Korean Job Discussion Forums

[merrilee]

I've been at the same university for three years and haven't really spent much time seriously considering a move or applying elsewhere. For those of you who have been applying for uni positions this season, what are your average rates of return in terms of contact received from universities as well as offers?

[spyro25]

two offers, three phone interviews, 5 replies. every uni i applied to did respond, even the ones that stated you have to be over 30 years old (which i'm not).

[spyro25]

if you have been at a uni for 3 years should have no trouble getting offers from the vast majority of those you apply for. this is my first uni gig so it was a litte tougher for me, but I'm an MA TESOL in progress so i think that helped.

[ella]

I've been applying to universities like crazy, even the ones that haven't advertised. Only one responded, had an interview, then they disappeared.

[Darkness]

what are the qualifications for working at a Uni, and what is the average pay?

Sorry to hijack this thread....

[makemischief]

darkness-
the answers to those questions vary WIDELY...

anywhere from bottom tier unigwons that'll take almost anyone (bachelor on up)for 1.7 with bad hours/vacation, to the top of the top asking for PhDs and paying quite tidily. most are somewhere in between and can be very nice places to work- search university rankings and you'll find a huge list on Dave's.

most but not all of the decent ones require a Masters (and my definition of decent is at least 4 months vacation, 2.5+ with less than 15 hours a week- some would say that's still too much).

merrilee
i think the same answer of WIDELY applies to the rate of return as well- provided your application packet looks nice and has all the requested credentials/documentation then most will at least get back to you, even if it just to say no thanks.

[Homer]

Basic qualifications are:

1- A Masters degree (some universities accept B.A.s with experience) in any field but some Universities ask for Education related M.A.s.

2- A certain number of years of experience in ESL (some ask for experience in Korea and some calculate that experience differently).

3- Many universties do not hire from abroad but prefer to hire locally.

4- Some universties have an age requirement (30 years old)


The average pay varies from university to university. Some pay around 2.0 million won others around 3.0 million won.

Your pay will depend on:

1- Your experience
2- The Universities budget

Also to consider is if the university is hiring you as an instructor to teach in the university or to teach in a hakwon owned by the university. Sometimes it is a combination of both.

Benefits:

1- Many universities will not provide airfare
2- Some do not provide accomodations or offer the university dorm.
3- Some work on 11 month contracts (fewer and fewer)
4- Vacation varies from uni to uni. For example, we get nearly 12 weeks off but other universities get 4 or 6 or 8 weeks....

As for getting responses, you need to present yourself like a professional and not like some cowboy. You need a solid cover letter and a clear and concise resume. A typical lesson plan won't hurt either.

The numbers raised above (2.5 + for 15 hours with 4 months off) are for the better positions and those typically go to the better qualified or more experienced applicants (there are exceptions of course).

Finally, many universities will not advertise job openings in the traditional places like here. They will prefer to hire through staff referals or through advertising in job fairs or with very specific recruiters. Those universties that do advertise on Daves will receive a ton of applications and will reject a whole bunch of them early own because they do not meet their hiring standards. Also, certain universties put a premium on certain types of applicants and this leads to a lot of rejected applications early on.

I can give you a rundown of how we hire teachers where I work.

First the administrator goes in-house to get referals. When that does not yield results the university will advertise locally (Korea) and in job fairs or at certain university hiring centers in Canada and the US (sometimes the UK).

Local applicants get priority over those from abroad.

The university requires:
a cover letter
a resume`
2 professional references and 1 academic reference
(each reference is contacted).
A Masters Degree
(The degree is verified by a call to the teachers university)
3 years of experience teaching ESL (preferably in Korea)
(Experience is calculated as follows: non-referenced experience is considered as half so 2 years becomes 1, experience teaching kids is also considered at reduced value if that is the only experience).

If an applicant has the requirements he or she is invited to an interview. The interview is run by a committee (2 Foreign teachers on staff, one school administrator and one Korean professor). The interview covers professional experience as well as personality.

After the interview, the applicant is asked to pass a writing exam to verify his English skills.

Applicants are then ranked according to their qualifications and their performance in the interview-test.

Teachers here typically stay over 3 years as conditions are very good.

Best of luck out there!

[makemischief]

very well said homer.
puts my short answer to shame

[Darkness]

Great response thanks!!

I really love Korea, but I really HATE working at a hogwon. lol

The director's are really nice, the kids are great, but the way it's run is re-F'n-diculous. I would love to get into a public school after this hogwon, then hopefully a University.

I think I'm going to end up leaving this contract after 8months, by then I'll have accomplished what I came to do. But I do want to come back again...

[Hyeon Een]

I currently work at a "Unigwan" pay is about 2m, vacation is about 10 weeks and I teach up to 20 classes a week. This was my third job in Korea. (First job was a hagwan, 1.9m 10 days vacation, 37 classes a week. Second job was a City Hall, 2.2m, 4 weeks vacation, 16-20 classes a week)

I've accepted a new position. It is at a Uni in Seoul. The pay isn't so good; 1.8m but they offer 500k in lieu of housing as well. The hours aren't too good (20 hours a week). The vacation is full University vacation (ie I will work 2x 16 week semesters. Of those I expect there will be a week of midterms and week of finals per semester so no classes). So the holiday is somewhere around the 4.5-5 month range. They will also give me free Korean classes in their Language Center.

I got my new job through contacts, it wasn't advertised as far as I know (I saw no ads on Dave's or worknplay etc.)

My qualifications are 2.5yrs ish experience in Korea, a year of Uni experience and an undergraduate MA (It's a Scottish (and Oxbridge) thing..). I'm pretty happy with the job I think. The only things that could be better would be more pay and fewer working hours.

Oh and actually I WASN'T applying for Uni jobs. Bizarrely I was applying for hagwan jobs but couldn't find one that suited so I'm taking a University job instead. It's a strange old world.

I haven't really directly applied for any Uni jobs this time around apart from the two which were handed to me on a plate. For my current Unigwan job (which I applied for almost exactly a year ago) I simply stuck my resume up on Dave's, Worknplay etc. with the label "Looking for University or Public School job". I got offered about 3.

[makemischief]

I find it funny:

I spent hours going through the websites of various universities (where many of them post their jobs rather than on here), I got other listings through contacts working at various places, I sent out a tremendous number of applications and went to a bunch of interviews, and in the end what happened?

I chose a position I found on Dave's.

Go figure

[robot]

[the_beaver]

[robot]

true.

i was actually thinking of you and a couple other peeps before i posted as chaps who have a sweet university gigging situation...

ROBT.

[Homer]