Korean Job Discussion Forums

Chamchiman · Joined: 24 Apr 2006 Location: Digging the Grave

Paging public school teachers who got their jobs directly from the school. (Yu BumSuk?)

How did you go about doing that?

I want to find a public school job in a specific country town, but applying through the umbrella program doesn't guarantee that you'll end up anywhere near where you want to be. For example, if you want to work only in Gyeonggido Ichon and you apply to GEPIK, you could end up way up north near the border. Similar for EPIK, or even SMOE.

Options?

Thanks.

Yu_Bum_suk · Joined: 25 Dec 2004

When my school district first started hiring FTs they were using someone at a university in Busan to recruit. I contacted them and they put me in touch with school district officials. I asked them if I could visit a few high schools and I got to visit two and meet their principals. One principal totally set off my BS detector and his school was way off in the middle of nowhere; the principal and VP at the other seemed like well meaning idiots who had no idea what a FT could and couldn't do at their school. 3+ years on I'm still pretty happy and content at the latter (and a bit of an institution here). Now I have pretty well nothing to do with my school district if I can help it and am happy to let my school 'own' me.

Since then my district has gone to using big recruiting agencies and more or less randomly placing FTs. I guess I was lucky to come along at the right time and choose the right school.

Scotticus · Joined: 18 Mar 2007

I answered a Help Wanted ad from a website (I think WorknPlay).

wanderingsalsero · Joined: 23 Dec 2006 Location: Houston, TX.

My next school is going to be what I think is a very nice middle school in Suwon. I got a tip from a Korean lady who had been a temporary contract teacher where I teach now. She and I were very good friends and she knew that my contract here was expiring in December.

She called me one day and said she was looking on 'the website' (which I later discovered was the Gyeonggi-do GEPIK website) and seen an ad. She called the school and had a good conversation with the Korean lady there who was the head English teacher and was actually doing the looking.

That lady said she wanted to talk to me. I called her and made arrangements to go down there (to Suwan) and check out the school and meet her. It was a very nice school and she seemed very nice so........

Supposedly they're trying to figure out how to transfer my teacher status to the new school (and get the new E2 visa) without me having to do a visa run.

Point is, it seemed amazing to me that the job openings were right there on the Gyeonggi-do website.

Best regards,
Art

ttompatz · Joined: 05 Sep 2005 Location: Kwangju, South Korea

Drop your resume and cover letter (bilingual of course) at the principal's office of the schools in the area you want to work in or the local district education office.

You may have to help with the paperwork (if any is necessary) but it is certainly do-able (worked for me).

AussieGav · Joined: 02 Sep 2007 Location: Uijeongbu

I went through GEPIK but stipulated that I wanted to stay in my current location (wife's family and work). Everything worked out fine, I was offered a couple of positions but some of the factors didnt really suit me so I knocked them back and said I would wait. I was offered my current position a couple of weeks later in exactly the right location for me.

I think if you have the time to wait it should be ok to tell the agent what you want. Or, of course, the advice given by ttopatz is a good option.

Korussian · Joined: 15 Sep 2007

I went through a recruiter and asked him in which cities he was recruiting for public schools in GEPIK. I made sure he understood I wanted to sign with the school privately, not through the GEPIK umbrella.

He named off a few cities, and I chose one.

Chamchiman · Joined: 24 Apr 2006 Location: Digging the Grave

Thanks very much for the replies everyone - Korussian, Gav, ttompatz, Art, Scott, YBS.

If anyone else got hired on at a school directly, I'd like to hear how you did it.

English Matt · Joined: 12 Oct 2008

I used a recruiter, ESL Planet - I wanted to work for a High School in Suwon, and they had a school that was looking for a teacher. The recruiter worked as a go-between, liaising with the school and me, before putting me into direct contact with an English speaking teacher at the school. Simple.

However, there are schools that hire directly without using a recruiter. From what I understand, it tends to be the better funded specialist foreign language public schools, that have a number of Native English Teachers on their books, that have this luxury. If you check out the websites of these schools, they usually have an English language option and a recruitment tab.

With the shortage of teacher it seems that most other schools have to turn to a recruiter.

bassexpander · Joined: 13 Sep 2007 Location: Someplace you'd rather be.

Applying directly to a school can actually be an advantage for you. If you have a Korean spouse, this is much easier.

Everyone wants to save a buck, and if a school can hire you and save several hundred in recruiters fees, they'll do it. They might even hire you over someone they'd have to pay a recruiters fee for.

What you need to do is find a good area near where you'd like to live, and start leaving resumes -- one for the principal (or asst.) and one for the English department -- at each school. Be sure to have a nice introduction letter, professional passport-sized snapshot wearing a suit, and a reference letter or two in Korean.

If you do this, and you look the part, I guarentee you'll be hired somewhere provided there are openings.

wanderingsalsero · Joined: 23 Dec 2006 Location: Houston, TX.

I tend to agree with bassexpander. My background is in sales and I've always found that aggressive prospectors have an advantage. This recent bout of job hunting for me seemed to indicate that schools find the recruiting function a pain-in-the-butt.....i.e. working through recruiters.

If a person had the time to go around to different schools I think that would for sure be the smart way to go. If the school is looking for somebody....don't worry, they'll find some way to talk to you.

Art

kiwiliz · Joined: 20 Apr 2006 Location: New Zealand

the recruiter I used listed that he handled public schools...I got lucky with where I am

sojusucks · Joined: 31 May 2008

You have to have a connection in Korea, either through recruiters or other teachers that work at your school (make sure they like you before asking). Another valuable reference is other foreign teachers. They may know of openings.

teachergirltoo · Joined: 28 Oct 2006

I have a Korean friend who went through the Korean yellow pages for a particular area, and made a list of all the schools. He then called them and asked in Korean if they were needing a foreign teacher. Something like five of them said yes, so my other friend who wanted a job went to the school she wanted and they gave her the job (first they called their own recruiter). Obviously, it can help immensely if you can have a Korean friend do something like this for you.