Korean Job Discussion Forums

[neonemesis]

Well, cold is in the eye of the beholder. It was -30c the other day so even at its coldest Masan would be pretty pleasant. At any rate though I'll take your advice and look for better positions. The last thing I want to do is get stuck doing something I hate for a year.

[yingwenlaoshi]

Look for better positions. That hagwon position is 9-5:30? That's a serious killer. Also looks like kindergarten in the morning. That's a looooooooong day for a hagwon position.

If you're looking for a hagwon, go for something that's afternoon till evening. Like 2-9 or 3-10. Anything more than 7 hours isn't too good. And don't sign anywhere that asks you to do much else but teaching.

When you get a contract, post it on here (without the schools name, etc.) and someone here will take a look over it.

Be careful and do your research.

[Homer]

I will assume you have no teaching experience and a non-education related degree (if I am wrong, let me know).

So..you have these two offers. I added numbers to the offers to comment on them...

[chachee99]

I don't think either two offers are that great, even for a newbie.

With all the new visa restrictions Korea is getting more desperate for teachers. I think you can find something much better. I wouldn't accept any job that pays under 2.2 million. Trust me, at 30 hours a week, you are well worth it.

Also, living in Seoul means you can easily network with other foreigners and find things to do.

[Homer]

The new visa rules might lead to a teacher shortage and this might lead to higher wages for newbies.

However, it is far too soon to judge if the new regulations have had any effect on wages. As such, it is also premature to start demanding more money for an experienced newbie with no education related degree.

By all means, negociate a fair wage based on your worth in this market. However, blindly saying you will not settle for anything under 2.2 or 2.5 for set amount of hours is a bit naive.

There is already talk of easing some of the new regulations and the new regulations themselves are not that hard for newbies who have never applied for a job as an ESL teacher. Finally, start comparing visa requirements and procedures of places that offer similar pay, savings potential and advantages for ESL teachers with no experience and this talk of tough regs quickly dies out.

As for returning teachers. It is more an annoyance than a reason to leave.

The teacher shortage has not manifested itself so far but the cry for do not settle for anything less than XX has started up. such is life.

[neonemesis]

Well I talked to my recruiters and told her that I'll accept the private school contract if they agree to 2.2won. I may take it even if they refuse. I talked to some of the teachers working there and they told me they were enjoying the work. Honestly the hours don't bother me all that much since I prefer having my evenings off and I find it hard to motivate myself to work later in the day. The actual hours are 9:30 to 5:30 with one hour for lunch and three hours for preparation. I figure that 4 hours a day of actual teaching isn't that bad.

I was also told that except for 1 or 2 workshops and graduation I would never have to attend anything on the weekend or after hours so thats a big bonus. I've heard only good things about the director from both the teachers and the recruiters and they assured me that their focus is on teaching and not pandering to parents, which is really important to me.

Anyways, thank you for all your help.

[chachee99]

[NightSky]

[kiwiliz]

Good luck, I hope you get it. It looks like you have done as much advance checking on this job as anyone could do....and an awful lot more than others.

All the best!

[hagwonnewbie]

Post your resume and wait. You can do a little better. I recommend you consider some other cities like Daejeon, Gwangju, or Pusan.

[hari seldon]

[Homer]

[air76]

I agree with Homer that the new visa regulations have yet to really drive up wages (maybe the only difference being that if you ask for 100,000/month more that you'll get it whereas in the past the school might have said no.)

My girlfriend and I both have 3+ years teaching experience in 3 different countries, including Korea, and CELTA certs. We figured that we'd get 2.5 no problem, especially with the tightened regulations. But we found that the schools weren't as desperate as we thought they'd be. Granted, we weren't willing to work in Seoul, Busan, or any city over 1,000,000 people, so certainly that had an effect. But at the end of the day we found that schools were willing to let us walk before they'd pay even 2.4, and so we finally settled on 2.3.

I think that if you're already in Korea and can talk to the schools directly that you can negotiate 2.5 or higher, but I don't think that the supply has fallen enough yet to push Hagwon owners to pay too much more than they already are.

As a side note...our perspective on the pay/benefits in Korea has changed drastically after leaving to work in 2 other countries (Vietnam and Chile)....the pay in Korea is ridiculously higher than you get elsewhere, and I think that the majority of people who complain about pay in Korea have never taught elsewhere and don't realize that we ARE being compensated for dealing with the difficulties that do arise when living in Korea.

Face it...even on 2.1 million a month you can live well and still save $15,000 in a year. That in itself IS a job worth jumping through these little hoops for.....and the hoops aren't THAT bad, we did it all while living in Chile and all it really involves is making a few phone calls, sending some faxes, and maybe $100 in fees. The rhetoric and whining is more apt to scare teachers away than the actual steps required to come work in Korea.

I think that people get caught up too much in the financial side to working in Korea as well....everyone teaching here that doesn't get screwed or doesn't spend their money foolishly is making a very good living and saving a LOT of money....so finding a school that has a system that you like, is in a town that you like, has good working hours, good resources, etc. is much more important than demanding an extra couple hundred bucks a month.

[poohbear]