Job Discussion Forums

[gajackson1]

Stephen, I appreciate that you are another long-timer on this board (probably, like me, you were here longer than your registration date indicates)(referring to my 'normal' Korean account, not this new one on the international forums).

Can you say why you think that? I am at the upper-ish end of work salaries currently in Korea (ESL/EFL-based), and cannot accept outside/extra work legally for extra pay here due to my visa. We found cost of living to be reasonable/manageable, and have (in the last few years) balanced out our savings more by doing less traveling. (I am a travel bug, and C is as well, so it did not take a lot of prodding for us to run out of country even on a 4-day extended weekend). But left to our own individual devices, we can be fairly thrifty, esp when we have concrete goals.

By all accounts, many of the jobs in the ME pay more than those here in Korea, and I can't really see myself spending a bunch as long as I at least have access to the internet and/or outdoor recreation.

Or put another way, we looked at Japan for awhile (because we liked the culture & lifestyle opportunities better), but the increases in salaries were easily offset by the cost-of-living - we could make more in Japan, but it would have been harder to enjoy the same style of living AND savings AND travel that we have/had here.

Regards,

Glen

Again, if anyone has any advice/reccs, please feel free to post here or PM me. Cheers!

[veiledsentiments]

One problem that I see is that neither you nor your fiancee qualify for the top paying jobs. If she joined you once you were married, she would really be at the bottom of the market... hourly language school stuff. The ME is very focused on degrees and the good university jobs require a related MA - completed, not in process.

As a certified teacher, you might look into the ISS schools.

Situations vary greatly in the long list of countries that you put and I suggest that you might want to do some searching for threads on some of these countries and then come back with more specific questions.

There are many threads giving pay details for various employers, but it would take a book to put it all together for you. Then you can compare those numbers to what you earn now.

VS
(go to the Africa section for anything on Djibouti or Sudan - pay will be a pittance there for the very few jobs I would expect.)

[gajackson1]

Dear VS ~

I have read a number of your responses to others on the boards, and I appreciate your frankness!

Too, when I came to Korea, I wasn't eligible for one of the 'top jobs' (well, actually I came in right in the smack middle of the IMF bailout. Everyone else was leaving, and I probably would have had a greater 'pick' if I had pushed it). But the combination of my edu degree & willingness to work hard to learn what I didn't know about EFL/ESL more than made up for it in a couple of years, and I did start getting actively recruited for soe of the better jobs available. I'm willing to spend a year-2 years not exactly starting from scratch, but working hard again to prove myself in a new location.

As for Christina, it is very likely she will stay in the US while I do this, working as a substitute teacher and/or trying to start up a 'cottage business' with her hanji, which she is quite talented at. She worked harder than I did in some senses here in Korea. She came here with a degree in Psych (not even child or edu emphasis), and then - after teaching in hakwons a few years - got her TEFL cert - we took the classes together, but she did all the work on her own (as a matter of her own pride ) - and has been working at a larger University in southern Seoul for these past 3 years. Were she to choose to come join me, her approach would be similar to mine in that sense.

Appreciate the mention of looking into an ISS directory, and will see what I can find out about any conferences/recruiting fairs coming up, as well. I thought I would start in the general threads for ME, Africa & Asia, and see what nibbles/leads I got, rather than posting the same generic thread post in each country's forum.

Thanks also for the notes about Djbouti & Sudan - I'll add that into my rapidly growing file of notes.

Warmest Regards,

Glen

[Stephen Jones]

You need to mention money here. But the best you are going to get outside the mili is $3,000 -$3,500, all expenses paid. Aren't you getting near that in Korea?

[ghost]

[veiledsentiments]

[gajackson1]

Dear VS ~

Hello once again. Please, allow me to give you a tiny bit more background, as I am new to the IJDF here.

I first came to Dave's in 1996?7?, using the chat module to talk to people (mostly Koreans at that time, actually) about the living & job situations here for months before I actually applied for & accepted a job.

When I arrived, I quickly became an active part of the 'DESL community' here - first by computer (because I was in a smaller town in the south), and then we started organizing DESL Get-togethers & other social gatherings after moving to Seoul.

