Korean Job Discussion Forums

[cwrench]

My boyfriend and I are planning to be in Korea by January/ February and so far we are having trouble deciding which school to go with! We are interviewing with/reviewing contracts for these schools:

ILS in Cheonan (2.2+ mill. won)
Gyeonggi English Village (2.3-2.5 mill. won)
Elite in SeoCho (2.2-2.4 mill.won)
Little America in Daejeon (2.2 mill. won)
Alphabet Street in SeoCho (2.2 mill. won)
Poly School Bucheon campus (2.5-2.6 mill. won)
JDA Junior in SeoCho or Bundang (1.09 - 2.3 mill. won)

The contracts we've seen so far need work, some more than others, but we're working on amending them before sending them back to the schools for further review......... But we still know so little about each school and more than anything we would love some first hand reviews/comparisons if possible! Even opinion on the respective cities would be awesome.

Thanks!

[lifeinkorea]

Personally, I would consider the following 4. The top one looks the best, but it all depends on contract and meeting the school before actually deciding. The other ones sound like joke edutainer positions.

1. Poly School Bucheon campus (2.5-2.6 mill. won), I like the location (not too far away from Seoul and far enough to not be too crowded).
2. ILS in Cheonan (2.2+ mill. won), looks secure, but salary is a bit low considering location. I would ask at least 2.3, start with 2.4
3. Elite in SeoCho (2.2-2.4 mill.won) - don't know about this location
4. JDA Junior in SeoCho or Bundang (1.09 - 2.3 mill. won) - could be number 3 or even 2, but you got to first establish 2.2 or higher for salary. Don't accept 1.9 (I think you meant that, lol)

[zappadelta]

I believe it's GDA Junior, not JDA

[KoreanAmbition]

I think that listing a salary without terms and conditions isn't something that can evaluated.


Job 1 - 2,000,000 won per month (10 hours a week)

Job 2 - 4,000,000 won per month (40 hours a week)

[Big Mac]

I used to work at GDA Junior in Seocho and it's a pretty good hogwan to work at. You won't have any problems with them, which is more than you can say about a lot of hogwans in Korea.

The location (close to Gangnam Station in Seoul) is what is really attractive about that school. It's a great location. I miss my time there.

[cwrench]

Thanks LifeinKorea!

Yeah I realize name location and salary is not enough to go on, sooooooooo, more info!!


ILS in Cheonan
teaching kinder-element
2.2+ mill. won for 30 weekly teaching hours + 20,000 OT
Curriculum already established
M-F: likely a split shift contained between 9:00am-6:30pm with a break somewhere in the middle of the day. The problem is that we would not be permitted to leave the centre...bleh.
Will provide a two bedroom apartment

Gyeonggi English Village
Teaching adults
2.3-2.5 mill. won for 30 weekly hours, plus one sunday/mo which would be an additional 180,000won/sunday
Curriculum already established
M-F: a block shift 8:30am-5:30pm with some prep hours and 1/2 hr "counseling" ......
Will provide a two bedroom so long as we pretend we're getting married

Elite in SeoCho, Seoul
Kinder - elementary
2.2-2.4 mill.won for 30hrs/week + 20,000 OT
Curriculum already established
M-F: likely a split shift contained between 9:00am-6:30pm with a break somewhere in the middle of the day.
Will provide a single studio + 500,000 housing allowance

Little America in Daejeon
Kinder-Elementary
2.2 mill. won (although we would be asking for probs at least 2.3M) for 30hrs/week
Curriculum already established
M-F: split shift contained between 9:00am-6:30pm with a break from 11:40-3, we can leave whenever we want as long as we're back in time for class at 3
Will provide a three room (I think that meant 2/3 bedrooms) apartment 10 min walk from school

Alphabet Street in SeoCho, Seoul
Kinder-Elementary
2.2 mill. won (although we would be asking for probs at least 2.3M) for 30hrs/week
Curriculum already established
M-F: split shift contained between 9:00am-6:30pm with a break
Will provide a two bedroom apartment
Bonus: This school has been around for nearly 14yrs I think?
Not so Bonus: Director (or maybe it was owner) is extremely religious (we are not) and we don't agree with all of their hiring policies (more so their applicant refusal policies) sooooooooooo we probably will cancel this option out.

Poly School Bucheon campus
Kinder-elementary-highschool?
2.5-2.6 mill. won for 32hrs/week (we would request no more than 30 in contract)
Curriculum already established
not sure about housing/hours yet although we know it is a long day

*GDA (not JDA...oops) Junior in SeoCho, Seoul or Bundang
Kinder - Elementary
1.9 - 2.3 mill. won for 30hrs/week however we will not go below 2.2 and will try 2.3M
Bundang location has an indoor pool.....enough said....ok maybe not but that's pretty awesome.
Also not sure about housing etc

[cwrench]

That's good to hear Big Mac, I will definitely keep that in mind

[Big Mac]

GDA Bundang's indoor pool is like a little kiddy pool though, from what I've been told. I wouldn't look at it as a selling point.

The building in Bundang is much nicer than Seocho's and the administrative staff there seems to be a little more on the ball. Things could have changed though.

Bundang's a quiet suburb of Seoul, but the Seocho campus is right in one of the best areas of Seoul. It's literally a two or three minute walk from the Kyobo Bookstore and about 5-10 minutes from Gangnam Station. You'll have more fun there, you'll just have to overlook the fact that Seocho's office is a little more dated.

If you're going as a couple, the apartment they will give you is bigger than what everyone else is living in and is about a five minute walk from work. It's a little dated, but big enough that you'll probably be hosting a lot of parties for your co-workers who live in a shoe box. There are about 10 foreigners at GDA Seocho and usually everyone becomes quite close.