Korean Job Discussion Forums

[hugekebab]

Seriously, is it just my uni that are horrifically incompetent?

Can someone post their good uni management experiences please. I need to know it's worth me switching jobs in the future, or if I should just leave Korea.

[Skippy]

Yep some Uni have competent management. And some really suck.

Do you have a specific gripe or is this just a general gripe.

Yes you should leave! Because if if you can not write another paragraph explaining yourself and the problems you have had. You should not stay any longer as Korea will just nibble on you till you go crazy.

Come on gives us details. The more you complain the more we might be more empathetic to you.

[michaelambling]

You saw my post.

I was discussing this today with a British teacher. He says it's a cultural difference--Koreans don't like planning and organizing, so everything is done last-minute. And with a bunch of middle-men pushing papers and passing on notes, things get confused and mixed up a lot. Makes perfect sense to me.

Still, I think SKY probably have to be internationally competitive.

[bassexpander]

Well, it depends.

In general, there are a lot of things I really appreciate about my school. The business office, although confusing in how they handle things for tax purposes, always (eventually) pays us what's due, and are excellent about answering our questions. I've learned not to freak-out about anything, because they always seem to pay us ... eventually.

On the flip-side, I used to live in school housing, and found it nearly impossible to get anything fixed/repaired by going through the employee I was originally told to report such problems to. Once I became acquainted with the guys in the actual department that does the fixing, and showed them some kindness/thanks/respect, I found they were extremely responsive and fast in solving most issues. One week, I made an off comment to a regular guy about how it'd sure be nice to get some bars on the windows, given that I had purchased some expensive stuff -- I wasn't even expecting anything -- the next week two guys knocked on my door at 10am to install bars.

In the first year, I did a lot of complaining about how poorly I felt things were handled, when in reality, I just didn't know the proper channels I should have been going through to get things handled.

So overall, I'm pretty happy with things at my school, get along well with pretty much everyone, and was thrilled to see a guy I know/like become elected president of the university a few weeks ago. My school isn't the highest-paying place, but it's not the worst, either. Vacations are still 4 1/2+ months paid per year, they don't pull us into meetings more than a few times per semester, and they listen to our suggestions (somewhat, at least). Oh, and a big one -- no politics between foreigners. We all get along really well. That's one thing I try to impress upon new hires: we all get along very well, and we all want to keep it that way.

I guess that's why I'm still here after 3+ years.

Of course, this is Korea. I could fart the wrong way in the wind one day and wind up out on my butt the next. I try to keep that in perspective and pick my battles.

[hugekebab]

[egrog1717]