Korean Job Discussion Forums

[0916]

It's coming up to renewal time so I'm gonna be talking to my school in the next few days. I'm pretty happy with my school but am also looking at other options...

I'm currently on 2.1m per month and 20,000w per hour overtime but I want a raise on my overtime pay and hours and a week of leave during term to attend my sisters wedding.

I have a really good relationship with my school so I hope I can get what I want to stay...

My questions are:

How flexible are schools with raising overtime pay and granting extra leave?

What benefits have people negotiated when renewing with Gepik before?

If renewing with a Gepik school then is the contract usually with Gepik or is it with the school?

[spliff]

I think you can expect to be offered no more than what's stipulated in the GEPIK contract. You may ask for a 100,000 raise and consider yourself lucky if you get it. Why don't you consider doing an online TEFL certificate and get your salary bumped to 2.3?

[0916]

I've got a CELTA...

[maingman]

...here we go again

[teachergirltoo]

Your second year contract will be with the school. You have the qualifications to negotiate. If your school is uneasy about rewording the original contract then have an amendment letter signed by the principal attached to the back of the contract. I am with GEPIK and have found my school very willing to negotiate on vacation time and overtime rate. All they can say is no, so ask for what you need or want. However, you may find that if you are a good teacher that they will be very reasonable- minded in meeting your requests.

[tob55]

Good advice teachergirltoo,

I have found this to be the rule after being in my PS position for the last 4 contract periods. There is certainly something to be said about staying at the same job long enough to develop a working relationship with the people you are with. To the OP, I would read through the contract and take note of the things you noticed that could be changed to give you either more pay or benefits. Too often people overlook the benefit aspect of the contract, but that is just as important. By "benefit" I mean time off and other perks like being able to be off campus during your free hours if you have errands to run.

I have negotiated blocks of time that are free in my schedule allowing me to work on my writing and other interests which is impossible to do when I have to work a split schedule throughout the day. All of these things come into play. I also negotiated a bigger apartment with a better location which was a biggy for my wife. We now have a 35 pyeong apartment instead of the little 12 pyeong crackerbox we were first in my first year.

There are many things you can do to negotiate additional benefits that on the surface cost the school nothing, but in reality give you more freedom that you normally wouldn't have. My best to you as you work towards continuing in your current school.

[KYC]

it depends on how bad the school wants you to stay as well. I don't consider myself a great teacher but my current school wants me to stay desperately. They've told me I can get a new apt, raise, and more vacation if I stay.

Off course they didn't offer these things until SMOE called for a reference. I guess once they found out prospective employers were looking to hire me, they decided to up the ante.

It's not terrible here, but I've had my moments. I will not stay with my current school even if they offer really good benefits. I don't think I can last another year of this.

[0916]

Thanks for the replies so far. Seems some people think things are none negotiable but others seem to have negotiated.

For me, the overtime raise is quite important for the next year. I'm currently on 20,000 w per hour. What kind of raises have people previously negotiated?

[tob55]

My third year I told them I would not work for less than 30,000 KRW per hour, simply because I knew they had it in the budget. They gave me 35,000 KRW. This year I have no overtime, because there is some kind of mandate on the overtime. I think they are spending the money on other things like the English camp we will do which is costing a bit more this year than in previous years. We will be traveling and doing "tour English" as our theme. It is nice because I get to travel while conversing more normally with my students rather than a structured classroom situation.

You time is just as valuable as that of the KTs. If you state your case and the school has no problems with you, they will listen to reason and often come through with some middle of the road offer, which isn't bad. (This is more the rule than the exception, but in the end, it is up to your school.) Remember a little courtesy goes along way. Make demands and you get negative results. Be willing to speak respectfully to your school admins and they will be more willing to bend the rules for you. This is what I have found. It is simply professional protocol.