Korean Job Discussion Forums

janydc · Joined: 21 Aug 2009

I want to leave by Mid September or October ( I'm also open to start dates after that) but all the recruiters I've spoken to have no Hagwan positions. I'm not eligible for EPIK due to a technicality, so most public school positions are off. Is anyone else facing the same difficulty?

asmith · Joined: 18 Jun 2009

D.D. · Joined: 29 May 2008

Anybody wants a public school job pm me with your details- its rural and near Jinju. I leave middle of next month back to Chiropractic land.

janydc · Joined: 21 Aug 2009

Thanks much!
D.D. I can't PM you, apparently Dave's requires a minimum number of 25 posts...How rural? and would I need to fulful EPIK's requirements?

iggyb · Joined: 29 Oct 2003

If your job search includes the whole of the peninsula and any age group, I'd have to guess you'll be able to find a position.

Most recruiters you see ads for here at Dave's these days seem to be heavily focused on the public schools government orgs and handling a lot of business that way.

Couple that with the fact they can now take a breathe as the new school system just started. And couple that with the fact they just got kneed very hard in the groin by SMOE for all their months of effort...

...and it isn't hard to guess they might be taking a breather right now. Maybe even a vacation.

But, I'd have to bet they will be right back in the swing of things soon. Some are already pushing hard for public schools in March...

morrisonhotel · Joined: 18 Jul 2009 Location: Gyeonggi-do

a friendly pioneer · Joined: 24 Aug 2009

longbridgepacific.com/

Those guys have something in Daegu at Like School for the end of September. Contact them at your own risk. It seems like there's lots of nasty stuff said about them. Twisted Evil

iggyb · Joined: 29 Oct 2003

If you are new to the ESL market in Korea, you should think about the last comment I wrote...

...all these recruiters have been extremely busy trying to get people into the public schools that just started this week. They would have been extra busy even in a normal year as the deadline loomed.

This year, SMOE, the Seoul public school people, wholliped these recruiters upside the head just a few days ago when it told them to pick already signed and often visaed people to drop at the last minute. They dropped 100 out of 600 signed people.

Right now, the more professional of the recruiters are scrambling to find another position for those who already had tickets purchased and still want to go to Korea.

In short --- it isn't a good time to gauge the job market based on recruiter responses.

The ones that are professional and handle a lot of people for the public schools are likely exhausted at the moment...

morrisonhotel · Joined: 18 Jul 2009 Location: Gyeonggi-do

I do realise that, iggy, but it's still bloody frustrating! He did tell me, though, that there wasn't much around at the moment and told me to give it a week and there should be more up. Here's hoping because if I don't find something soon I'm going to switch to looking at teaching in another country.

iggyb · Joined: 29 Oct 2003

The recruiter ads I'm looking at about every other day still list a half dozen or so open jobs -- 90%+ of them being K-6 or k-12 hakwons located in Seoul and other cities...(that is a half dozen to a dozen jobs per agency).

morrisonhotel · Joined: 18 Jul 2009 Location: Gyeonggi-do

I have seen a fair amount in Seoul and the surrounding areas. Problem is is that I'm not particularly keen on too big a city (I realise I shouldn't be fussy but nonetheless).

iggyb · Joined: 29 Oct 2003

You sound like the military contractor crowd...

Given the fact that 50% of the population lives in the Seoul area, you can see why recruiters tend to focus on it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seoul

Have you been telling recruiters you want to avoid the largest cities?

I would have bet money they'd be falling all over themselves trying to land you, because the vast majority of TESOLers want Seoul of Busan and want to avoid small cities...

iggyb · Joined: 29 Oct 2003

P.S.

For myself, I don't mind small cities either. I worked in Wonju for two years when it was a city of 250,000 people. It was 2-3 hours from Seoul and I hardly ever went to Seoul.

If I were not so keen on doing volunteer work with NK-related NGOs, I'd feel fine looking for work in another of the medium sized cities within reasonable bus or train distance from Wonju (where I have in-laws).

I wish I could do all a wanted and work on the southern end. There are a lot of historical sites I'd like to visit that I couldn't before because of travel time...

morrisonhotel · Joined: 18 Jul 2009 Location: Gyeonggi-do

I've been saying that ideally I would like a mid-sized city (500k - 1.5m or thereabouts). I have made it clear that I am flexible on everything (area, age groups, teaching hours, etc.).

iggyb · Joined: 29 Oct 2003

Have you tried this since your search is broad:

Search a lot online looking for the names and addresses of schools and email or fax them directly.

That is how I landed my first job back in 1996. The Internet wasn't very useful back then as it is today. I bought a book on teaching English in Asia which had the names and addresses of schools in all the areas of Korea.

You can probably find that info now on your own online.

I mailed out resumes to schools in the biggest cities. Someone in Seoul who knew the owner of the hakwon in Wonju sent it to her and she contacted me directly....

The big hakwon chains usually have links to websites of some of their schools in other cities.