Korean Job Discussion Forums

[minos]

I'm sure you guys have received some god awful offers for jobs before.

Which are the most hilariously bad?

I'm betting at least poor sap has worked a split shift kindy.

My favs:

BCM

6:30-12:30 in the morning
6:30- 9:30 nights.

2.2 million... hell of a split shift.....hopefully all BCM shifts aren't this bad.

Elan language school:

Their ads are pretty vague, but during the 3 hour interview process(one is 2 hours long, followed by a later one hour interview elsewhere!) you find out more.

Hiring conditions before applying:
Certified teacher with 2-3 years experience (!!) unless they find you. That's not a preference, but a requirement!

Pay:
2.1-2.5(internally decided by their own rubric not negotiation...ie: expect 2.3 - 2.4)...for cert. teachers with exp. ???

Working conditions as told to me in the interview:

-3 weeks of training before starting!
2-3 to 10pm
Minimum 35 hours of week....likely 40 or more hours a week
-Zero overtime pay...I was told that it's "service and dedication to the school...and it's very often"
-Plenty of lesson planing and extra paperwork....so be prepared! All of it unpaid and some times at home!

-Lots of questions about how I respond to emergency work situations ...enough to tip me off that last minute un-paid overtime teaching requests are not a casual warning.

-How long was I staying? Because 1-2 years isn't long enough, they're looking for the special individual who wants to grow with the company....for like...3-5+ years :shocked:

Best of all, sacrifice your outside life to the school. I explained my outside business ventures and hobbies...instead of being commended for having a life, I was scolded that it would be a big negative...Why?

This school requires long hours(many unpaid!)...but not only that, they expect "mental" dedication on the job....

The rest of the interview more or less involved a white guy asking a Korean corporate-level of dedication for a regular paying hagwon gig.

It was constantly explained to me that the additional "unpaid" sacrifice are well worth it to be involved with such an excellent company focused on education


Hey, if I'm gonna work my ass off at a hagwon, I'd rather go to CDI, Poly, and SLP...at least they pay you more for it.

[bcjinseoul]

I'd say most jobs these days offered by most recruiters:

9-6, 9-7 kindies,

12-9, 1-9, 2-10, 2-11 elem hogwons

they mostly pay 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, may not have pension, many only give 1 week vacation instead of 2, and of course many of them fire people during their 11th month to save money. You know things are bad when people who have been here for a while are settling for gigs like these. Only so many good jobs to go around. Outside of Korea I can't get anything like 12-6 (after school program) or 2-8/3-9 to save my life, most certainly in Seoul. Bah, humbug.

[rooster_2006]

One of the worst ones I've seen recently was this one:
http://www.eslcafe.com/jobs/korea/index.cgi?read=44801

Here, I'll copy and paste some of the special features of this prize job:

[BoholDiver]

What a joke. F-2 teachers make 2-3 times more and work less than that.

They can kiss my hairy yellow.............feet.

[lifeinkorea]

Hours too long in this offer (9:30 to 7:00)

8)Osan city , Gyeonggi province
Start Date : end of Dec
Number of Opening: 1
Location: Osan city
Teaching Level:Kindergarten~ Elementary school student
Schedule: 9:30am~7:00pm
Housing: Single accommodation
Salary: 2.1M~2.2M
Work days : Monday to Friday
Airfare : Round trip ticket
Health Insurance : Half paid by the school
Current western teacher's number: 4

[sbp59]

[Slowmotion]

[jrwhite82]

I think he means by teaching privates. However, I think he fails to realize how long it takes to set yourself up to be in that position. Plus all the time you should spend planning to make sure you are retaining customers instead of just playing a CD. Plus, many F2 couples work together so their income is split over two people. Or that he means working part time at a few different schools and being paid hourly. Which also takes a while to get set up. And these opportunities are becoming more and more rare.

Plus for both kinds of F2 work, whenever you take a vacation, you aren't getting paid. Want to take a month off to go home for a while? Well you just lost 1/12 of your yearly income. Ouch....And you aren't getting a yearly month bonus salary.

[jrwhite82]

I think he means by teaching privates. However, I think he fails to realize how long it takes to set yourself up to be in that position. Plus all the time you should spend planning to make sure you are retaining customers instead of just playing a CD. Plus, many F2 couples work together so their income is split over two people. Or that he means working part time at a few different schools and being paid hourly. Which also takes a while to get set up. And these opportunities are becoming more and more rare.

Plus for both kinds of F2 work, whenever you take a vacation, you aren't getting paid. Want to take a month off to go home for a while? Well you just lost 1/12 of your yearly income. Ouch....And you aren't getting a yearly month bonus salary.

[earthquakez]

Just about all of them. Not joking. The person who talked about the horrible split shifts and demands that you be there throughout them for at least one period forgets one thing - that's about getting more work out of you and unpaid.

This is the worst ESL market I've ever seen full stop. It's horrible apart from the few specialised positions. What I can't understand is why anybody, even a newbie, would willingly get paid about 2 grand US before tax to work with all the stresses, pressures, and foreigner can't win mindset for 5 days vacation in summer and 5 days vacation in winter.

That is pure insanity allied with desperation. I've worked my arse off in jobs outside Korea and had more vacation than that. And as Korea is often a difficult place to work in (as opposed to live in because there are so many advantages to living in a place with maximum mobility and communication means like cheap internet everywhere plus you can still get some amazing Korean food for very cheap prices such as in some great restaurants) then why would you put yourself through all that and more including the passive-aggressive nonsense for such low pay and vacation but plenty of hours? And no pension/health care in some hagwons.

95 percent of the jobs advertised here and elsewhere for Korea aren't worth it.

[minos]

[Louis VI]

Split shift (6am! start, day ends 10pm!), living above the hagwon in the same building, teaching adults and kindy, some Saturdays, 36 classes at base pay (50 minute classes NOT equal one hour), some overtime at low rate of pay, expected to lunch together with staff, all these things for 2.1 mill, I kid you not.

[BoholDiver]

Or an F-2 schedule:

7:30 am - 8:30 pm (some breaks in the middle) on M,W
7:30 am - 6:00 pm (some breaks) on T, F
7:30 am - 7:00 pm (with some breaks) on Th

= 6.1 million

[Slowmotion]

[edwardcatflap]

[quote]This is the worst ESL market I've ever seen full stop. It's horrible apart from the few specialised positions. What I can't understand is why anybody, even a newbie, would willingly get paid about 2 grand US before tax to work with all the stresses, pressures, and foreigner can't win mindset for 5 days vacation in summer and 5 days vacation in winter.



You're right, it's crap for a career TEFLer but remember these fresh out of uni people are taking these jobs in the same way people do jobs in their gap years. People do voluntary jobs in gap years to see a bit of the world and have some experiences and a lot of people come to Korea for the same reasons, not thinking at all that they're going to be doing it as a career. Considering gap year type jobs only usually offer basic, shared accommodation and pocket money, TEFL jobs in Korea with single accommodation paid flights and the chance to save a bit are comparatively good.