Korean Job Discussion Forums

[gartonator]

I need a good paying job, soon. I am in debt.

I could have easily banked +$20,000 when I first taught a year in Korea in 2006/2007, but the exchange rate was so much better. (i made 2.8 back then, over 54 weeks I paid off $10,000 in debt, banked $10,000, went to japan twice, drank/ate like a king every night that I wanted to in korea, got a chicken punch every couple weeks)

Now... I need to make at least 3 million, if not 4. And I have yet to find a recruiter who is offering anything at 3 million that does not involve split shifts or lots of overtime. I can't do split shifts, and as far as lots of overtime, I'd rather just work 2 jobs if I do that.

So I'm thinking of using my credit card to buy a 1-way ticket to Seoul around August 15th, get a cheap love hotel for a week or 2, and start hitting the foreigner bars...

I was happy with my school and never in the market for another job during my first year teaching, but I remember friends who only had BA's getting sweet uni jobs, or at least high-paying/low-work hagwon jobs, just via foreigner bar conversations. Sometimes it seemed that every foreigner over the age of 45 was also a recruiter who knew of decent jobs somewhere. It was my impression that this is actually the best way to get the best deal and best work environment.

... assuming I'd get a job in a week, I'd probably start teaching somewhat illegally and do a Visa run to Fukuoka around October 1st.

Is the market there for this kind of thing right now?

Basic question : This seems the best way to make sure you're getting what you want. Would anyone recommend this, or not? Why don't I read about more people doing this?

eternal thanks, I'll buy the table a plate of mun gae if we ever meet

[bassexpander]

Things have changed.

These days, you need a criminal check, valid degree, and possibly a consulate interview. I don't think you can just hop on down to Fukoka and get a visa anymore.

Someone else more up on what's required can chime in.

[halfmanhalfbiscuit]

Uni jobs aren't as easy to get as they perhaps were before. The good ones want at least a Celta/ TESOL certificate. Also, many Uni jobs are Uni in name only (ie "Unigwan")

I doubt that any Uni jobs were ever got through personal introductions. Sounds like a bar conversation purely and along the lines of "I make 10 million per month..."

[gartonator]

really, ah fudge knockers... you cant just come to korea with the things in hand? I've tried to look this stuff up, but I swear there are so many people challenging every detail of every law every discussed on this forum, that I really have no idea what is possible and what's not anymore!

anyone know if this plan works for job seeking in China?

I'm just tired of sitting and getting mediocre offers that seem to regard your application like filling out a form.

I'm ready to start talking to school owners directly and tell them how I'm going to light a fire up under their ass (figuratively, educationally speaking of course... I'm going to offer to make schools videos as well as teach in hopes of more money, I know my old hagwon owner was begging me to do it, but i can't work for him again, i turned 30, i need my sleep)

Anyway, more details on the Fukuoka-run-semi-legal-get-a-job-in-a-bar thing would be appreciated!

[tanklor1]

[gartonator]

know it was my friend who is teaching at a uni in Korea now (i'd say his name, but he might not like that)

it wasn't a high paying job, but it was a super easy uni job and then he bounced to a higher paying job the next year, he described uni's as, once you're in, it's so much easier to move up the ladder

anyway, I'm not even talking about just uni jobs... I know there are schools that will pay more for the right person... for instance, I used to teach SAT prep and met several people who taught SAT prep at other schools in Korea, but I NEVER see any mention of these specific skills in job postings... these schools pay more than the average school, and the job is quite different from teaching a TOEFL listening workbook to a 7th grader... I'm looking for that school and I'm not finding them through joe schmoe recruiter... argh, just frustrating, anyway, thanks for the thoughts

[gartonator]

also I make videos/tv/movies professionally, made way more than I'd ever make in Korea in 2008, but I'm freelance and this year has been slooooowwwwwwww...

