Korean Job Discussion Forums

[trying2getthere]

Pangaea, AwakeInGwangju, QazPlm:

I'm too new to PM, can you PM me and give me some specifics about your situation with Gwangju You & I? I've been offered a contract with them and want the most information I can get.

Thanks!!

[giwizzef]

Hi,
I was very interested to happen upon this thread because I have been offered a position with You & I and have been doing a lot of research on the school. I was given the contact information for a couple of individuals who currently work with You & I and they, in turn, gave me the contact information for additional individuals. In total, I've exchanged messages with five different people currently working with You & I. From what I gather, your experience can vary greatly by location, primarily because the original You & I was a successful franchise that was recently sold and then merged with (by the new owners) another not so successful franchise. The transition, as I understand it, is still in progress and some of the locations are a lot more in line with the You & I "mission" (for lack of a better word) than others. From what I'm told, the new owner is Korean, doesn't speak much English, but is nice. Specific feedback I've received so far is this:

Of the five people with whom I've exchanged messages, they all said they're consistently paid on time and in full and have no complaints about payroll.

One person reported having to aggressively pursue the receipt of benefits, such as medical insurance. Everyone else said they receive all of their benefits as agreed.

Only four responded about their housing. Three described it as "good" or "fine". One described it as "awesome".

Two people complained about the curriculum. They both worked at locations that were not part of the original You & I franchise. Under the original owners, they had a lot more freedom in their lesson planning. Their primary complaint was the rigid structure of the You & I curriculum and the lack of freedom they now have in planning lessons. One of the two people also made a comment about the new powers that be having a much more "micro-management" type style than the previous management which, as described by the individual, was all but non existent prior to the merger.

Three of the people currently report to the same manager, a woman named Lauren, although it was unclear from their messages whether this is a part of the transition or whether Lauren is permanently in charge of multiple locations. I only say this because one person wrote as if she was under the impression that Lauren is not a permanent fixture at her location and is only there part of the time. Anyway, one of the individuals said they like her a lot. One doesn't like her at all. The third said he's had worse managers in Korea (not sure exactly how to put that into context).

In a nutshell, the amount of glitches and negative experiences that have been shared with me about You and I have been minimal, and every complaint has in some way centered around the curriculum and bumpy management transitions. Unlike many of the hagwon tales of woe involving not getting paid or receiving benefits, not a single person with whom I've exchanged messages has complained or had a problem with those aspects of their job with You & I. Most of the feedback, in general, has been positive. This somewhat surprised me. I won't lie. Given the overwhelming amount of negativity toward Hagwons I read on this particular forum, I was braced for some serious horror stories. They have yet to come...Of course, that doesn't mean they're not out there, I guess.

[trying2getthere]

giwizzef--

Thanks so much for sharing, this is very valuable information! I was also given contact info for the current teachers, but was unable to get info for any past teachers not currently at the school.

The individuals I've talked to said the transition, for them, had been smooth and they didn't have any problems with getting paid, etc. They did say that they didn't realized their original contract didn't include anything about the pension, but they were able to get that correctly easily. I take this as a good sign.

They also complained about how "boring" the curriculum was and how there was very little freedom. As a new teacher, I don't know if this would necessarily be a bad thing, for me at least.

I am leaning toward accepting this contract.

Can I ask if you're planning to accept? Which location? If so, I'd love to be kept up-to-date about your experience.

Thanks so much for sharing!

[SCAshley]

Has anyone had luck negotiating their contract with You&I? I just received a contract offer today and it seems really vague and generic. There was a lot that needed to be revised and I tried not to be picky, but stuff like unpaid training, tax amounts not put in, "not being able to guarantee as schedule" etc., all seemed a little vague. I've sent back my revisions to my recruiter, so I guess we'll see. Anyone else being recruited for one of the new franchises in Busan/Masan/Daegu?

[kardisa]

I was hired at a new franchise, and I had little issue negotiating my contract. All of my additions/corrections were accepted, with the exception of the clauses regarding the deposit and unpaid training.

The unpaid training is unfortunately mandatory and takes about 8 hours on a Saturday. Not ideal, but I suppose it could be worse.

[SCAshley]

kardisa-
That's not bad if it's just a Saturday training...they told me they want me to come Dec. 26th and that I would start teaching January 1st which made me think the training would be longer. I can't PM yet because I'm too new, but I would love to pick your brain a bit if you don't mind-if they agree to fix the other stuff I might seriously consider it. Hope to hear from you!

[kardisa]

PM sent

[SCAshley]

Thank you kardisa! I can't reply to your PM on here, I guess I haven't reached my 25 posts yet. I posted a comment on your blog, with my e-mail, so hopefully we can communicate that way. Thanks!

[SCAshley]

Here's an update on negotiating my You & I contract:
Overall, in my research and from talking to others, they seem like a pretty good company to work for. However, they are opening up new franchises all over the place and it seems that they can't keep up. First, I was offered a position in Busan. Then would it be ok to send me to Daegu? Then finally, the school in Daegu wouldn't be ready until February (construction problems), so, would I be interested in a position in Gumi? Regarding the actual contract: There's a clause in the contract that says if you decide to leave at ANY time during the 12 months, you are required to pay back the price of your initial flight there, instead of the standard being: after 6 months of work you are no longer obligated to pay back your flight to South Korea. I inquired about this and asked that it be changed but the response I got from Yeongwha (one of the franchise owners) was that they had too many people decide to leave after 6 months and couldn't afford to keep losing money in this way, so they changed their policy. Yes, she really told me this. Um, red flag? Next, they had asked for the dreaded, yet common, housing deposit. I said I was game to pay it, but I wanted to pay all of my bills before leaving and leave with the remainder of the deposit (not let them wire it to me). She said something about most of the money being able to be returned prior to my departure, but was vague, saying something about it being contingent upon the next teacher arriving, etc. Basically though, would not guarantee this. Also, although not a dealbreaker, would not guarantee an AC unit either. I've certainly seen/been offered worse contracts, but these things were enough to make me pass on it.

[BigBuds]

[HeavyTZM]

[comm]

[Weigookin74]

[some waygug-in]

To be fair, what Steve wrote is not entirely accurate.

It's not technically illegal for a foreigner to own and run a business in Korea,

but depending on who/where/ and when you have to deal with various gov't

officials, they will go out of their way to make life difficult for you.

To those of you who've made it,

Bravo!! Good on ya!

[HeavyTZM]