Korean Job Discussion Forums

[proudman]

A little background: I am currently living in Seoul and working at an elementary school hagwon. I have an F-4 Visa, and am looking to break out of that hagwon prison ASAP!

I have an interview next week with a well known Korean business. If offered the job, I would be teaching English on a full time basis to a high level executive and sometimes to a group of five individuals. The pay will more than likely be somewhere between 3.5-4 million a month with no housing. I don't have all the details regarding my day to day activities or responsibilities. According to the recruiter, the company is very interested in me. All that said, I would appreciate any input or insight anyone might have to the following questions:

If anyone has taught English on a full time basis to a large business in Korea, what are some of the positives and negatives that I should expect? I don't want to end up being treated like every other typical Korean "salary man".

Do you think taking less money to work for a company like Pagoda will be less mentally and emotionally taxing than working for a Korean corporation?

A Korean friend was speculating that I should expect to have 2-3 hours of preparation each night if I accept the job with the Korean corporation.

Being this is my first "REAL" interview in Korea, what kinds of questions should I be asking in my interview? What questions would be proper and improper?

It's my understanding that my recruiter will serve as an interpreter during the interview.

I apologize for the length, but I want to make sure that I make an informed decision.

THANK YOU!!!

[RMNC]

Pagoda is a hagwon.

[Son Deureo!]

I can't help you with interview questions for the corporate job, but IMHO you'd be crazy not to try for that job.

Pagoda, like most adult hogwons in Korea, will most likely require you to work split shifts for that pay that is less than the corporate job you are currently working at. While you might actually spend fewer hours on site, or even teaching, than the corporate job you will be hurting for sleep and free time you can actually put to good use all the same. The classes themselves can be great, but it's common to burn out at adult hogwons after a year or two.

I don't know much about the corporate job you're being considered for, but a company job at that pay level is quite possibly a once in a lifetime opportunity that could open even more interesting doors in the future. In case that corporate job turns out to be all that great, Pagoda/YBM/BCM et al aren't going anywhere.

Opportunity is a-knockin'.

[proudman]

Son Deureo!

Thank you for your input! I'm really looking forward to the possibility of working there. However, there are still a lot of questions that hopefully will get uncovered during the interview next week.

I am a little nervous though because I have very little experience in working with adult learners. I have one business man that I tutor every Saturday. It's very informal too.

Do you have any suggestions of what I can do to demonstrate my competency and worth during the interview? The recruiter really pushed my profile to them because she felt I have a really good personality and would be a great fit for what they are looking for.

Another issue I have is my inexperience with lesson plans. I've been teaching for seven months at an elementary school hagwon, and there is no need to lesson plan. The syllabus is provided at the beginning of each "semester", and it's my responsibility to teach the pages in an interesting and animated way. That's the extent of my lesson planning. I will more than likely have to lesson plan everyday for these business excutives. Any suggestions on how to become a pro in that area in a really short time period?

Thanks again for your help and input!

[Young FRANKenstein]

[OneWayTraffic]

With the corporate jobs, find out what the guy wants on the first day and then give it to him.

For the group classes get the Market leader series of books plus CDs. You can make one chapter last 3 hours at least. It will last longer in a 1:1 class. There's a good mix of activities. Only problem is that there's a lot of British English, but there simply isn't anything that compares to Market Leader in my opinion.

For the exec, what I did well for 3 years or so was to buy a little netbook PC, browse the CNBC and CNN websites every day, and record interviews, news articles etc on my desktop, using free screen capture software. It took a while to get this set up, but in the end I had it down to an art. Then I'd copy it across to the netbook and go. A five minute video clip would be good for an hour as you'll need to play it 5 times and chat about it, cover vocab etc. And it's real English. If his English just isn't this good you'll need to try something else. CNN is easier than CNBC.

You may find that the exec just wants to hang out in English, but you still need to bring a plan every day. It looks better if you have something prepared, and you'll keep the job longer.

I also worked for 3 years at Pagoda. No contest the corp work is better. If that job falls through you can make 4+ mill a month doing corp part time work, kindergarten/hagwon in the day and privates.

[jack_b57]

Hey random question about this thread - if one were to take a corporate job, would it be strange to expect any overtime pay? In other words, does getting paid salaried mean they can work you to the bone without any extra pay?

[Young FRANKenstein]