Korean Job Discussion Forums

jurassic82 · Joined: 21 Jun 2006 Location: Somewhere!!!!

I'm in the need for some advice. I'm at the end of my contract (3 months left) and I'm debating resigning for a second year. I work at a small Hogwan and believe it or not there are a lot of things about working at a Hagwon that I like for example small class sizes and good working hours. I usually never start before 3pm. I have some complaints like lack of good vacation time for the exception of Chooseok where I have the whole 10 days off. I have really grown to like a lot of the students and I also really like the area that I work and live in (Bucheon). Also, I would like to stay at my school because I like my coworkers and even though I'm not the biggest fan of my bosses they have been pretty nice like buying us dinner everyday and taking us out for dinner and drinks at the end of the term. I haven't had to deal with any BS like getting paid late which I have learned to know is common at other schools. I want to talk to my boss soon about this for a couple of reasons and this is where I could use some advice about negotiating and being fair.

My contract ends at the end of July. I usually have about four days off before the next term. The problem lays in the fact that I want to go home for a week to visit my parents. In my contract I have the plane ticket home. When it comes for the plane back to Korea would it be unreasonable to ask for them to pay for it. Also do you think it would be unreasonable to ask my boss for two weeks off instead of one. The reason I ask because here is the situation. My school has only one other foriegn teacher and we usually only have four days off between terms and we would be going into the summer intensive which is a really busy period for us. If I couldn't take this amount of time off how do you think I could manage to negotiate to take it off in the future. I feel for the most part I'm being pretty reasonable. I'm not asking for much in the way of a raise. I would be going from 2.1 million to 2.2 million. Also I figured It would be to the schools advantage to have me stay considering most of the kids like me and I have been there longer than the majority of the teachers. Anyways I would appreciate everyones help in this matter as I am very inexperienced in this sort of thing. Cool

zappadelta · Joined: 31 Aug 2004

Hey, it never hurts to ask for anything. Personally, I don't think you are asking for too much. It seems like you like your position, so if they agree to what you want, I would stay with them. If they don't, I would consider something else. I think even if they do pay for your flight back here, they will still save time and effort in the long run. Let them know they are taking the chance of getting someone new who is not as good as you.

huffdaddy · Joined: 25 Nov 2005

ttompatz · Joined: 05 Sep 2005 Location: Kwangju, South Korea

wylies99 · Joined: 13 May 2006 Location: I'm one cool cat!

You hold the cards. Tell them want you want.
BTW- ask for more money than that- SETTLE for your original number, if necessary. You never know how much more you might get, since the cost of finding a new teacher (IF they can find one) is so much. Example-Instead of 100,000, ask for 300,000. See what happens. You have NOTHING to lose.