Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Old fat expat]

Offered a job at a university. Here is what was offered:
2.2 million/month
No severance
No housing allowance
No flight
15 hours of contact time-but no curriculum in place and no resources available.

I have:
~ a masters with first class honours
~ teaching experience at a Western university
~ 2 years experience doing research for education organizations in the West
~ 3 years experience in ESL.

Would you take this?

[tzechuk]

Absolutely not.

If you are up for a new gig, PM me and I will Pm you details.

[Darkness]

HELL NO!!!

I only have a 3yr B.A and I make 2.2 with flight, severance and housing.

Tell them to go to hell!

[simpleminds]

No. I'm looking for a uni job, too, but, nope.

No housing is a dealbraker when the pay's that low. You have to do kid's camps, right? You've got a Masters, you can do better than that.

[willardmusa]

[English_Ocean]

Don't waste a brain cell thinking about this one.

[Old fat expat]

Well, I did some part-time work for them last semester. Put together 2 courses (second year business communication and third year interviewing with real university tests and exams, etc ) and received great feedback from the students and the other professors. So it was not as if they were risking anything as they had seen my work.

The department head really liked me a lot as well (to the point where I do private tutoring for his daughter and wife) but it was the university administration that was the deal breaker.

Their whole attitude was �take it or leave it-no negotiating�. O.K. � leave it.

[J.B. Clamence]

No flight and no severance is standard for a university job. No negotiating is also standard because, as a uni job, if you don't want it, there are lots of people (including some with the same qualifications as you) who do. However, 2.2 is a bit low for a uni which does not offer housing, especially if it is somewhere where housing is expensive, like in a big city.

15 hours a week is decent for a university, but you didn't mention whether the entire breaks are paid leave or if you have to work during that time. That is important. If you you don't work breaks, that means you get 20+ weeks paid leave a year. That's not bad for 2.2 if you can get cheap housing. You may not make as much money as you can in a hakwon, but you'll have plentgy of free time to do whatever: travel, hobbies, or if you wanna make more money, with that much time off you will be in a position to do that.

Many people will immediately dismiss this job, saying "I make more at my hakwon," or "my hakwon gives me a flight and severance, so why should I take that?" Well, people don't usually get uni jobs for the money. They get them so that they don't have to work 30+ hours a week, so that they can have more than 10 days off a year, and so that they don't have to wonder whether the scumbag owner is going to screw them month after month. If I was working at a hakwon, and I had a chance to work 15 hrs a week with 20 weeks paid leave, I would take a paycut to do that -- absolutely. I'm not going to dismiss that kind of opportunity because of something petty like "they won't give me airfare."

Basically, you have to weigh the positive changes in your life this job will bring you and decide whether those changes are worth a paycut. As for me, I value my free time and vacation time, so that's an easy one.

[ChuckECheese]

If it was 15 hours of contact time but no teaching and just showing your white face, it would be fine. If they require you to actually create curriculum and teach, forget it.

[Zoot]

[tzechuk]