Korean Job Discussion Forums

[RChrisman]

I'm new to this site and I was hoping to get help with a few questions. Sorry if this is the wrong location for this.

I'm graduating with a BS in Psychology in June. I'm hoping to go to Korea to teach sometime in August.

1. Is there anything I can do now to get the ball rolling (besides researching the culture) or do I have to wait until I get my degree?

2. Will a BS instead of a BA affect my chances of getting a job?

3. I saw a post about new background check laws, should I apply for that now?

4. Is it better to go through a recruitment program? If so any good/bad experiences with recruiters?

5. Will getting a TESOL certificate increase my salary? If so are online TESOL legit?

Any help is appreciated, thanks.

[Lostone7]

[venus]

A 100 hr, 20 unit online telf cert will get you 2.1 I think instead of 2.0 on the GEPIK pay scale.

I have two important things to add.

Hakwan jobs suck arse, BUT you usually work with 5 - 10 other foriegners, so good instant social group. If you get on well with htem, you can just go through the motions (you'll find out what I mean after a couple of months) of the job and nod and grin a lot when your boss talks to you and have a good 'working holiday' kind of experience.

Public schools (ESPECIALLY Elementary) are much more rewarding jobs if you REALLY want to teach, are more reliable and usually have much better benefits and more holiday time. And you're usually treated like a real human at most of them (not all.) However, you will be the only forienger there and if you're in an area (like me) with not many other foriengers around it can get very lonely and depressing. I'm fine as been here 3 yrs so allready have friends in this city and nearby. But had I moved here as my first job, I doubt I'd be able to hack it. My first job was at a khakwan, tough hours a 1.8 mil salary BUT there were 9 other foriengers and they made me very welcome and helped me out / showed me around a lot.

It all depends on your personality and life experience. That said, public school jobs in Seoul, Ilsan / Goyang or Bundang (Seoul outskirts) are okay as lots of other forieners to bump into in these areas and they're close to Seoul. Hey, even some of the bigger areas outside Gyeonggi do too, you can meet people.

This is one of the biggest things I bring up when advising people of coming here.

[BS.Dos.]

If you're thinking of coming over next August and you've already started scratching around on here, then I'd say that by next Spring you'll have absorbed enough info to get off to a pretty good start. Just keep coming on here, posting, reading, soaking it up etc. After a month or so you'll start to get an idea of what and where is probably right for you.

If you can fit it in (unlikely I expect if you're doing your finals next year) try and get either a TESOL/CELTA or, failing that, some kind of classroom/teaching experience before you head out here. Even if it's only in an assistance capacity it'll pay dividends over your first month or so of teaching in Korea.

Read up if you can't get any practical experience. I suggest picking up some teaching books on teaching young learners, low level learners and teaching in a monolingual classroom.

Personally speaking, it's as good (so far) out here as I hoped it would be.

P.S. Pack some Marmite.

[Milwaukiedave]