums

[raytownloc]

I was recently offered a job at a new school in Haeundae. It is opening up July 1st and I will start the 21st. They are a very big company Korea wide, but I was wondering if anyone has had this experience of working for a new school and knows the pitfalls.

The school is called the Pagoda something or other, and they are offering me a grip of cash... far more than anywhere else (apartment included)

Any help would be appreciated...

[SeoulSearcher]

I've got a whole bunch of friends who work for Pagoda (ok, you got me, I don't have any friends, but I know of them) I could put you in touch if you want to have a chat.

[IconsFanatic]

I took a job with a small, new school. It's independent, as opposed to being part of a chain.

Best decision I've ever made regarding Korea! I tend to work only 15-20 hours per week.

Whahey!

[Skippy]

Simply put good points bad points for working with a new school.

Some sort of GOOD points:

Sometimes less hours. As new school has few students. They have fewer classes. But as times goes on. School gets more students and more classes are created. More classes more hours.

You may get spoiled by the school. Some new schools have no or little experience dealing with foreigners. And they will do a lot to make the teacher comfortable. Anything from feeding you to getting you nice new stuff for your apartment.

A closeness to workers and boss. In a big school like "LIKE" a teacher can be lost among the many teachers. And kept at a distance from the owner. A small school will may be friendlier and the boss more involved with you. Heck it can become more of a partnership.

Small classes. As above. The school is new and does not have many students. So a class can be anything from 1 student to 10. Which in the end is so much better then 15 or 20 students. And expecially when you are new to english teaching.

All the points above can easily go sour or south.

Less hours could sky rocket to being at school from 10am till 10pm. As the school will put more demands on you.

You just will not be spoiled. You will be given sh*tty stuff and told like it or not. The apartment and furniture is old and barely functional. The owners can not really care about you. They just want you to teach english and listen to them.

The closeness to workers and boss will disapear or not happen. The Koreans teachers can become petty or just do not speak enough english. And the boss become tyrants. The boss likes to think himself a bigshot but he only bosses 4 people around or less around.

Small classes become over crowded due to cheap admission prices to putting classes together to create more classes.

Bad Points

New school are new business. And most new business go out of business quickly. You may have a great school to start with but a couple months later it start loosing money. School can not pay you on time. Try to cheat you out of Severance pay. Sometimes you want to go with a school that has been running a few years.



But you raytownloc your situtation can be much different. You have to add in that your school is part of a Chain of schools. And you will be teaching adults or older students. Pagoda has a formula and they will likely follow it.


Skippy the Evil Twin