For awhile, as time & schedule permitted, I was also a MOD on the Korean side of the boards here. Mostly, I was pruning the B/S/T forum, and helping keep our resident trolls under their bridges, patching fences, and disposing of stinky socks. I understand quite well about board etiquette and doing my fair share of the work/research.

So again, I do appreciate your frankness and answers. However, I am not expecting anyone - here or elsewhere - to 'do it for me.' Besides here, I/we have LPTT, the web, and networks of friends rapidly assisting me/us, like I/we had for a number of them in the past.

Some of my questions here ARE generic/specific - as time passes, they will get less so, be more specific and directed to the 'right people.' We are just familiar with what can go wrong when you rely on a website, recruiter, and 1-2 people as sources . . . happens too much over here.

As to the specifics? I have had stretches here where I was earning over 5k/month, but those were looonngg workweeks, and not worth the longer-term drain on health & sanity. (Also, they were for specific goals, such as buying our vehicles or meeting the 'key money' requirements on our villa).

Finally, as I said, I think the money may be comparable in Brunei to what I am making currently, but it is the quality of life that we are looking for more. Korea isn't working for C any more; a 'break' won't cut it. So someplace where as a double-income, no-kids couple we could make similar or better, AND 'upgrade' the quality of life (avoiding some of the things that have made C hit her limit here) would be fantastic for us.

Hope this helps some -

Regards,

Glen (& Christina)

[gajackson1]

ps to Ghost -

sorry to hear about the age discrimination thing. C & I are both in our 30's, but one of our best friends is basically being herded out for the same reason - over 50.

You have our sympathies, and hope you do find a good balance of job-pay.

G & C

[veiledsentiments]

Just curious... what is IJDF? (it took me awhile to figure out what DESLC/DESL meant... - don't think we've ever used those here in this section...)

We used to have an ex-Brunei person here, but I don't know if he is still around.

VS

[Stephen Jones]

It's difficult to be tempted to spend on little things in the Guf.

The problem is the big ones. Can't you get a Korean job and get some overtime.

[gajackson1]

VS ~ IJDF = International Job Discussion Forums - what we refer to as the non-Korea side of the forums . I guess we have a few acronyms we use for some of these things. Funny that I have (like Tiger Beer and a few others) 2 identical user names - one for the Korean boards, and 1 for here. Again, I've found the people 'over here' to be a pretty good group so far.

SJ ~ 'temptation' is usually not so much an issue for me personally - or at least, it hasn't been here - especially when strong goals keep me motivated otherwise. Part of that has been due to flexibility/adaptability on my/our part, and part of it has to be credited to Korean society and their rather unique views on discarding objects - like refrigerators, color TVs, computers, etc. Or if you meant other kinds of temptation, again - I like to read, compy, gym, spend outdoor time (hiking, biking, etc.), socialize, etc. Things which tend to be on the cheaper side.

For those not following the job situation under the new presidency here, the English teaching situation is in absolute turmoil. For awhile, it looked like the experienced/qualified/committed teachers would finally wind up with 'good' jobs. But is isn't bearing fruit yet.

Overtime, generally speaking, is hard to come by and tends not to pay all that greatly - the standard is around 20k (about 20USD, roughly) / hour. In most places, the owners/managers would much rather assign the extra work to Korean staff, who are either salaried, or work for a pittance compared to even average foreign teacher salaries.

And again, I've been here 10 years now - it has been great, but I'm ready to give someplace new a go for a few years. For Christina's end, she would NOT want to return to Korea to work/live again - 6 years has been enough for her.

We did great here; just time to ratchet it up a notch in some senses (& down in some others) someplace new.

Regards,

G.

[scot47]

US$3,000 a month goes a long way in KSA - especially when you have accommodation and utilities paid for. It is the vacations that swallow up your money . Travel is expensive.

Dedicted 500 club members of course never go on holiday.

[gajackson1]

vacations - again, not a problem/issue. We both can be very dedicated if need be to meet goals.

Good info there - much appreciated!!!

G.

[MyTrunkshow]

What's the 500 club?

[gajackson1]

A week ago, I would have asked the same. But I found it on accident while browsing the threads -

It apparently refers to a group of (I understand) male expat teachers/workers who are the ultimate 'Cheap Charlies' - having a set budget of 500 ~~~ (can't remember the currency) - a creative boolean search here in the Cafe should come up with a thread or 3 on it.

Regards,

Glen