Korean Job Discussion Forums

[homer521]

Hello all,

Man, I've been emailing cover letters, resumes, photos, etc, directly to schools and recruiters for the past 2 months, but I've only received just a few bites.

Can someone please help me out with any tips? I mean, what could I be doing wrong here? I've made a point not to use extravagant words and to keep my cover lettes pretty short and direct. I'm not fugly or anything either, so what gives?

Are there any other job search sites that might work better for me?

Sorry, just getting a bit frustrated, especially at the jerkies that don't have the courtesy to reply at all.

Any help will be much appreciated.
Thanks.

[homer521]

Sorry, I should've also clarified that I'm a Korean-American.. looking to work in the beginning of Oct., in Seoul or in it's vicinity.


I also just read the post titled How to get a job on the web, and it helped out a bit..
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=9288

[CivicGSR]

Hey Homer,
I feel your frustration as well because I'm in the same boat.
I have been getting responses but only when I send my coverletter and
resume, whereas after submitting my photo.....I get no further reponses
from them. I'm like what gives?!
I have a feeling its that most Hagwon Directors prefer the typical white
-faced looking person to teach native English instead of people of other
backgrounds who can teach just as well. It all comes down to
profits, hire more white ppl, get more students because the korean
parents believe that caucasions can teach better and without the
unnecessary accents.

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=3365&highlight=gyopo

Anyhow, be persistent and hopefully the outcome will look more like
http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=8273&start=0

link edited

[homer521]

Thanks for your feedback Civic. The 2nd link you provided didn't work, but I've read the first link you posted before, as well as many others like it. I understand how these hagwon owners prefer hiring "white faces", but I didn't think finding a job would be this bad.

I make it a point in my resume and cover letters to prove that I have as great a command of the English language as whites, so are they just really superficial and anal about only hiring "white faces"?

I'm really considering just flying to Korea first and then finding a job, cuz this isn't working. But that'll mean I'll have to pay my own airfare.. DOH!

[l'il kim]

I can relate to your travails, as I was in exactly the same boat before coming to Korea ( I should add that I'm a 20-something female kyopo born and raised in Canada). Before arriving in Seoul in March, I must have sent out at least 50 resumes starting in January, and only received two serious offers, one of which ended up being revoked the day after it was made. Finally, I got one legitimate offer that came with a prepaid plane ticket and accommodation and a so-so salary for OK hours.

I no longer work for that school, but one thing I learned while looking for a job here is that it is much, MUCH easier to find a job when you are in the country and hagwon directors can just call you up for an interview. This goes to the nth degree when you are a kyopo. I really cannot stress this enough. When I was applying online from thousands of miles away, I couldn't get an email back to save my life, but when I put up a Job Wanted ad on Spectrum, I was immediately deluged with calls.

Moral of the story: if feasible, get yourself over here , stay with relatives or at a cheap guesthouse if necessary, look around in person, and then sign the dotted line (and get that airfare reimbursement).

[homer521]

Hey Lil' Kim,

Thanks for your advice. It's also comforting to know I'm not the only one getting dissed here. After your insight, I'm really leaning towards coming to Seoul first as you said. Can you clarify if you meant that some hagwons can reimburse me for my airfare to Korea? Once the contract's completed, would they also be willing to pay for my return airfare? If so, that would be awesome.

Can anyone tell me of any pitfalls I should look out for if I choose to go to Korea first, or offer any kind of advice whether it pertains to living, getting a job, or just getting around the city? I'm gonna be one lost mf.. haha.

Also, I know of a cheap guesthouse I could stay at for 17k/night, but can
anyone tell me of any cheaper alternatives?


Thanks to everyone else that replied and PM'd me with responses so far!

[gyopoboy]

hey....

i might've been one of the luckier ones, but i got an offer to every resume i sent in which was great...

accepted my first offer... but yeh definitely, for us gyopos, looking for a job IN korea will herald a better chance of success...

by the way, there are a lot of hagwons in seoul that look specifically ONLY for gyopo teachers~

good luck~

we gyopos should have a night out together~ my shout~

[K-in-C]

[quote="homer521"] I make it a point in my resume and cover letters to prove that I have as great a command of the English language as whites, so are they just really superficial and anal about only hiring "white faces"?

Um, it's the parents, more so than the directors, that are 'anal' and only want 'white faces' and that's why the directors turn gyopos down. They have to cater to their customers, right.

Try www.jackiesclinic.com

Good luck!

Regards,

Kate

[Son Deureo!]

[homer521]

Thanks a lot dudes!

K-in-C, you made a great point. I can understand their business reasons for discriminating.. I just wish society would change.. but I wish I had a Lamborghini Diablo also


Son Deureo!, aka Raise Your Hand!? Thanks a lot for the tip. For anyone else interested, I just found a map of the shops in Itaewon:
http://my.netian.com/~sabrinajeon/ENGLISH/ENGDET~1.HTM

In additon to BK, boy am I happy to see such other fine establishments as Domino's and Popeye's. I might just have to live permanently in Dream Goshiwon.


Gyopoboy, you sound like one fortunate dude. You must have a really spiffy resume or something. I have no teaching experience so I had a hard time filling in my resume.

I wish I could take a look at someone's resume, who had no teaching experience also, so I could reference it as a template.. hmm . If anyone trusts me enough, I would really really appreciate it.

Can anyone also tell me names of any schools that seek gyopo's? That would help out a lot. Feel free to PM me if you'd like to keep it confidential. Thanks.

[gyopoboy]

[CanKorea]

Hi Homer521, I can also relate to your problems. I'm a fellow gyopo, Canadian born and raised. I have a B.Ed so it probably helped. I managed to find a well paying job, prepaid airticket and relatively fair accommodations. The hagwon even had someone come to help me with my f-4 visa.

My recommendation would be to send out your resume to bigger chain schools such as Pagoda or ECC (yes, I've heard the horror stories about ECC but it's a way to get over here) and I talked with some people working for some ECC's that haven't been too bad, mainly the ones at Gwangmyeong and Bundang. I hear your pain though, even with the B.Ed I was getting very few responses. I sent out a zillion resumes and got maybe 5 responses.

Can you speak Korean? It can get you into management positions.

I hope some of this information helps. Good luck with the job hunt!

[homer521]

Gyopoboy, thanks again for the help. Yes I've heard horror stories about those hagwons, but I'll look into them anyways. I am pretty desperate now.. haha.

If anyone has some other hagwons that might be interested in gyopos, please drop me a line also. Thanks.

Wassup CanKorea.
That's awesome that your hagwon helped you get an F-4. I assumed hagwons preferred those who didn't have an F-4 so they could have more control over the teacher being able to work somewhere else. I have some questions about the documents I need, but I'll start another post for that topic.

Again, thanks a ton for all the helpful responses so far.. please keep em rollin' in! Thanks!