Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Firearcher]

A recruiter is telling me that my salary would be 2.0 million at SMOE.

I have 2 yrs experience. 1 in a hawgwon and the other at EPIK.

I don't have a TEFL cert.

Here is SMOE's salary scale:

Level H: 1.8 million won per month
A Bachelor's degree from an accredited university in one of major English-speaking countries with the instructions taught in English.

Level G: 2.0 million won per month (must have one of the following qualifications):
A valid teacher certification for either elementary or secondary level schools.
A Bachelor's degree in Education.
A Bachelor's degree in English, English Education, English Literature, or Linguistics.
A TESOL/TEFL or an English teaching certificate comprised of a minimum of 100 course hours.
A Master's degree.
A Bachelor's degree with at least ONE (1) full year of English teaching experience at accredited institutions.

Level F: 2.2 million won per month (must have one of the following qualifications):
A teacher certification with specialization in English Education
A Master's degree in Education.
In addition to one of the requirements for Level G, ONE (1) full year of English teaching experience at accredited institutions.
Employed as level G at the SOME for ONE (1) full year.

Level E: 2.3 million won per month (must have one of the following qualifications):
A Master's degree in TESOL/TEFL or in English Education
A Master's degree in Education with at least ONE (1) full year of English teaching experience at accredited institutions.
Meet the Level G qualification with at least TWO (2) full years of English teaching experience at accredited institutions.
Employed as Level F at the SMOE for ONE (1) full year.

Level D: 2.4 million won per month (must have one of the following qualifications):
At least ONE (1) full year of English teaching experience at accredited institutions with Master's degree in TESOL/TEFL or in English Education.
A Bachelor's degree in English Education with at least THREE (3) full years of English teaching experience at accredited institutions.
A teacher certification with specialization in English Education with at least TWO (2) full years of English teaching experience at accredited institutions.
Employed as Level E at the SMOE for ONE (1) full year.

Level C: 2.5 million won per month (must have one of the following qualifications):
At least TWO (2) full years of English teaching experience at accredited institutions with Master's degree in TESOL/TEFL or in English Education.
A teacher certification with specialization in English Education with at least THREE (3) full years of English teaching experience at accredited institutions.
Employed as Level D at the SMOE for ONE (1) full year.

Level B: 2.6 million won per month (must have one of the following qualifications):
At least THREE (3) full years of English teaching experience at accredited institutions with Master's degree in TESOL/TEFL or in English Education.
At least THREE (3) full years of English teaching experience in their home country as a present public or private school teacher with a recommendation by the superintendent or the school principal.
Employed as Level C at the SMOE for ONE (1) full year.

Level A: 2.7 million won per month (must have one of the following qualifications):
At least FOUR (4) full years of English teaching experience at accredited institutions with Master's degree in TESOL/TEFL or in English Education.
At least FOUR (4) full years of English teaching experience in their home country as a present public or private school teacher with a recommendation by the superintendent or the school principal.





First of all I find Levels F & G confusing. They both say the same thing.

Both say a degree plus 1 yr experience. NOT an additional year. So if you meet criterion on Level G you automatically meet it for Level F because this part is identical.


I think I'm level E. My recruiter says Level G.

Opinions? And why?

Meet the Level G qualification with at least TWO (2) full years of English teaching experience at accredited institutions.
Employed as Level F at the SMOE for ONE (1) full year.

[SSA]

I agree with your reasoning IF your 2 years are at what they consider to be accredited institutions. The year with EPIK should certainly be accredited, I'm not sure how a school becomes accredited though.

[themagicbean]

My guess is they're treating "accredited" as meaning a public school or college, not a hagwon. (That same division already exists in the 2-year tax exemption for US citizens.)

I'm assuming you don't have a B.Ed, teacher's cert, or master's.

That means your "0" year would be level H.
But since you have 1 year with EPIK, an accredited institution, you're G.
The hagwon year basically doesn't count.

F's "in addition to requirement' means one extra year, so that's 2 years of accredited employment. G's requirement is only one. But if you have only one year AND it's with SMOE, then you're F.

[Firearcher]

Correct, I have no additional education.

But let's assume that they reject my Hawgwon experience.

Here is what I find confusing:

Level F: 2.2 million won per month (must have one of the following qualifications):
A teacher certification with specialization in English Education
A Master's degree in Education.
In addition to one of the requirements for Level G, ONE (1) full year of English teaching experience at accredited institutions.
Employed as level G at the SOME for ONE (1) full year.


