Korean Job Discussion Forums

[staples]

Here is my dilemna:

I have been offered a contract that states that I will be working from September 1, 2008 to August 31, 2009. The thing is, I am not even over there in South Korea, let alone have signed it.

The recruiter says that when I arrive, the place I'll be working at will make a new contract to change the date. I really don't know what to make of this.

[bassexpander]

Don't. They could decide to make your pay 1.1 per month and ask you to sign that.

Sounds like bait-and-switch to me. If it were a registered public school job with a definite pay scale, I wouldn't worry so much. I'd still be very careful.

[staples]

thanks for replying.

It is actually from the Ministry of Education in Ulsan, so do I have to worry?

[Rusty Shackleford]

I wouldn't worry if it is public school.

Same thing happened with me back in March. Got here on the 18th of March and they changed my contract to finish March 18 2009.

[Sody]

Just be careful that you ready whatever new contract you are signing carefully. They might try and change something or if your signed contract had changes that were newly implemented then the newer one might not have such changes.

I strongly recommend you DO NOT sign this contract. The reason why is that I had a similar thing happen to me and basically what happens is that immigration may create your ARC based on the dates in your initial contract. The problem with this is that your ARC usually expires a few days after your contract is officially over. If by some stroke of luck they use the initial contract and end your ARC on a date you are still working, you will have problems. What you want is to have your ARC end several days after your contract end date so that you can resolve any last minute problems with severance, your bills, last month pay, etc.

[teachergirltoo]

The same thing happened to me when I first came to Korea to work in a public school. It was no problem though. The first day at school we got the correct dates on the contract and signed by the principal and it has been smooth sailing since.

[loose_ends]

[Ya-ta Boy]

I'd be careful about that contract change. They could well decide to change only the start date and leave the end date the same, meaning you only end up with an 11 month contract and no severence. It happened to me in a public school.

[Kimchieluver]

[Draz]

[losing_touch]

See you in Ulsan!

[Tobias]

If you know your definite arrival date, simply have the recruiter make sure the contract jibes and fax an updated version to you. If it looks good and you're happy with it, sign it. Just make sure it's good for a year and you won't have any problems staying legal near the end. Don't sign anything that's not a year. It must be a year-long if you want the bennies that come at the end, such as completion bonus, air fare, et al.

[staples]

Alright, thanks to all of you for the input. I guess I'll probably see some of you in Ulsan

Cheers

[losing_touch]

[staples]

Cool, problem is, I don't think i have enough posts to send people a PM, if that is what you need to actually PM.