Korean Job Discussion Forums

[kirsi]

i just had an interview for a position that is teaching middle school students and adults. i was going to ask questions about that but didn't get a chance.

the lady that interviewed me seemed to have been the head teacher. she was nice enough but didn't sound so sweet as many of the women i talk to do. the strange thing was that she kept saying like "well we are worried about hiring you because you have no teaching experience" and "teaching kids can be much more rewarding because you see their progress and they are fun, so it will be tough" and "how would you deal with having difficulties with your coworkers"? oh and the sometimes teachers have 7 classes a day, how about that?

usually i get some sugar-coated speech to try to get me to think that the school is like a little slice of heaven. so i don't know if should be worried (like i was the other day when some recruiter told me a school was "strict - they don't let you play games and such") or if i should think of it as normal.

also, i don't know if these are standard for "normal" or non-esl job interviews as i have essentially no work background...

so if they offer me this job, the contract looks reasonably not too awful, and the feedback from other non-korean teachers is okay, would you say go for it or not? or do you base what you think about a school on this kind of stuff at all?

thanks in advance

[lifeinkorea]

I would stick to a 5 day work week. Either this means mon-fri or tues-sat / sun-thu (which they will never ask you to work)

It's to their advantage to do this because if they schedule you every day, then that means you are scheduled for those hours. They would have to pay you overtime if they wanted you to teach on the same day at a different time.

By having you come in less days, you will be in demand more throughout the day. I think this is better for the teacher, so long as it doesn't go below 4 days.

I have told schools that like to change the schedule often to just give me the next week's schedule at the end of the previous week, and anything more than 5 days would have to come with extra pay at the end of the month and have to be agreed upon by both parties, case by case.

I don't mind split shifts, but consider this for yourself.

[Carla]

[winterfall]