Korean Job Discussion Forums

[lemonde]

Hi folks,

Looking for some advice from your wise selves...

I've been offered 2 uni/college jobs ...


1. in Suwon area...
- technical college
- 12 hours teaching
- 4 month vacation
- 2.6 million
- no housing / flights

2. in Seoul
- language center of uni
- 18 hours teaching
- 2 months vacation
- 2.1 million
- housing offered or 300,000 W
- no flights

It will be my first uni/college job.... The tech. college offers better conditions but lower level/reputation while the language center seems to be more professionally run (from an English teaching perspective).

I would like to make a career of teaching English here ... so I'm wondering would it look better on my resume the fact that I worked at a uni language center? If so, does that outweigh the better conditions of the college? ...


Thanks in advance for your opinion,

Lemonde...

[kimchi_pizza]

[lawyertood]

You might also want to factor in how many hours you will be actually working. Many contracts have base hours--12-18, however, these same schools expect you to work overtime, usually paid at a rate from 11,000/hr to 40,000/hr. You might want to ask each place what the usual courseload is in a semester.

If you can, contact current teachers at each and ask them what they like and don't like about working there.

In the end, however, you have to decide what factors are more important to you.

[PRagic]

If you have designs on working at the university level long-term, then take the departmental job in Suwon. Besides, it's less expensive there, so you'll be able to afford a decent enough place. Unigwons can be good jobs, but they are pretty much hakwon-type skill set oriented.

Also, do you have your MA (preferably in a dicipline related to teaching ESL)? If you don't, then it won't matter which job you take. In fact, if you have long-term aspirations and want to stay competitive for the better jobs in Korea, it'd be better to add on a CELTA and DELTA in addition to just an MA.

Good luck to you. Let us know what you decide.

[cruisemonkey]

Definitely take the tech. college job.

K universities carry very little weight in the world of academia; and the job is 'uni.' in name only.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Professor Lemonade, long time, no see! Have you been on sebatical?

I hear that Yeungnam University is looking to hire lots of foreign professors for this year, many of them teaching extra content-based classes for extra money. But the professorship in Suwon you posted sounds quite attractive, too.

[Hyeon Een]

One other consideration might be how enjoyable the teaching will be.

I haven't taught at a technical college, but I suspect the students will be worse at English than at a good University. Students at a technical college might also not want to learn English beause they don't see it as useful for their future careers. This might make teaching them suck. Having a class full of students who don't want to be there but who have to take it for a required credit can be unenjoyable.

At a Unigwon one advantage is that the students generally CHOOSE to take your class, so they are quite keen. Class sizes will be smaller too. Of course if you are teaching the Uni's freshman English classes as well the above situation might also apply. If the University is one of the better, more academic ones they might be more keen than in a technical college.

Salary and contract conditions are important, but the day to day teaching involved can have a massive effect on your well being.

Good luck.