Korean Job Discussion Forums

[kyopoopa]

Greetings . . .

I'm thinking about taking a leave from grad school to teach in Korea for a year. Do you think a hagwon would consider a kyopo in his 30s to teach adults?

Some ads seem open to the idea of hiring one, but I'm discouraged to even start the process after reading job postings like, "UR alright if UR white", "No blacks", "No gyopos 1.5 or 2", �Whites only�, and "Only blonde females".

Holy cow!

For the people in the know, what's your take?

Thanks

[ovid]

As a gyopo, there's no doubt, it's tougher to find a job, especially if you don't hold an F4 visa. But major hawgwons usually don't fuss over ethnicity provided you want to work 2-10PM shifts and if you don't care about location, then ya, it's relatively easy.

It's tougher to find the ideal job that ends at an earlier time within Seoul and the further outside you go, the easier it is to find a job.

Hope that helps you.

[frankly speaking]

Finish your degree, work in your field and make money. Don't teach EFL.

You have no experience and thus is unlikely to find a job teaching adults. You might find one but you have to really work hard to find something.

Don't worry about being Korean, worry about not having any practical experience or qualifications. Good schools won't care if you are a pumpkin as long as you know what you are doing and how to do it.

If you really want to teach, then jump in and start looking for jobs. Good luck and don't give up if it is really what you want. But don't do it if you are just looking for something to keep you busy while you are in Korea making documentaries.

[kyopoopa]

[kyopoopa]

[winterfall]

[kyopoopa]

[winterfall]

There's just a general conception that Koreans or anybody that doesn't look western can't teach english. lol I don't really know why. Sometimes I think its just the ripple effect of how bad english education is here. So they just assume asians can't speak English. But anyway, it's a perception shared by administration and parents. I get this at public school.

Before other posters jump down my throat, the high end SAT hagwons hire almost exclusively gyopos (high end universities and they're bilingual) but for the rest the preference is slanted.

Here's a link to a blog by a recruiter in Korea, sorry I don't have time to dig through his posts but he did have a topic discussing general trends in the hagwon industry.

http://recruiterinkorea.wordpress.com

[pkang0202]

Here is the Hiring Hierarchy:

White Females
Gyopo Females
White Males
Other Females (black, Hispanic, etc...)
Other Males (black, Hispanic, etc...)
Gyopo Males


Once you have special skills like perfect SAT scores, or experience then you can move up the hierarchy. Recruiters get around the "whites only" description by saying they only want "F2" visa holders. I wonder if there are any Gyopo F2 visa holders? I'd love for them to show up at a job interview that specified F2 Visa holders only and see what happens.

[kyopoopa]

[andrewchon]

I'd agree with pkang's list + North American Young White Blonde Female on top.
Are the F-4 gyopos the lepers? Not really. F-4's may not be hired so readily but after that they have lot more power than the bottom-feeding E-2s.

[pkang0202]

[broken76]

Actually in general gyoppos fall under a different category than foreign teachers. There are plenty of jobs for gyoppos in Korea but they are different.
There are plenty of schools that hire only gyoppos and no E2 Visa teachers. These schools in general are able to find gyoppos in Korea and often have a different set of benefits (usually no airfare and housing but higher overall pay).
Schools that hire only gyoppos either do so because they are either unable to issue E2 Visas (not designated as a foreign language school on their business license) or their program simply prefers gyoppos over non-gyoppos.
The easiest way to get a job would be to come to Korea and to simply visit schools in neighborhoods that you'd like to be in as the majority of these schools do not use the same channels as schools looking for the standard foreign teacher.
Also if you are qualified then a higher level teaching environment such as SATs are also an option. This does have better pay but you will need to put the time and effort to earn it.

[carleverson]

[seonsengnimble]

It will be harder to find a job, but there are some schools who don't care that you are a gyopo. There aren't many, but there are some out there. Some actually prefer gyopos because they are often bilingual.