Korean Job Discussion Forums

[princess]

Has anyone out there ever came over here to Korea with no job waiting for them? How much money did you come here with? Where did you stay that was cheap and did any of you ever run out of money without finding a decent school? I was fired in May after only teaching at the school for 2 months, even though I taught in Korea for 2 years before. They just didn't like me and they said I dressed like a princess. Oh well. I found a new job in 2 weeks and it was not the best either, because they fired me too after 4 months. Something about financial problems. I was the most experienced foreign teacher they had too. Everyone else was in their 1st year of teaching. They did not cancel my visa and they let me work there a whole month. I did not find a new job in a month this time, so I flew back to the states. I was worried about running out of money while looking for a job. What are the chances of flying over here and going broke before finding work?

[crazylemongirl]

Princess try the FAQs. Most of the answers to your questions are there.

CLG

[Tiger Beer]

I always come back to Korea without a job waiting for me. For one, because I want to see EVERYTHING that I will be getting - most particularly, the apartment. Secondly, for the location - if I'm not too familiar with the area of the school.

Also, the best jobs seem to look locally because they can. The not-so-good ones.. the one that most pick up off the net.. are the same ones that'll hurdle you into some crowded 4-bedroom apartment next to the largest dog market in Korea way out in the boondocks of lord knows where. Sure, it'll all work out and you'll be fine.. but had you seen it beforehand along with 5-6 other choices.. you'd probably have selected one of the others.

But, for example, this gig (I'm teaching online). I couldn't have got it from abroad. Before I signed my contract, I had a guy go around with me showing me VARIOUS apartments. I told them before I signed I wanted to have control over where I was living - which meant CLOSE to work without riding buses and everything else. PLUS I wanted to actually see my apartment as well.

But anyhow, to move on to your other questions. You can find some hostels and such around as low as 10 or 15 thousand for a dormitory bed - listed in the Lonely Planet Korea guidebook. Yeogwans around Shinchon can be had for 25,000/day.

Generally, I've crashed with friends.. another thing which is good is to line up as many things as possible for when you DO get here.. so you are looking immediately from Day 1 job-wise. That way you aren't wasting too much time.

How much money to bring? I don't know.. I guess a million won would be sufficient. The more the better though, as if you don't have much money you might sign on for something out of immediate financial need as opposed to other factors.

I think the longest I waited to find a job was this current one to which I looked around a good 2 weeks I guess. I could have signed a half-dozen others much earlier.. but I was being quite selective about it.

[rapier]

I was foolish enough to spend most of my money on my last holiday..not all my own fault, got messed around in Taiwan first which took up cash unexpectedly. Anyhow, I soon found myself back in a hostel in Seoul with only 200.000w to my name and no job.
I found a new job relatively quickly (wasn't too fussy) and they were willing to give me an advance, which saved my ass......
Fortunately my new schools not bad either, definitely the best organised and well- run so far.

[Gord]

Two things to consider:

[princess]

My old employer told me he would sign a release when I found a new job. He gave me a letter of recommendation saying he recommends me for any teaching job and that I fulfilled my contract requirements. He said he can't give me a letter of release until I find a new job. I gave a notice to another school back in '99 and they did the same thing. They did not put the release letter in my hand before I left, but they did give me the same kind of recommendation letter. I found a new job a month later and had no problems with immigration. I never saw or had the actual release letter in my hand.

[Son Deureo!]

Your old boss can give you a letter of release that states that you can work for anyone else in Korea. If it's not, there's a good chance that he's angling for a "finder's fee". This probably isn't helping your job search.