Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jkelly80]

If it's 25/hr that's ridiculous.

[Tommy]

I interviewed with them 2 weeks back. At the time I was sick and had just heard that they didn't offer housing, so I wasn't that enthusiastic going into it.

I sat down with the national recruiter, Neil, who was genuinely a nice guy but for the most part it felt like a sales pitch.. "We're the best" etc, and it lasted a lonnnnng time (at 90 minutes I had to cut the interview short to get to work).

The thing that really got to me, was after telling me the one thing that separated WSI from the other adult hagwons was their extremely high tuition, they could only offer 2.3 WITH NO HOUSING! Housing options included 10 mil key money OR 100,000 /month extra (so 2.4).
I got the feeling they really push the part-time work as they'll let you work a second job and there's potential to make quite a bit of money. But that essentially means split-shift, and I was only looking for full-time block shift

Got asked questions like, "With 2~3 years experience, what do you bring to the table which someone with a PhD can't offer?" I personally know 2 people who were hired there right after graduation and flied over with zero experience. Another thing that made me laugh was begin told that only those with PhDs or tons of certs would be offered 2.4~2.5 .... still with no housing

[Toon Army]

2.3/2.4 and no housing...... that sucks.....who takes these jobs?

Out of interest what do they usually give for part time/hourly salaries?

[artemisia]

The posts here have mostly been positive though I'd have to agree with the last one - no housing for that money? No way.
I worked (for a short time) for WSI in Germany. Different country and a long time ago but it didn't suit me at all. Maybe they've improved their materials since those days but I disliked the lack of freedom in what I could teach and the clincher for me was the day I was forced to deliver a (useless) grammar filled lesson to a student who'd just told me how stressed he was about grammar.
I can't remember exactly which grammar point it was but it was a write off. If it had been up to me I'd have tailored the classes around what he actually needed English for (his job) and slipped (useful) grammar in through the back door, so to speak. It wasn't possible to do that back then and I bet it still isn't. If students didn't get the particular lesson (sometimes filled with ridiculous esoteric vocab etc.) then they'd be behind for their self learning sessions in the lab (and it would be obvious the material in class hadn't been done as laid out). Anyway, I left WSI and went back to freelancing.
Not all lessons were bad though and maybe it IS a better option than some schools in Korea?
Basically I've just never met (worked in) a chain language school I liked.

[Forbidden-Donut]

Working part-time at Wall Street is a pretty good deal. Yea, its only $25/hr, but they will provide up to a 10mil housing deposit, sponsor your visa, and legally allow you to work a second job. Seems worth it.

The classes are for the most part pretty easy too. Not much real 'teaching' since the students learn everything on their own, its more correcting mistakes they make during class activities. No prep needed for any classes after the first month/two months. One class has no teaching whatsoever, all you have to do is talk to students in the main lobby area.

[justin moffatt]

I have had a few colleagues that have worked at WSI. They claim that aesthetically it looks professional, however, adminstration often bundles things on a regular basis. It sounded like a decent first time job for newbies with little to no teaching experience, who aren't concerned with quality lessons . . .

On the other hand, I am sure that if their evaluations aren't high (by using shoddy curriculum) that the instructor's are quickly shown the door.

[i4NI]

[Tommy]

[bogey666]

[roknroll]

[buymybook]

[TECO]

I would never work for Wall Street full time but part-time might be an option, depending on the hours. It's not a very good company to work for and if you do a search lots has been written about Wall Street in places like Thailand, Taiwan and here.

[swashbuckler]

[RMNC]

Honestly, teaching adults is better than having free housing and teaching kids, in my opinion.

[Los Angeloser]

Basically, you'll be working for so called Program Managers(Schedulers) who think they are pretty cool and are foreigners/F-2 visa holders married to Korean women. Good luck to all E-2 visa holders. They say they're there to help you but won't go out of their way one bit to do so when it really counts.