Korean Job Discussion Forums

[missjulia]

....

[madoka]

My understanding is that hagwons are more concerned with the ethnicity of their teachers than public schools. Hagwons have to cater to the parents, and the parents would rather see white folk. Frankly, I do not blame them. I've met a lot of gyopos with horrible accents and a poor understanding of English who work as NETs.

If I were you, I'd consider flying out to Korea, hook up with any relatives and look for a job while out there. Sounds like you have the qualifications they are looking for. Get your F4 if you don't already have one and consider tutoring on the side. Get your relatives to jump-start your networking.

[arice05]

hi missjulia,
i'm also a korean-american. i don't know any korean. i got a job in an after school program. i also have a korean-american friend who got a job with smoe, and is a male! i think it just kind of depends on how hard you try to get a job. it's definitely more difficult if you're not caucasian. i've been turned down by several schools for not being "white".
i posted my resume on work n play and on daves. i also responded to job posts on both web sites. it took me several months to finally get a job...about 5 months, believe it or not. i hope this helps. good luck! it's definitely doable

[jvalmer]

If you're willing to work outside of the Seoul/Gyeonggi area, it's super easy getting a job in a public school.

[winterfall]

[mocsen]

It will be easy for you to get a english teaching job here private or public. You're a female with a Masters related to education plus I assume you speak Korean. You will be a more attractive candidate to most schools then your average white American male teaching here. People exaggerate how hard it is to get a job here if you're not white.

A friend of mine who is female of Chinese heritage was recently enquring about teaching here, I sent her resume and photo to my boss and he offered to hire her straight away at a salary starting at 2.4 mill. I also sent her info to a recruiter and the recruiter keep calling me with job offers for her. She never once spoken to my boss or the recruiter yet she was getting job offers. She decided against coming here but speaking to people that make decisions on hiring matters if you're an attractive female of any ethnicity you are a more desirable candidate then most men with similar qualifications. My boss and the recruiter kept asking me if I knew other attractive females that wanted to teach in Korea, didn't matter if they were Asian.

[iisabrane]

I'm a male Korean-American who just started with GEPIK last month. I'm pretty damn close to Seoul so I'm happy with the area I chose.

I went with Korvia as my recruiter and sent in my application with them around June. My initial goal was to go with SMOE but settled for GEPIK because I wanted to teach high school and there weren't any positions offered to me from high schools in Seoul. I think being a male gyopo is definitely a hindrance to getting a lot of offers BUT I actually got my position at my job because I could speak Korean. The students here have a low English skill level so they wanted someone who would be able to communicate things to the kids. Also, send in a really nice picture of yourself when sending documents. Honestly, the way everyone (recruiters, teachers, etc.) treated me and spoke to me all got better when they realized I wasn't some freak of nature and could put a face to the voice. Like with any job, being attractive always helps in getting hired so get cleaned up before taking any pictures.

It won't be easy but you should be able to find something that fits all your criteria/needs. Don't settle for a crappy job unless you're in dire financial straits. Although i'm still in my honeymoon phase here (so take things with a grain of salt), everything has worked out exactly as I had hoped and am very happy. Good luck!

[Xuanzang]

[missjulia]

thanks everyone for the helpful advice/responses!!

[missjulia]

[T-dot]

The Holy Trinity of employment in Korea:

Gender
Skin Colour
Level of Attractiveness.

[winterfall]

[Epicurus]

GEPIK definitely had a group of gyopos last year.. Not sure if that changed this year.

Except these gyopos, unlike madoka's example spoke perfect native English, without any trace of an accent. If anything the issue for some of them was not being able to speak Korean (they were "expected" to, not professionally, but socially)

[The Gipkik]

[Xuanzang]

Gender is a must for elementary schools. I know a lot of my SMOE female teacher friends said their schools were specifically looking for a woman teacher. Then I reckon would come the incidentals like hair colour, nationality, etc.