so I'm hoping to convince a hagwon owner that I'm going to revolutionize their school with instant-personal youtube testimonials of the school for recruiting, with a documentary called the "YBM Experience" or "Reading Town : The Best Year of Your Life", with supplementary classes posted online for sick kids, or something like that

basically I'm trying to hustle, cause if I make 2.5 then I'll probably still be in debt when I leave Korea unless my love of for cham chi dies down

[Theo]

[gartonator]

Thanks for rundown Theo, from what I've gather I should not just 'go and find a job' anywhere (except maybe Japan, and only then if you're james bond)

but just to clarify... the China RMB is on the up, 6.8 to the USD now and who knows where that will go in the future, and some jobs actually pay 12,000-14,000 and more if you have a couple years experience it seems...(i only have 1) so you might bank more in China if you get the top paying jobs rather than the top paying in Korea...

I see that the market definitely isn't what it used to be, but at the same time, there's tons of schools saying they need '30 teachers next month' etc, so somebody still needs someone desperately... my lastest hustle is to try to convince schools that my videos are going to shrink their recruiting costs by 50%, boy debt makes you creative!

[Theo]

You're welcome, gartonator! I MUCH preferred living and teaching in China to Korea -- and China was fraught with problems and frustrations! Preferred my apartment, my students, basically everything about China, but could never save much money, if any.

In Korea, because I lived in a bad (cheap) situation, etc., I was able to pay off some debts back home -- but I would never do that experience over again.

This is not meant as any type of boast, but I have two masters degrees, and university teaching experience in the U.S., and even then getting a salary (in China) much above those with a bachelor's degree was a dogged challenge.

Just before I went to Korea in May 2008 (now back in the U.S.) I was seeking ESl employment in Japan as well. I was offered two positions, but they (the employer) warned me that the entire visa process would take approx. 3 months, and I simply didn't want to wait that long.

Anyway, a few people in Japan advised me just to go there without a contact, anything, and hope to get hired fairly quickly. I simply wasn;t comfortable with that idea.

Up to you, but I think it's rather risky, and you could go through a fair amount of money, in vain.

Be careful, and again, good luck.

[kinerry]

[bassexpander]

[gartonator]

You much preferred China? Wow! I know nothing about the Chinese experience, but if you say it's harder to send money back than in Korea, that must be pretty freaking hard...

And the fact that you have 2 masters, university experience and still had to fight to make more than someone with a bachelor's degrees (I just read a post where a girl made 12,000 in china with an associate's) is the fucking depressing... I keep thinking that someone could make a fortune and spare us all so much wasted time if there was just some 'system' to it, but alas... I only have an Ivy League BA, which former hagwon waved like a trophy, but I still have very few 'tricks' up my sleeve for teaching how to use advanced sentence structure, having to grade 150 essays a day kinda kills your intellect, and sometimes it seems I was most connected with the lowest level 3rd graders. They knew what life was all about, not the 8th grader pre-international-high-school-applicant zombies... poor kids, I was playing soccer and making amateur kung fu movies when I was 14.

YARG YARG YARG

Both times I raged in Fukuoka I'd meet private-only tutors who made $400/day (or so they said) and they just encouraged me to come and just get any job, and then build contacts (privates are pretty legal there?)

Japan is looking better and better really, I just have a problem with really liking to eat out and drink, and I know I'll have huge, fucking huge temptations in japan, but it really takes 3 months for a visa? Yeah, Mastercard will be after me by then...

If I go to Japan and try to hustle a job, I'll be getting cash advances on my credit card! Woo hoo! I am that guy!

[halfmanhalfbiscuit]

[blonde researcher]

Seems the poster has not adjusted his thinking and financial expectations to meet new global market conditions? Plenty more applicants are coming into Korea this year and will take the low salaries like 1.8 SMOE offers for level 3 - so why will employers pump up the money so high for you?
This is not 2006 when obvilously you had all your dreams and expectations covered and you saved a lot of money and drank and ate so highly.
Your expectatons of what you should be getting do tend to show an elitist arrogance of your own abilities and skills in teaching. Split shifts are out -even to get 3 million - why ?