Korean Job Discussion Forums

[plato's republic]

All the recent talk of the imminent changes to the E2 visa rules has everybody speculating and throwing in their two cents worth about the requirement of criminal record checks and health checks etc..so here's my two cents on the current situation and what might actually serve better to keep out the scumbags from coming to 'teach' in Korea.

Instead of requiring everyone to apply for their E2 visa in their 'home' country, as well as having to provide criminal record and health checks and forcing us to sit through a potential interview with a Korean Embassy official, why don't they just force the hagwons and public schools to drop the free return flights and rent-free accommodation. This would, in my opinion, drastically reduce the number of undesirable people coming to work here and perhaps be even more effective in the long run than forcing us to jump through degree verification procedures and whatnot on a yearly basis.

Give teachers three-year work visas just like in Japan and scrap the bonuses and I'd be willing to bet that there would be far fewer 'scandals' erupting here in the future and less BS documentaries appearing on TV slamming the behaviour of foreign teachers in Korea.

I think that these new rules will have a negative impact on the number of quality teachers arriving here in the future and will perhaps lead to an increase of foreigners teaching illegally on tourist visas. Either way, I don't think these recent proposals, which have not been finalised yet, are quite the answer we are looking for.

[caniff]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=xEpPnh5UHeE

The illegal teachers are the Baseball Furies.

[Sapa]

Would it be worth your while teaching in Korea if you didn't get the perks though. Surely one of the main reasons people choose Korea is due to the potential to save? If you had to fork out for flights and accommodation from a normal wage then your savings would be greatly reduced.

[plato's republic]

But therein lies the beauty of it all. This would drastically reduce the number of imbeciles who are currently teaching here because of the 'free perks' that we all currently get. Anyway, it's still cheaper than living in Japan.

[Atavistic]

[caniff]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=pgZCjcFBBJU&feature=related

For this clip, the "Warriors" actually represent the other posters/typists who may be reading this.

[adeline]

both changing the rules (in this manner) and reducing the pay will have a negative impact. Paying to get a job and spending a lot of time doing it chases away both bad and good teachers. If they figured out a simple and streamlined way to verify everything it would do exactly what they needed. Everyone with nothing to hide would go through quickly, and those without a degree or a with a criminal record wouldn't even bother. If they did stop giving free housing and flights they would have to raise the wage to get the demanded number of teachers, and it would have to more than compensate for the change because there is a lot more risk with having to pay for your own flight and find your own place hoping that your hagwan doesn't screw you over.

[normalcyispasse]

That's a ridiculous suggestion. It's simply tantamount to cutting wages. Yeah, I suppose that's one way to get rid of some people, but. . . really? Is that a wise thing to do?

I don't consider the airfare and housing to be free. They're stipulated as conditions in my contract. I consider their value to be part of my contractual worth. Japan, for instance, doesn't pay airfare/housing so I consider a Japanese contract to automatically be down about $8,000 on its yen-won equivalent.

[plato's republic]

Normalcyispasse,

The reason why Japan has far fewer bums knocking around than Korea is precisely because teachers must pay for their own flights and accommodation, thereby keeping away the idiots and illegals to a large degree. Instead a vast majority of these individuals end up coming to teach here in Korea on tourist visas, with their fake degrees and then end up getting busted for smoking pot, causing the rest of us legitimate teachers a whole load of trouble we can do without. It might not solve the issue entirely but I'd be willing to bet it would help reduce the number of incidents that seem to occur here on a regular basis.

Anyway, as I said, it's just my two cents worth.

[zeppelin]

Possibly the most ill-thought out suggestion I've yet to hear. An average first time hagwon contract will provide a basic one room which probably costs the hagwon about 3-4 million for the full 12 months (outside Seoul, not sure how much it would cost in Seoul).

You are in effect asking to be paid 2 months salary less? Factor in a flight at around 2 million and now you want to be paid 3 months less?

What about Key Money? How are first-time teachers supposed to be able to afford that? Do you really think the first thing someone is going to do in a foreign country and culture is hand over many thousands of dollars to a landlord for a rental system they don;t really understand?

The flights and accommodation are not �free�. They are not provided by some charity. They are part of the payment you receive in exchange for your labour and your willingness to relocate to the other side of the world. The flights and accommodation make it feasible to live and teach in Korea, they are not hand-outs.

I'd say your proposal would increase the amount of idiots in Korea since only a fool would want to do the same job for less money.

Wouldn't it make more sense if immigration actually worked out a sensible and usable system of verification and then actually made, kept, and maintained systematic records of this?

[lastat06513]

But then....the celery would have to increase to pay for the loss of free housing and the teacher would have to be reimbursed somehow for the airfare....

Only someone who had been in Korea for a while and have some connections around Seoul or some such place could get by easily on 2.2 with no housing...

But by taking away alot of the fringe benefits of working in Korea, you relegate Korea to the same status as places like Thailand and Bolivia......

But I can see why people would want to work in Thailand.....

Ironically, the best jobs I ever had in Korea were those that didn't offer housing or airfare for the visa runs.....they made it up by having a kickass work environment....

[Young FRANKenstein]

[twg]

Oh yeah... If Korea had the Japan visa deal, rent or no, this place would become a choice location.

[Julius]

"Keeping out riffraff" is actually a simple process if you just have someone sane interviewing applicants face to face. Preferably a westerner who knows how to judge who's most likely a freak and who isn't. A korean should not be conducting any interviews with foreigners because most ajosshis are probably 100X more nuts than any foreigner. Problem is Koreans will happily hire an axe murderer because they have blonde hair and blue eyes in a photo.

[mysteriousdeltarays]

Probably help to look for Catholic Seminary students who spend a lot of time in Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia.