Korean Job Discussion Forums

[yakey]

I worked at Konkuk University in the past and I saw they're hiring again.

Just a word of warning, that 20 million won key money might get to you, or it might not.

If the director of the institute decides he doesn't like where you live or he just doesn't like you, he might just say no.

That's what happened to me, even though there are no stipulations in the contract about where you need to live, etc.

Another Konkuk boo-boo they made on me was paying my salary to another employee one month. They said they couldn't fix the problem for 30 days and so I basically went 60 days with no pay until they could fix their own screw-up.

Konkuk hires and loses people a lot. There's a reason for that.

Kyung Hee U. Seoul is another cattle call of teachers. While some colleges and universities will pay you cash bonuses for Chuseok, for example, Kyung Hee will give you a pizza party.

OK, let's see. Pizza parties cost about W10,000 per person, whereas a Chuseok bonus might be W500,000.

I'll never forget the line I got from my Kyung Hee "boss."

"You're getting the highest salary of anyone we hired."

The first other new teacher I met told me his salary and it was higher than mine.

Don't trust the Unigwons.

[reactionary]

thanks. i've been applying to unis and unigwons lately - at a slightly reduced pay from my public school fora few less teaching hours (and hopefully office hours) and longer vacations.

any other heads up on other unis/unigwons to avoid are appreciated.

[air76]

While I agree that it's a bit ridiculous to have a pizza party for the foreign teachers instead of a cash bonus, I seriously doubt that any universities are giving 500,000 won bonuses to their foreign teachers. I would think that such bonuses would max out at around 100,000 at 90% of the universities in Korea (for the foreign teachers.)

At our university we get a gift. There are usually 5-7 things to choose from, ranging in value from 50,000 to 100,000. This happens three times a year, so I think that it's a pretty good deal. I'd rather have the cash, but the gifts are decent.

[Thiuda]

[air76]

[Chaucer]

Konkuk has done some lame stuff--I worked there for four years--one at the unigwon and three in the English dept.
But the thing with the key money is just if the apartment you want has a mortgage on it the school won't fork over the money. No money unless they're first in line to collect if the owner goes bankrupt.
And (and this was not Kyunghee, which I agree is, well, not a cattle car, but more of a Wal-Mart in terms of turnover) I got a 600,000 won bonus from Konkuk in 2006 for the 60th anniversary of the school's founding.
Hmm--never realized how good I had it.
Well, until the three year rule kicked in...

[KoreanAmbition]

At the unigwon I used to work for, we were given 300,000 won at each of the 2 major holidays.

[yakey]

In my position at Konkuk, I never got the key money because it was deemed that I got an apartment not in the general vicinity of Konkuk - even though nobody mentioned anything like that and there was no stipulation about that in my contract.

I was never late or missed one day of work.

But the Korean director was old and set in his ways.

It had nothing to do with who owned the apartment, the mortgage or anything like that.

Basically they wanted me to live in an old 8 pyoung box across the street.

But I found a nice new 22 pyoung officetel on the outskirts of town next to a Lotte Cinema and a Subway sandwich shop for the same money.

[carleverson]

English Teachers are a dime a dozen here and we are expendable and replaceable.

If you quit working at Konkuk, there will be another teacher who will gladly accept less for getting a chance at working for a university in Seoul.

The longer I stay here the more I realize teaching english here is no profession, it's an entry-level job with very little opportunity for moving up.

[djsmnc]