Korean Job Discussion Forums

trailrunner · Joined: 06 Mar 2008 Location: Cape Town

Hi there from a newbie in S Africa just wanting to know if anybody has heard of TeachKorea in Cape Town and could offer any advice. There seem to be so many conflicting bits of info regarding recruiters I am finding all this quite confusing. TeachKorea do charge a commision to find a position but say that they are prepared to help with visas, proper placement, accomodation etc, etc. This will be all put in place before leaving SA and I only pay off of my second salary. For the peace of mind it sounds reasonable after reading the horror stories on many of the posts here. Please help if you can. Thanks

Adobe · Joined: 02 Jul 2007 Location: SK

Trailrunner: Stay far far away from TeachKorea,they are abunch of scam artists. You don't need to pay commision to come work in Korea. Go through Footprints of Rowan at eslplanet or any of the other recruiters but DON'T PAY any sort of commision.

For what its worth, two of the South Africans in the latest EPIK shipment went through them, and when EPIK heard about the commision they 'hit the roof'.

Adobe

TeeBee · Joined: 18 Oct 2007

You really don't need to pay any commission to get placed. Most recruiters will help with the visas, placement, accommodation and all that nonsense. For free! The schools pay the recruiters a commission to find teachers, so if you pay TeachKorea they will get paid twice for finding you a job.

You can also try Joyce Kim at Korvia (www.korvia.com). She was awesome in helping me and my wife to get to Korea from SA. And there was some mess up with our accommodation when we arrived (since we are a couple but we work at two different schools - long story), but Joyce jumped in and sorted it all out in less than an hour. Very cool.

marckot · Joined: 16 Jan 2007 Location: Mokpo

DO NOT make use of them. There is no need to pay any kind of money to a recruiter. I am a fellow South African and made use of Rowan at ESL-planet to find my job. Go to their website and check out the job board. www.esl-planet.com

expat2001 · Joined: 28 Jan 2006

trailrunner · Joined: 06 Mar 2008 Location: Cape Town

Thank you all for the advice. I will certainly look towards Korea and finding a school there directly. I am keen to teach in a public school and believe that the EPIK schools are amongst the best options. It will probably take about six weeks for me to get a police clearance, relevant docs for a visa and finalize arrangements on this side, as my adventure down this road is still in its infancy. It would be preferable for me to teach out in the country somewhere, but within relatively close distance to Seoul. Again seeking advice or leads from anybody who may know of anything going, or is it still to far off for me to start looking

TeeBee · Joined: 18 Oct 2007

If you are keen to try the area around Seoul, then you should look at GEPIK. I'm with them, and they placed me at a school about an hour away from Seoul. Much cheaper to live out here, but still close to the city for a day trip. The city (actually more like a town) where I'm staying is big enough to have everything I need, but small enough to get around by walking. Very cool.

trailrunner · Joined: 06 Mar 2008 Location: Cape Town

Cheers for that TB, you have been extremely helpful both here and on your site. I can't PM you due to the 25 post thing as I am a newcomer here but think I know where I can get your email. As a fellow Saffer would it be okay for me to contact you privately for a deeper insight into how to go about things. Thanks

TeeBee · Joined: 18 Oct 2007

No problem! Glad to be of help. Send me an email and I'll see if I can help from my meager repository of experience. It's hard enough finding any helpful info out there as it is. And the more South Africans in Korea the better! I'm having a hard time convincing my students that I actually come from Africa!

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