Korean Job Discussion Forums

[bcjinseoul]

Just curious:

Has anyone had to quit (or willingly quit) a public school job past the 6 month mark (to avoid paying back airfare)? The standard seems to be 30 days with some contracts, 60 days with others.

I guess my concern is this: do the principal, vice principal and coteachers scream at you, give you a hard time, curse your name, tell you good riddens, etc? Or do they just shrug their shoulders and tell you sorry it didn't work out, beg for you stay, or something else much easier to take?

How nice or stern should a letter of resignation be?

Also: I've heard if you break a public school contract, it's damned near impossible to ever have one again; so if you quit EPIK/GEPIK/SMOE just once you're out for good. All of'em.

Some podcast on the Midnight Runner a few weeks ago mentioned something about multi-state background checks for public school jobs in the near future, as well as Korean CRC's. (Think it might have been Rowan from ESL Planet; don't quote me though). Paperwork is getting ridiculous out here; public schools want letters of rec with ink signatures and proper letterheads as well.

Lastly, I've heard if you go from one job to another out here without a letter of release (thus cancel the visa and just start a new one) you don't need a criminal check as long as you don't leave the country until the actual visa run for a new job.

Maybe someone can give me the lowdown on exit orders and canceling the visa once you put in proper notice, if the boss doesn't want to get around to it.

Thanks.

[dragon777]

Yeah, you better have a good excuse. Just quitting for the sake of it does not cut with them and rightly so. You have not given your reason.

What reason will you give your school?

[bcjinseoul]

As I have mentioned in a previous entry, I have had lots of problems with my head coteacher....total worse case scenario. Co teacher from hell all the way. I posted a thread called "coteacher horror stories" a few weeks ago to see if anyone else has gone through the things I've gone. Lots of busy work, brow beating, criticism, false accusations, general coldness and vindictiveness.

It's not fun having a job that stresses you out as much as a restaurant before you go to work. I've been to Korea on and off since early 2006, and I've never had these problems with other bosses and coworkers, and finished other contracts.

I'm willing to finish the contract, assuming we get along late February/early March. I've told my friends and family if I can make it May 1st, I'll just finish the damn thing. I'm just hoping the lesson plans I've worked on over my vacation the last 3 weeks will go over with her well. Have the next 2 weeks to desk warm and get even more lessons done, as well.

Having said all that, I'd just like to hear whats up from some people who have had to quit a public school job. That's all. Not so much advice, just experiences...

[nautilus]

[dragon777]

Sorry, I did not read your thread properly.

Curious; you will be denied any future PS jobs if you quit during a

contract. End of story.

[Senior]

[some waygug-in]

Just give them your 30 days notice. Say you don't like large classes.

They really don't need more than that.

What are they going to do, prevent you from leaving?

[Senior]

[fromtheuk]

OP - If you are certain you will never return, pull a runner like I did. It's quite exciting. They will probably threaten to ensure you never work in Korea again.

Just tell them they need to learn some manners and good riddance.

[sjk1128]

You could also just stay and ignore most of what your coteacher says. Basically, tell her to shut up or fire you, but do it the Korean way:

"I'm doing the best I can with all this extra work and the lesson plans, but nothing I do seems good enough. I'm getting so stressed out I feel like I might get sick. Or maybe I should just quit or go back to ~ so you can find a better teacher. Maybe I should talk to the principal today and explain that I am doing my best but that you are a much better teacher than me and are not used to someone struggling the way I do to meet your standards...."

She'll either yell at you some more and your can repeat the same thing like a record but internally completely ignore her while doing nothing she asks that you don't feel like doing.

or

She'll change entirely because the last thing she wants is to lose the foreign teacher mid-contract because of her. If it costs her boss any extra money or inconvenience and she is blamed, he'll ream her. Make sure you let her know you know that (by mentioning going to talk to the principal as often as necessary).

Then, the worst that could happen is that they'll fire you - and you want to leave anyway, right? The best is that you'll keep your job and finish your contract but do none of the silly crap she's demanding of you.

It's just another option for how to handle the situation from my experience.

Good luck.

[bcjinseoul]

Thanks for the feedback everyone.

If I wanted out for good, I would have run a long time ago. It's not Korea or teaching I have a problem with, just the job. I was actually interviewed by a major woman's university in Seoul early in January, and they almost hired me. I would have loved to quit and one-up my public school with that...tell them to cancel my visa, 'cause I got something way better!! Ha!

Seems to me on this forum as well as amongst a pool of people I personally know, almost everyone who has gone back to America/Canada or whatever western country they're from has struggled to find any type of work, and many come right back here. Based on that, running home or just moving home isn't happening before 2011 or 2012 for me. We'll see how things go...

The industry out here has changed a lot since I first came out here 4 years ago. Back in 2006, this place was like China: tons of jobs, way less foreigners for them, almost no paper work for any job, great ex rate...I could go on.

These days, recent grads are fighting tooth and nail for really bad hogwons that are like 9-7 in and around Seoul, going through all this CRC BS and with even more paperwork on the horizon (by the looks of it) for a still less than perfect exchange rate. EPIK/GEPIK/SMOE are getting thousands of resumes twice a year, like JET, I guess. I know SMOE interviewed 2500 people for 500 jobs for the August 2009 hire, and EPIK Busan decided to hire 125 instead of 250 people for this spring since so many renewed. A friend of mine didn't make the GEPIK cut since they got like 1200 resumes for 200 positions; something like that, and he's been here for a while and has a CELTA....

Things are tight, and might be almost as bad as Japan for all I know. I know for a fact that I'm on the hogwon blacklist, and if I break a public school contract, who knows what bad job I might have to take out here. I actually blasted my resume to almost EVERY recruiter on eslcafe (70ish?) twice; once in December and once in January; and both times only like 10-15 got back to me, which in turn only offered mostly bad hogwons which were like 9-7, kindies, 2.1 M KRW, no benefits, daechi-dong or gyeonggi, etc.

Yep, times have changed....whatever happens, happens, but if I get to the end of this thing, I sure as hell hope I can land a college gig....or at least a sweet afternoon hogwon or after school gig. I'll take 4-6 hr days over longer vacations any day.

[sjk1128]

You can go so far as to say, "I know if I leave, it will cost the school a lot of money to hire a new teacher. There's the plane ticket, the housing, and then the office has to do all that paperwork again. I really don't want that to happen all because I can't keep up. Oh! Maybe I should go and talk to the principal about it all so he can give me advice. He's older, wiser, and such a kind man...."

Nobody here usually really cares about anything except money. That hasn't changed, and your leaving would cost them money, even if it's only the 1,000,000 for the plane ticket. Your principal likely sees that as his own money (since they often keep everything that isn't spent, hire their own accountants to do double books, etc.). This is what I was suggesting, that you let the coteacher know you'll find a way to make him blame her for your leaving. You're seen like an interchangeable part that can be discarded and replaced once you break, but you haven't broken yet (i.e. your contract has not expired). You're not a person; you're an object, but one that costs money to replace. I still think you can use that to your advantage. That's the Korean way, right?

Good luck.

[conrad2]

[bcjinseoul]

^


Basically, from what the podcast said, if you live and work in one state and went to college in another state, those are two states you'll have to get a CRC from. Hasn't kicked in yet, though....(and there's no reason to tell them if you lived in 3 or more states, obviously)

[Suwon Fish]