Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mellowfe]

Well, like the subject saids I'm about to graduate at the end of this year and I'm seriously thinking of teaching overseas, preferably in Korea. I'm a dual citizen of the US and Italy and thought about going back to Italy to teach, but my priority is saving money leading me to Korea. This is a great site and I've been spending hours trying to read everything and Korea seems to offer the best salary's and job opportunities. I'm beginning to do my research now so that when i graduate I can start working as soon as possible.

That being said here are my qualifications, if I could get some input on what I could expect to get salary wise that would great. I'm thinking I should be able to get something in the 2.5 mil range since I have a education degree/tesol cert, is that about right?

Education:
-Bachelors of Arts in Elementary Education with TESOL certification
-Certified to teach all subjects k-6 by Florida Department of Education
-3.65 gpa, Honor Society

Experience:
-I have a 1 1/2 years worth of student-teaching/internship experience in kindergarten and 4th grade, comes out to about 650 hours.
-Prior to going to school I spent 5 years in the Navy as a Flight Engineer, spending the last 2 years as a Instructor.

I have a few questions I haven't been able to answer by myself by searching and reading past posts....

-will Korean jobs accepts my TESOL cert? I keep hearing about TEFL certifications or intentional TESOL certification classes and really don't feel like having to take another course for something I already have.

-Does my student teaching count for anything in regards to salary?

-Should I include my military/instructor service on my resume? I'm not sure about this since I don't want to be seen as some crazy military guy due to the perception our military has overseas. That being said I was a instructor of adults for 2 years, which gave me tons of teaching experience and is what lead me to go to school to teach so I feel it might help to add to my resume.

-are tattoos looked down upon? I have several visible tattoos all on my left arm. I always keep them covered when teaching or working since I usually wear a suit or office clothes, and would do the same in Korea, but I'd like to know what their culture thinks of them.

-Does anybody have any thoughts about the Moon Kkang school? One of my directing teachers should me some info on them when she heard I was thinking of teaching in Korea and it seems like a good deal.

Well, sorry for the long post, thank you for any replys, I really appreciate it!

[Steve_Rogers2008]

[mellowfe]

wow really? thanks for a completely useless post which didn't answer any of my questions. If you were going to waste time picking out my spelling errors you could at least answer a question or two. Thanks

[reactionary]

You do seem to have some non-native language issues, though. That said, if you wanna teach young learners, go for it. Just be careful if you teach adults or older kids because they will call you out on grammar mistakes just like that guy did.

A big word of advice: keep your Italian dual citizenship to yourself. You'll want to be American in Korea. They don't want to learn English from an Italian.

Your TESOL cert will be fine, but not necessary. Certain jobs will give you a 100,000 won pay increase for it, others won't.

Military? Kind of an odd question. Up to you.

Cover your tattoos.

You'll find a job, just remember, you're an American. And stick to teaching the really young kids.

If you have an accent, well, good luck on the phone interview.

[tardisrider]

[Steve_Rogers2008]

[bocceman]

I wonder if there's some way to make the below a sticky. People are always on this board asking what kind of offers they should expect to receive, but they don't post enough relevant information about themselves.

The type of offers you can receive vary widely according to your qualifications. People with high qualifications can make well over $15k a month. People with the minimum qualifications will make about $2-3k a month.

Here, in approximate descending order, are the most important considerations for landing a job here:

1.) Are you white?

Long story short, being White's a big advantage. Being Asian is a handicap. Being any other race is a giant handicap.

2.) Where'd you get your degree?

The prestige of a degree from an Ivy League/Top Tier university is extremely high here. While this is true in the States, the prestige given to such degrees is 10x higher here.

3.) How good looking are you?

While being good looking is certainly an advantage to professional advancement in the States, it's much more important here. Having interviewed at many, many different places: there's a very tight correlation between how much a place pays and the attractiveness of their staff.

4.) Are you already here?

Most places, especially the high-paying places, want an in-person interview. Plus many places, if they hire you want you to start working immediately. Plus, they don't want to deal with any potential complications of hiring someone 10,000 miles away. Which leads to:

5.) Do you have/need a work visa?

Most places strongly prefer hiring people who already have a work visa or don't need one. It's a pain in the ass to get, and the process takes a long time (especially first time E-2 visas) here.

7.) Are you female?

Being female is better.

6.) What's your teaching experience?

This part should be common sense. The more teaching experience you have, particularly if it's relevant to your expected position, is better.

7.) Other work experience.

Naturally, the more "prestigious" the company and your position, the better. By prestigious, I'm referring to your typical banking, law, corporate, etc. jobs. You're going to be joining a corporate environment and no one really cares how much you may have helped the world in the past.


Best of luck!

[guava]

[Steve_Rogers2008]

So you've had your eye on me....

[guava]

Yes you are right. I have been looking at you. It saved me a trip to the zoo, haha.

[Steve_Rogers2008]

Following what you think is a monkey around and then criticizing it's use of language..... and laughing at yourself at the end.....



Can't pin a formal dx, but "reality testing" seems to be compromised.... but don't worry, that's not as much of a handicap in ESL in Asia.... might even be an asset.

But whatever your medication, double it.... then cut it in half.

[guava]

[Steve_Rogers2008]

Avoiding the issue, referring to yourself in the third person..... classic de-realization and de-personalization disorder characteristics.... I can see you and your shrink have a lot of work ahead...

[guava]

[The Gipkik]

OP, the advice here is cynical and absolute crap. With your qualifications and experience, you should be able to get the 2.5 at a hogwan or maybe 2.3 or more at a public school. Your training sounds solid and your military experience will be useful when dealing with the hierarchy-obsessed Koreans. And maybe kids too. Keep tats covered, until you develop good relationships at your school. After that, you are what you want to be, but Koreans respect professionalism and a chilled, easy going nature with a back bone. And always keep a sense of humor. It has made my life an absolute pleasure here.