Korean Job Discussion Forums

WadRUG'naDoo · Joined: 15 Jun 2010 Location: Shanghai

Not that I'm Nostradamus or anything, but with the increased influx of teachers, I knew job conditions and treatment of teachers would worsen in Korea.

Just look at all the complaints about public schools lately and posts of hagwons going back to their once more devlish ways of deducting pension and pocketing it, etc.

Some thought that that with the increase of people wanting to come to Korea would mean more qualified instructors. Wrong. Just another excuse for schools to further cheat teachers, lie to them and demand more from them for less money.

And nothing is being done about it.

PatrickGHBusan · Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2010 5:05 am Post subject:

MOD EDIT

+1.

Conditions 10-12 years were nowhere near as good as they are now. Now, teachers have more resources (labor board), they have new pension rules (get the money back easily), fewer have to work saturdays (it was the norm back in 1997 when I arrived), they have better access to western goods, accomodations now are typically single (you live by yourself) a short 10-12 years ago shared accomodations was the norm. You get stuck with another wayguk freak as a roomate for a year or so and you will think that single accomodations are an amazing improvement!

What has changed is that competition for jobs has increased that this means people who are used to getting work with no effort are now forced to compete a little.

This is typical of an empoyment sector that is flooded with applicants. In any such market, empoyers have the luxury of picking from what tends to be a larger pool of candidates.

As for the online complaints, they are not a meaningful measuring tool for the state of ESL in Korea. This is simply due to the fact that people who are unhappy tend to be more vocal. As such, the negative aspect tends to be over represented because people that are content are also on average less inclined to want to post about it online.

Then you factor in the anonymity of online forums and what effect this has on a person and you often get exgarated stories or fabrications that are meant to vent or simply to stir the pot....

More competition for jobs and employers who can pick applicants from a larger pool does mean that the the game has changed temorarily wad, in that respect you are right.

Unposter · Joined: 04 Jun 2006

Sadly, I agree with Patrick. Those things are all better now. In many ways (except salary) things are better now.

I would still like to see salaries go up and I would still like to see more opportunities for people with experience (Not that there aren't any but I would just like to see more).

Hyeon Een · Joined: 24 Jun 2005

PatrickGHBusan · Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2010 7:41 am Post subject:

Actually my roomate the first year was a nice dude. We got along pretty well.

That seemed to be the exception however! Laughing

Tuna sandwich man was one of the freakiest wayguk roomates I heard of...but thats for another thread... Laughing

WadRUG'naDoo · Joined: 15 Jun 2010 Location: Shanghai

But I'm not talking about ten years ago. I'm talking about recent times. The increase of people coming here to teach and job conditions being effected by it.

You can't deny that employers here are using the influx of teachers to treat their employees worse.

If you thinkg they aren't, you're in denial.

sulperman · Joined: 14 Oct 2008

affected, not effected

WadRUG'naDoo · Joined: 15 Jun 2010 Location: Shanghai

iwillteachyouenglish · Joined: 07 Jul 2010

Ya but not all of us noobs are going in uninformed. Some, like myself, have read all the horror stories on here and are going in ready for battle. Based on your experiences, I know they will try to screw me, and I am going to try screwing them back at every turn. I will be a royal pain in the arse to deal with, will not compromise at all, and most likely will pull the midnight run right before they fire me, unless I happen to get someplace that behaves. Hopefully, I can save enough to holiday in thailand for a bit and still buy my fare home before the seemingly inevitable confrontation goes down.

We need to get every single teacher informed of what will happen and what they can do about it. kind of like a real teachers union, but one which isn't afraid to recommend dirty tatics Laughing

Reverse Screwings should become commonplace. Maybe then they will just be happy to have someone who doesn't leave them shorthanded on a minutes notice. Even better would be blocks of teachers leaving shady places all at once. What would they tell the parents then? Laughing

I say we organize and start screwing them over royally. A better blacklist and whitelist of places is needed as well. Without a good whitelist/blacklist, the bad places can continue to attract with impunity and the good employers are not being rewarded enough. I know it cannot happen on this forum, but surely someone could host such a list and purge shills out of it.

ontheway · Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2010 2:06 pm Post subject:

jinks · Joined: 27 Oct 2004 Location: Formerly: Lower North Island

confucian · Joined: 13 May 2010

confucian · Joined: 13 May 2010

air76 · Joined: 13 Nov 2007

Seoulio · Joined: 02 Jan 2010

God these posts get tiring, yes ALL koreans are out to screw us, they wake up every morning saying "bloody foreigners, how can i screw them out of their cash today.

1) I also notice an influx of self entitled selfish young children on these boards, who think its thier god given right to get what they want when they want it and to educate thier bosses on "logic" and "common sense" people who think that 3 weeks camps are unfair, and being paid to sit at a desk and do whatever you want to is unfair

2) Some principals simply follow the word of law, and OFTEN treat you like they would a Korean teacher - Ironically many NSETS compain that they want to be treated like a Korean teacher so that they get the 5 week vacation and other perks, forgetting the drawbacks to this request

3) some people are inherently dishonest, and have always and will always try to get that money by screwing with pension. This called BUSINESS, and many business people are unsrupulous weasels

4) If you watch your bills and catch these things first time out then you can be informed on your money quite quickly and tell your boss "pay me in 1 day please" when they don't you keep records and go to the labor board then or at the end of your contract. Or you can quite earlier if you dont think that its coming.

5) There are more jobs here than back home for most of us. These jobs by and large treat us fairly well as it still costs money to bring in someone new. MOst of what people complain about can be fixed if they are dilligent, and are not really issues at all.

Most Koreans treat us damn well and we are fairly dealt with in MOST business dealings. If thats not your experience then you can either change your workplace, or the country of your employment.

Nothings keeping you in Korea after all.