Korean Job Discussion Forums

[martinpil]

Compared to the guy who is on the Korean blacklist sites sayin he taught there in 1998 and wouldnt teach there again. He said most teachers he came across had had nice experiences teaching ESL in other countries except Korea BLAH BLAH BLAH and there were lots of runners after a few months BLAH BLAH BLAH.

Is it better than back then do you think? I know there is a blacklist of Hogwans but how do we know if it wasnt the teacher's fault and they are just putting them on the list when it was their fault all along...I saw a teacher remark that her school was a good school with a nice manager and not to listen to the teacher who blacklisted it coz he was fired for just making the kids colour in books towards the end of his contract BLAH BLAH BLAH.


So, overall, would you say it's OK now and bad schools are a minority now compared with this guy who says they were the rule back then.

[Lostone7]

"he was fired for just making the kids colour in books towards the end of his contract BLAH BLAH BLAH."


LOL that's got to be the wajaneem speaking there! IF you get fired and its at the end it is always to jack you out of the money they owe you at the end! Period.

As to you question:

YES and NO depends on specifics..................

[icnelly]

nowadays...

My spidey sense is tingling: are you korean~~ㅋㅋㅋ??

[moosehead]

[PRagic]

Sadly, very few of the ESL workplace realities, particularly where hakwons are concerned, have changed over the past 20 years.

University employment has actually gotten WORSE over the past 5 years for ESL teachers. In non-ESL teaching diciplines, however, things are shaping up.

The upside is that at least now there are quasi-legal avenues (e.g. the labour board) through which foreign employees can solve workplace disputes.

Immigration still has a pathetic inability to communicate policy.

Hakwon owners still fail to bone up on cross-cultural management issues and techniques. 11th hour shafts still dominate the gripes made by the ESL teaching community.

Recruiters still...well, they're still recruiters, and the system favours the employer, not the employee. No help here.

So the real question is, 'Other things being equal, will foreigners opt to teach English in Korea?' Unfortunately, I doubt the answer will be yes.

[Tiger Beer]

[sojourner1]

I understand the best time was 2005 to mid 2008 with the exchange rate around 950 to 1000 to a dollar and everything not as expensive as now. Not only did things get more expensive, the Won lost 30% value 3 to 5 months ago and still holding out.

Of course, there weren't as many public school jobs over 1 year ago as there are today. EPIK had a big hiring event during 2008 and expect to do more in 2009 with a goal of placing 2 foreign teachers in public schools. Of course, the Philippians and Indians are coming this year to fill in on that request as there aren't enough of us from the 7 E-2 visa countries and the government just OK'd it.

Right now is still good as we have jobs with benefits while 500,000 people a month at home get permanently let go since companies have nothing to offer us today. Many people who are technically considered independent subcontractors don't have unemployment benefits, but being an ESL teacher is no different as we too are on our own as we don't qualify for unemployment when we move back home. The difference is we're not being permanently sent home (yet) from work to never return to that job like people in America are experiencing.

30% loss of Won value is still better than the misery folks at home are grappling with. Teaching in Korea is a smart way to ride out the economic storm and travel a little, but what makes the most financially sound sense is not the funnest way to live. I guarantee we're a rare breed by being able to save money, take real vacations, and not live paycheck to paycheck as people at home just don't do that anymore like they once did years ago when there was more opportunity and physical economic growth supporting companies to bolster up ranks. Do you honestly think there's a place for you at home after having been out of the job market for a few years and unemployment and layoffs growing out of control like they are? Hopefully in a couple years, things will be a changing and it'll be time to rock on.

I think it's better nowadays for that very reason despite other obvious setbacks.

[Big Mac]

[fromtheuk]

I've met this guy and he is a native speaker. I think he is talking jokey-slang in the quote you've highlighted. And no, we are not the same person either.

[inkoreaforgood]

Korea has changed, but not significantly. Alot of the same bullshit that happened a decade ago is still going on, even thriving. I thought things were getting better, but that's not the case.

[princess]

[quote="sojourner1"

Right now is still good as we have jobs with benefits while 500,000 people a month at home get permanently let go since companies have nothing to offer us today. Many people who are technically considered independent subcontractors don't have unemployment benefits, but being an ESL teacher is no different as we too are on our own as we don't qualify for unemployment when we move back home. The difference is we're not being permanently sent home (yet) from work to never return to that job like people in America are experiencing.

.[/quote]

True. Things back in he west look bleak, but you can't just stay in Korea teaching forever, just because you are too afraid to be unemployed back in the west, and just because you are too afraid to have to start paying rent. I think one reason why so many people can't get jobs back in the states is because they are competing with many, many others, and they are all looking for college degree required jobs. It's like my uncle once said "too many people with degrees running around, and not enough jobs". True. I think if a person is willing to take almost ANY job, he or she can most likely get "something" in the states. And I mean ANYTHING...waiting tables, cooking, bartending, etc. You don't have to do these jobs forever either. But, it's better than spending money to send out hundreds of resumes for jobs that every Joe wants, only to not get hired.

[Big Mac]

[cruisemonkey]

[esetters21]

[Kimchieluver]

I just lost all respect for Martinpil.