Korean Job Discussion Forums

[VanIslander]

[Juregen]

[dirving]

Kiwis used to be blamed for the lower hourly wage in Greater Seoul around 2004-2006. New Zealanders, what do you have to say in response to this assetion?

[talltony4]

eff youse


Nah, but 50k for teaching an adult 1:1 is just taking the piss anyway. No prep in involved, just chat, and you want 50,000 an hour?!

Kids are different though

[dirving]

You're right in my opinion as most clients are serious-minded folks.

Real teachin' ain't easy; convo, though, be smooth sailin.'

[gmlkoreanna]

Actually, the recruiter is not taking the once small pocket change of 5 thousand KRW. They have become much more smarter. Thanks to the "instructors" who helped them get that way. Most gigs (of course it depends on hakwon vs. corporation. oh, and not to forget location too) but the standard rate that is paid out, well, the recruiter is taking half if not more than that. In cases of 50KRW per hour, they're offering 30 to the teacher and 20 they take for their business. Corporations is where they get the bigger percentage.
So, I guess, the people that are low balling the market, are the instuctors who are killing the market by accepting these types of hourly prices. Alot of these recruiters will pick an "instuctor" based soley on how much they will take per hour. Days of haggling are dead and gone!
Just remember folks, while you're working your end off, there is someone above you pocketing a large percentage of all your hard work, subway rides to and from or bus rides if you prefer and all your prep work, paper work ect..ect... Let's not forget dealing with some students that clearly have some behavior issues. Your travel time, prep time, teaching time, break that all down into 30 per hour. Whats that 10-12KRW per hour. Don't forget the lattes in between or smokes bought on a break! Can't believe that there are so many posters here that they think "Koreans don't know what they are doing" WE NEED TO STOP LOW BALLING THE MARKET!!!! F-2'S HOLLA!!!

[Cerberus]

[CapnSamwise]

[Todd Swanson]

So should I be teaching my students how to write....backwards?

I was told not to worry since I am getting paid an awesome starting wage of a whopping 1000 won an hour. He said 1 won equals $1- so I'm straight.

[gmlkoreanna]

"capnsamwise"
that is the only acceptable reason that an english teacher should ever type out a message like this.

hmmm...Are you a recruiter? Why does it matter, if I be lettin the fellow expacts know, what a friend, who was once a recruiter himself, explained how much the money is divided up between the instructors, recruitment firm (and sometime believe it or not, they be another couple few involved, getting they KRW on). I'll have to get that spike out of my front or back cortex..

[air76]

[Forever]

Most old-timers here won't leave their apartment for LESS than 50,000won per hour..

But these days (thanks to the USA 10% unemployment rate and the USA economy) - there are always plenty of newbies willing to work for less than 50,000won per hour.

Korean employers know this and are seeking the "newbies" who have no idea about Korea, are still in the "honeymoon" stage and will work for less.

[CapnSamwise]

[v88]

Recruiters are a slimy bunch.

I worked for LG for a while for 50 - 70 an hour. The hour I was paid only 50 was because it was set up by a recruiter. He took 80 then paid me 50. He was an unreliable shyster and I always had to get the VP of whatever division it was he worked in at LG to threaten him in order to get my money. We got sick of it and I started teaching them extra classes at 70. Problem was they didn't want to break their tie with him...He was a slimy shyster, yet they felt they had some sort of allegiance with him rather than me. I eventually quit because I despised the recruiter so much.

The trick to getting gigs that are good in Korea, is setting them up your self. In most cases the recruiter does nothing, most times jobs get passed from one teacher to the next (if they are good) and the recruiter sits back and collects cash for doing nothing. Most cases the recruiter has very few contacts with foreign teachers and does nothing but post jobs on free web sites (except for daves, but those are positions for 1 year E2s) or get referrals from the teachers they have working for them.

The thing the recruiter really does, is speak Korean for you. Lots of employers don't think their English is good enough to deal with English speakers (and often don't want the hassle of finding a teacher) even though most recruiters can't speak enough English themselves. Learn Korean or find employers who can speak English, advertise on Korean web sites, set up a study room, make contacts with people in business (friendly contacts) and form a reliable network with the English speaker you know to keep jobs cycled between English speakers and out of the hands of recruiters. If Koreans can trust you to help them find good teachers then you'll help cut out the middle man.

Jobs will come our way and you will never see a recruiter again.

My wife and I run a study room in our house which has helped us meet a lot of people, I have kept in contact with employers I like and try to help them find teachers for a good rate, I get jobs through friends and every once in a while I meet some random business man and get a job for myself or for someone else out of it.

I teach in my house for 50,000 an hour, legally. That's nothing compared to some guys who run schools (and really don't teach anymore).

I think the good ol days of money being thrown around carelessly for English are over, but you can still make a sound living. The product of English education has improved alot over the past 10 years. Schools have been forced to offer real curriculum at more affordable rates. The independent teacher will have to do the same. Those jobs from recruiters offering 25,000 an hour are the bottom end of the industry that is trying to cling to profits in a dieing market....buoyed by cheap labour from the Philippines and backpackers just looking for a few bucks to fund their next trip (which is cool, cause that's really how I found Korea back in 2003....and I came back to get married...now that's another story). Of course we might be seeing a shift toward English baby sitting, or English daycare, which essentially promises to offer parents daycare with the added bonus of English "Education" (in italics, because we all know it's not).

[Steelrails]

Tip for ones economic health- Don't think about tings like backwards and forwards and instead think about hings in terms of the market.

And for those who think about things in terms of the market, start thinking in terms about what is backwards or forwards for you.

In other words understand the market, but don't settle for anything less than improvement.