Korean Job Discussion Forums

[PopeJohnPaul]

Greeting to you all! I hope Korea is treating you well and perhaps I might join you sometime. I am a 24 year man (I prefer dude, actually) working in the film business in Los Angeles. I was born and raised here and while I love the city I know it's time for a change. I live with my parents and thus have been saving money during these tough times well. I graduated with a film/commercial production degree and have been working at a company ever since. One of my biggest passions in life is traveling. I could go on and on about that, but I'll keep it short. I've been lucky enough to be exposed to it throughout my life and I feel like my travels have shaped the person I am tremendously. One thing I have never done is lived overseas. When I put all the possibilities in front of me, teaching in Korea seemed like a great idea, for all the reasons I'm sure brought you out.

I have been lurking the hell out of these boards the last few weeks. I'd like to thank everyone for being so open and sharing such good information here.

Though I know I'm filled to the brim with information on teaching in Korea, I feel even more lost! I read so many different things on the internet I can't tell which direction I should be heading in. I was taking notes on some things I read on this forum until I realized it was posted in 2003!

I know some of these questions have probably been brought up many times, but if you wouldn't mind tossing a newbie a bone or at least pointing me in the right direction I really, truly appreciate it.


1. I graduated with a BA in film studies from a small private college. It was a year round school, thus I got my BA in 3 years. Many websites I read say 4 years. Will this give me a hard time? Anyone taught in Korea with a 3 year degree? It was not a trade school or anything like that, if it makes a difference.

2. Where do I start? Should I take a TESOL course before I begin applying?
Should I talk to the consulate here in Los Angeles? Should I get a recruiter? What should my very first plan of action be, if I decide to seriously consider this next step in my life.

3. I'm having a seriously hard time deciding where I would like to live. I'm a fun, social person. I love going out, trying new things, eating weird food, going to clubs etc etc etc. Excluding 3 years of college (where I lived an hour north of LA in a beach town of 100,000 which I loved) I lived in LA my whole life. I'm sure I'd have a blast in Seoul but I'm not sure about living there. Busan seems to intrigue me a bit more, but I think I'd be content with living a bit outside of the cities. Chinju spiked my interested. Any places to recommend in particular? A good, mid size city perhaps? Regarding weather, I'm no fan of humidity. I wouldn't mind the cold so much (nice change of pace I reckon) but I would prefer as mild a climate as possible.

4. The Women. Alright guys, no BS. What's the dating scene like? Korean women into Caucasian men? Please tell me they are insanely forward and buy drinks for the guys like the ladies in Thailand,Vietnam and Laos do.

5. I'm also having a very difficult time figuring out what age I want to teach. I've never been around small children very much and cute as they are...not sure I'm cut out for that. I think I would enjoy teaching adults to some degree, but I'm still not sure. Is there a detailed description out there of the teaching curriculum for the various levels? I'm a very silly, easy going person and feel maybe I should try my hand at children in some way. Just not sure. How did you come to decide? Having zero experience, what are my possibilities?

6. Is it worth it? Was this a good experience in your life? I had little interest before this to teach, but I'm very open minded. Perhaps I will love teaching and it will be a part of my life more than I thought it would. Is there any other option you would recommend to someone in my book instead of teaching in Korea? I've run the options from volunteering in Nepal to spending my money running through South America to make a documentary. This teach in Korea option seems like a perfectly reasonable, mature step to the foreign world I so want to be in, with a healthy support bridge. I'm very open to other options however.

7. As I said, my BA was in film studies. I still love film making and would love to continue to be involved with it. I realize Korea is starting to grow a pretty healthy film market. Has anyone been involved or heard of English teaching being of assistance to film/tv/commercial advertisement companies?

8. What is the time frame I'm looking at, exactly? Every thing I see on the internet is different starting dates so I'm assuming it could be year round hiring excluding public schools. I think I would be ready for this by March, but February could also work.

Thanks so much for any and all tips, really appreciate it.

By the way, anyone on CouchSurfing? I could use some friends on it!

Cheers

--J

[Captain Corea]

[fustiancorduroy]

1. I graduated with a BA in film studies from a small private college. It was a year round school, thus I got my BA in 3 years. Many websites I read say 4 years. Will this give me a hard time? Anyone taught in Korea with a 3 year degree? It was not a trade school or anything like that, if it makes a difference.

