Korean Job Discussion Forums

ChiangMaiCharlie · Joined: 25 May 2010 Location: Seoul

Hey where are all the jobs? There's like two postings put up today despite new visa regs and terms starting???

I came back to Korea with all my docs thinking it'd be fairly straightforward to pick up another public or private school but there aren't even that many hagwans advertising.

Waluigi · Joined: 09 Apr 2009

There are about as many jobs here at the moment as there are in Chiang Mai, Charlie... ie - not many.

You really have to have some kind of connection here at the moment to find jobs. I was applying for ages and hearing nothing from recruiters, and I wasn't even insisting on Seoul like most people seem to. I got lucky and a friend of a friend posted on Facebook about a job coming free, which I applied for and got.

It seems every couple of days there's a thread on here about there being no jobs... it is certainly a lot different than it was just a year ago.. Sad

isthisreally · Joined: 01 Sep 2007

craigslist

Louis VI · Joined: 05 Jul 2010 Location: In my Kingdom

I helped my hagwon boss hire someone by sifting through applicants: about 50 replied to the ad, half of them form replies with no tailoring to the specific job being offered so into the trash can they went; of the remaining two dozen only six or seven had all their documents in hand and ready to go and provided the requested info and picture and contact phone number with their email, and a shortlist of four was made and contacted and from them only two were available and keen to do phone interviews and one job offer was made. Where along that process would you have been axed?

paulandsilas · Joined: 18 Aug 2010 Location: Daejeon, South Korea

I had to use a recruiter to find a job, and he pretty much indicated that you have to be open to going anywhere. I've been in Daejeon for about a week.

Junior · Joined: 18 Nov 2005 Location: the eye

Jobwise Korea has become far more trouble and expense than it is worth. Certainly not for the calibre of jobs on offer.

I've come this far down the road so I'll see it through now, but..never again.

SeoulNate · Joined: 04 Jun 2010 Location: Hyehwa

be the ball · Joined: 19 Oct 2009

RMNC · Joined: 21 Jul 2010

This is why I never have fear of being able to get a new contract, I am able to follow simple instructions, have everything ready to go, a good picture, a professional looking resume, contact info, an e-mail that is professional and serious, and I'm willing to do an interview late at night to get a job.

Most people don't meet those qualifications.

mm · Joined: 01 Jul 2010

Hotwire · Joined: 29 Aug 2010 Location: Multiverse

Hawkeye Pierce · Joined: 22 Jan 2010 Location: Uijeongbu

hagwonnewbie · Joined: 09 Feb 2007 Location: Asia

The job board here used to average around 30 jobs per day. Thats' a huge loss.

Did someone say craigslist?

devanna · Joined: 05 Aug 2010

I had been wondering that myself! I thought it'd be easy to find a job going to Korea and I had a friend that recommended the eslcafe to me and said that it'd take me less than a week to get a job offer.

I started applying seriously around the beginning of July, which was when I finally got all my documents together (it took almost two months; my state is really slow to get anything done...). I contacted twenty recruiters and only ONE got back to me. And that was after at least three weeks of just applying for just about every job that was displayed on the boards. I thought I had to settle for being outside of Gyeonggi-do, but then oh! about two weeks later, I got contacted by one other recruiter who offered me a job in Suwon that I decided to hang on to with dear life.

What was really annoying is that after I pretty much sign the contract and started processing my visa, that I was contacted from recruiters about schools that want to have interviews with me.

In my opinion, I think it really depends on when you're looking for a job. I was looking throughout the summer and didn't get anything. As soon as it hit August/September months, it seems like there are more schools that are looking for workers.

What I also found that was interesting was that I didn't really get any recruiters when I was applying only with a headshot and my resume and a short message outlining who I was. They really responded when I revised my approach and wrote out a long message stating my phone number, hours to reach me, specifics that I was looking for in a job (ie, location, age group) and also added a full length picture of myself that was very much casual (it was a picture from my graduation party).

What also really helps is that you keep on emailing them after their first initial response. You keep them from forgetting that you're there and also they know you're still looking for a job so that they don't put you on the 'oh, i guess they found a position since i haven't heard from them in a week' pile.

Man, I think I should just make a blog that explains this sort of thing, cause I felt SO inadequate as a person when I didn't get any responses from recruiters. It'd help if someone could have told me it was just how things were.

almightyze · Joined: 29 Aug 2010

Yeah, it does look like a timing matter. I applied to, I think, 6 or 7 recruiters one day last week, and 3 or 4 responded to me. What's also important is the matter of when: I've been asking for positions in October/November, which is probably the earliest I can get over there once documentation was completed and such.