Korean Job Discussion Forums

kentucker4 · Joined: 03 Sep 2007 Location: Georgia

Anyone ever here of this one. It's a chain in Ulsan and I might be working at one of them. The recruiter claims the director is the nicest person ever and it's a great school. She says I would be living in an apartment complex where four of the school's other foreign teachers also live, which I don;t know about because I kind of liked being the only foreigner where I used to live in Korea. Should I avoid this one like the plague or accept it with open arms?

soviet_man · Joined: 23 Apr 2005 Location: Seoul

My initial thought would be that Yes English could be a pseudonim for Yes Youngdo (YES = Youngdo English School). But I don't think they have a branch in Ulsan.

If it is not that, then it could be a generic mom and pop franchise.

Ask more questions.

okayden223 · Joined: 05 Jun 2009 Location: Incheon

Well I doubt any recruiter is going to tell you anything besides "the director is a great person." That wouldn't help them recruit much would it? I interviewed with YES Youngdo a while back but they wanted me to go to some smaller town and I just wasn't interested. I hear every branch is different in terms of whether or not the director is cool so it's the luck of the draw, much like every other job that you don't have an inside recommendation on here. I didn't even interview with an external recruiter...it was some guy who works directly for them...I forget his name...his last name was Vietnamese though I think. He was a nice guy.

Karea · Joined: 07 Jul 2009

kentucker4 · Joined: 03 Sep 2007 Location: Georgia

I don't know, but she has some allegiance to this school as she told me it is by far the best school of all of her locations. She said this when I questioned her about a location in Jeju. She told me her schools in Jeju have so so reputations compared to this school. Must be getting a lot of commission from this one or something.

It cost me $74 to Fedex all of my documents to my recruiter in Korea. That was right after I spent around $1,700 to pay my university debt off. Now I will be traveling to Korea with approximately $150 in pocket after bring money from my parents. Do bosses usually provide some money upfront in such situations? Last time I came, I had $1,600 in hand and went on a spending spree.

okayden223 · Joined: 05 Jun 2009 Location: Incheon

$150 will be roughing it for sure. Especially because if you go for the health check in your first month, that'll be $50 out of your pocket. But I think a PS will usually give a settlement allowance. I don't know about YES. Either way, don't lose heart if your recruiter says one thing or the other. The important thing is to make contact with a current foreign teacher. When I interviewed with them, the recruiter did give me the contact info of a teacher there. Recruiting is a business at the end of the day.

kentucker4 · Joined: 03 Sep 2007 Location: Georgia

A current foreign teacher is scheduled to call me on Sunday.

meangradin · Joined: 10 Mar 2006

I have never worked for YES in Ulsan, but I have driven past it a few times. It is in OK-Dong, the hub of Hagwons in Ulsan. It is a pretty big school, occupying the whole 5 or 6 floor building. It looks really clean, so they clearly have cash. The housing is in Mugeo-Dong, the University district. Again, it looks ok from the outside, but I can't imagine it is anything beyond the usual uni. aparts that dominate the neighborhood. It had been there for a few years now, so in typical Korean fashion, I would not be surprised if it is starting to show signs of aging. The school is a ten minute bus ride, or 20-30 minute walk from the apt. complex.

On a personal level, I do some corporate gigs in Ulsan, and YES was sending some of their E-2 teachers to a few of these gigs, but claiming they had F visas, so that kind of rubbed me the wrong way. However, the corporation I work for realized YES' duplicity, and canceled the contract with them. Perhaps this may be an indictment of their business practices, or an isolated incident; I can't really say.

As for Ulsan, I like it here, but I have a family and I enjoy a quiet life. The expat community used to be second to none in Korea, but it has become noticably younger over the last few years, and feels less friendly, but that could be more on me, as I am now more a family man.

kentucker4 · Joined: 03 Sep 2007 Location: Georgia

Yeah, I have been to Ulsan some. I like Busan better and am very interested in Jeju and Changwon. Is there a bus that goes straight from Ulsan to Busan?

losing_touch · Joined: 26 Jun 2008 Location: Ulsan - I think!

Theo · Joined: 04 Jul 2009

t1m1ty · Joined: 24 May 2009 Location: Bundang

I was wondering (to the OP) if you had your interview already? I just received an interview that will take place in a couple of days. If you had it already, what kind of questions can I expect? Would you say they're equivalent to the EPIK/SMOE interview questions?

okayden223 · Joined: 05 Jun 2009 Location: Incheon

I interviewed with them a while back. If I remember correctly I was asked things like "how would you improve your teaching methods," "what would you do if you had a disciplinary problem with a student," "what would you do if you had a problem with another teacher at the school." etc.. I basically said I'd consult the management to each one of those questions and they offered me the job a couple of days later, but I declined because it was going to be in a smaller city with very little to do. But they have a lot of different campuses so it might not be so bad depending. I contacted a teacher who used to work there and she said all the managers are different so it's luck of the draw if you work for someone good or not. But the apartments look nice and there's opportunity to make extra $ for grading essays so I think it might be a decent place to work.