- You have a four-year degree. It doesn't matter how long it took you to finish it.


2. Where do I start? Should I take a TESOL course before I begin applying?
Should I talk to the consulate here in Los Angeles? Should I get a recruiter? What should my very first plan of action be, if I decide to seriously consider this next step in my life.

- Those are probably both good ideas.


3. I'm having a seriously hard time deciding where I would like to live. I'm a fun, social person. I love going out, trying new things, eating weird food, going to clubs etc etc etc. Excluding 3 years of college (where I lived an hour north of LA in a beach town of 100,000 which I loved) I lived in LA my whole life. I'm sure I'd have a blast in Seoul but I'm not sure about living there. Busan seems to intrigue me a bit more, but I think I'd be content with living a bit outside of the cities. Chinju spiked my interested. Any places to recommend in particular? A good, mid size city perhaps? Regarding weather, I'm no fan of humidity. I wouldn't mind the cold so much (nice change of pace I reckon) but I would prefer as mild a climate as possible.

- I like Seoul better than LA, personally, but Busan is more relaxed and has slightly better weather than Seoul. I hear the islands east of Busan are nice, too.


4. The Women. Alright guys, no BS. What's the dating scene like? Korean women into Caucasian men? Please tell me they are insanely forward and buy drinks for the guys like the ladies in Thailand,Vietnam and Laos do.

- I'd say a fairly small percentage of Korean women like Caucasian men. It would be highly unusual for a Korean girl to buy you drinks like the women do in SE Asia. Nevertheless, if you are decent looking, patient, and charming, you should be able to get more than a few dates. Learning Korean will help in this area, too.


5. I'm also having a very difficult time figuring out what age I want to teach. I've never been around small children very much and cute as they are...not sure I'm cut out for that. I think I would enjoy teaching adults to some degree, but I'm still not sure. Is there a detailed description out there of the teaching curriculum for the various levels? I'm a very silly, easy going person and feel maybe I should try my hand at children in some way. Just not sure. How did you come to decide? Having zero experience, what are my possibilities?

- Most jobs are for teaching young children to young teenagers, but you could also get a job teaching high school fairly easily. I always preferred teaching older students because I didn't have to waste time with discipline.


6. Is it worth it? Was this a good experience in your life? I had little interest before this to teach, but I'm very open minded. Perhaps I will love teaching and it will be a part of my life more than I thought it would. Is there any other option you would recommend to someone in my book instead of teaching in Korea? I've run the options from volunteering in Nepal to spending my money running through South America to make a documentary. This teach in Korea option seems like a perfectly reasonable, mature step to the foreign world I so want to be in, with a healthy support bridge. I'm very open to other options however.

- Yes, it is worth it. You should go somewhere at least for a few months. Get out of your comfort zone and spend some time in a foreign country. Korea might be a good place to do that, but you should not discount your other options, either.


7. As I said, my BA was in film studies. I still love film making and would love to continue to be involved with it. I realize Korea is starting to grow a pretty healthy film market. Has anyone been involved or heard of English teaching being of assistance to film/tv/commercial advertisement companies?

- You could get involved with film industry here, albeit to a limited extent. You also could work with other foreigners on making movies. Teaching could help your future career if you spin it to sound relevant.


8. What is the time frame I'm looking at, exactly? Every thing I see on the internet is different starting dates so I'm assuming it could be year round hiring excluding public schools. I think I would be ready for this by March, but February could also work.

- You could probably be here in a couple weeks or sooner if you work at a hagwon. You can start at a public school next year easily.

[seoulsucker]

[chellovek]

[ippy]

1. A BA is a BA, its not really the time frame thats important its the qualification for the purpose of getting your visa. In the UK we get our BA's in three years too. its not an issue.