I HAVE 1 FULL YEAR EXP!


The criterion for Level F and G on this point are identical. It makes no sense to me.

Very poorly worded


So if you meet level G - which I do - one of the criterion for Level F is identical to level G and you are bumped to Level E.


?????

Has anyone else noticed this?[/i]

[Firearcher]

And if you read the criterion for the higher levels they are out of sync with the wording of Level F.

Because Level E should therefore read "In addition to Level F 1 year experience."

Think about it logically.

Level D Should read :

"In addition to Level E 1 year experience."

It reads

Level G 1 year exp
Level F 1 year
Level E 2 years
Level D 3 years


Does that make sense???

[pjmancktelow]

my friend gets 2.3 with 2 years in a hogwan and a tefl. i get 2.2 with 1 year in a hogwan and a tefl. i had to get a letter of employment from the hogwan, headed paper etc. although i made it myself and the bossman signed it. you my wanna ask. either way, at my interview they told me the level that they would offer me. i was already in korea so had it at the SMOE office. one advice is if you are going SMOE and are already here. take the housing allowance and muster 3-5 million key. i found most people who did that. got locations more central and closer to what they asked for.

[winterfall]

[urge2serg2]

i got a job offer (but no contract yet) to teach for the Pusan Metropolitan City Office of Education. i have a teaching credential from the US and 3 years of experience teaching high school math in the US. my recruiter initially told me that my teaching experience counts and that i would be making 2.3, but now he's telling me that it doesn't count.

i've worked at summer camps for the past 3 years in korea, but no real english teaching experience.

does anyone have any input?

[NMonk]

I just started at a hagwon, no experience, 2.3mil.

[pjmancktelow]

i took a pay cut to leave the hogwan. the hogwan was fine at first. but slowly it got worse and worse the longer i was there. just the small things that in the begining i brushed off i found harder and harder. i'm about 200,000 down a month these days. but i'm so much happier at a public school as i have loads of free time at work to chill, catch up on tv and read. then when i go home, i'm already relaxed and good to hang out with friends or do something. of course on top of that. i get min of 4 weeks vacation, we dont lose our national holidays to weekends. and if the principel is cool. i dont have to come in on vactations expcept for half day camps. so in reality i get 8 weeks vacation and 6 weeks of half day camps. to me, this was all worth the pay cut. just my opinion and experience of course.

[smee18]

If they aren't counting the Hagwon then yes, you would be G. My wife worked for 2 years at a private elementary school, not a Hagwon, and she is lvl F. You could maybe argue for them counting your Hagwon year ... I find it strange that they wouldn't, as its 12 months of legitimate teaching experience.

I had some wage related problems with SMOE when I arrived. They tried to tell me that I was level G when I had a signed lvl F contract. I had one year of teaching experience with EPIC and 100hrs of TEFOL training, but they were trying to argue that as the training was completed after the signing of the contract it couldn't be counted, though I had asked SMOE when I needed to complete the training and I was told directly that as long as it was completed by the time I arrived in Korea everything would be fine. They sent me a signed lvl F contract on the grounds that everything would be completed when I arrived. I could have easily completed the training prior to signing the contract (I was on an extended vacation), though was told that that would not be necessary. Anyway, I had to threaten SMOE with a labour board to get my wage ... it all worked out in the end (in my favour). That said, my job with SMOE so far has been awesome. Definitely better than what I could get with a Hagwon. A Hagwon would pay more of course.

[smee18]

Oh, with regard to how the levels work, for level F you have to have 1 year of teaching experience in addition to the 1 year of experience that qualifies you for level G. If you have a BA in education or English, then you don't have to use (so to speak) your year of experience to qualify for level G, so your year of experience could be counted towards level F. The key is "in addition to." You need a year of teaching experience in addition to the year of teaching experience (or BA in English or education) which qualifies you for G (hence 2 years of experience) to qualify for F.

You are right though, its very confusing.

[bassexpander]

Wow, those jobs really suck now. I wouldn't even bother working full time with a public school. I'd much rather work PT several places at an hourly wage. Not to boast, but I'm glad I'm not an E-2 anymore. Wages are getting worse.

[smee18]

True. I thought A level was 2.8, but Firearcher's post says its 2.7. Must have dropped.