2. For 200 bucks you can get a tesol. That 200 bucks will then turn into 100,000 won extra per month if you take a public school job. Thats 1200 a year. For an outlay of 200 dollars and at least some understanding of your job, youd be crazy not to.
(NB. Massively hypocritical advice right there - no tesol but then i dont care all that much )

3. No recommendations, most cities are high demand which might mean accepting crappy jobs for low pay or might mean taking a bit longer for you to get placed. Keep your options open as much as possible. Everyone wants busan and seoul/incheon, so if you can get your mind away from there you have more chance of landing the job you want. You can of course try for those places, it just MAY take you a little longer (or you MAY get lucky and fall into a job straight away). Choose your priorities and work on that. Its you thats got to work it for a year, so just make sure that you find what youre looking for. If going out a lot and having lots of friends is your thing, focus on getting that city placement.

4. Yes, but its nothing like youre describing. Korea is quite a conservative country, the single best advice is this: if you learn the language, you have a bigger pool to choose from. More importantly, youll get in with their korean male freinds. This is the number one best tried and true route to dating in korea. (NB. This info is derived from my life in japan, not in korea, but ive been led to believe that its exactly the same). Get introduced through a second person and you will find the potential quality of your dating options open up wildly.

5. I was dumped into middle school on JET, so im used to teaching them. Theyre cute, theyre also moving from being dumb relentless icecream eating machines to young mature adults. Middle school is fascinating. Elementary school they are so cute and energetic and enthusiastic that it might have you burning out if you just like time to chill. High school, as one of my mates remarked, is a joy because she can finally have some semblance of a conversation. But it will also have kids who really really wont mind getting up in your face or making their disdain felt.

Adult classes on the other hand come with split shifts for the most part (early morning and early evening). So its really down to you and what you want.

6. Truthfully you havent really given me any reason to believe you want to come here, party a bit, score with some korean women and head back home (i recognise my own). You sound like teaching wont exactly be your driving force here, so the question should lose some of the 'teaching' guff. If you land a city job youll probably get what you want. If you land a countryside job you probably wont. Im not slamming you, but just trying to make you choose the right thing for you. Not everyone is in korea to change the world or bond with their students or improve lives. Many people are here for the same reasons you are coming (by the sounds of it), so yeah, if thats right, get a city job, live for the weekends and have a ball whilst getting paid handsomely for it. Its a nice life if im honest.

7. No idea.

8. One and a half months or so to get your documents. With no prior experience no qualifications related to the job, and an interest in high demand placements, youre probably looking at a month or so of finding a job (or you can find one quick if youre happy to pick up any old job). Then one week fro the visa to process and you should be out pretty much straight away. Of course you can start now contacting recruiters which would save you a month or so, but if youre after a specific job then dont get tied up with just one (unless its epik anmd its variants - only go with ONE epik recruiter, but go with as many as you like for hagwon positions).

Hope that helps.

[balzor]

[furtakk]

1. As others have said, as long as your university is accredited a BA is a BA. It does not matter how long it took you to complete it.

2. A TESOL is cheap (online anyhow) and will give you a slight bump over other newbies. If you decide to do public, you will also get a bump in pay.

3. My general rule (that I just made up right now) is to divide the population of a Korean city by 3. Then compare that number to a city of that size in the west to get a rough idea of what will be available to you in terms of culture, entertainment, etc. To be completely honest, if you like large city amenities, you should stick to either Seoul (and it's suburbs), Busan, or Daegu.

4. Not going to happen. That said, as long as you're relatively attractive, not creepy, and have some game, you should be able to find dates.

5. Generally if you teach adults, you will have to teach split shifts (early morning and late evening). Some people like this, some don't. Kinder/elementary is morning, usually 8-9 hours. Elementary/middle is afternoon is usually afternoon 7-8 hours. That is if you are working in a hagwon of course.

6. I think it was worth it. It's a great and relatively stress-free life and you have a lot of free time to pursue any hobbies while you're here. Some people use their time positively, some don't

7. Realistically, I doubt you could find this sort of opportunity in your first year here, at least not on a semi-professional level. Although you will have plenty of time to develop your own projects with other people that have similar interests.

8. If you work in a hagwon you can start any time during the year. Public hires for September and March, but they have random openings throughout the year (nowhere near as much as hagwons though).

[uklathemock]

3. I'm from L.A. as well. The humidity in Seoul can be unbearable in the summer and mosquitoes are f-ing everywhere.

4. Do you mind things untamed and matted?

[PopeJohnPaul]

thanks for the responses folks