Korean Job Discussion Forums

[BaldTeacher]

I have a very promising job offer with an excellent location in Seoul.

That being said, the contract mentions a training session, possibility of working on a weekend day, etc.

Does anybody have experience with working at one of these institutes? Can you give me insight into training, what the accomodations are like, work atmosphere, workload, etc?

I would be much obliged.

[edwardcatflap]

Are you having a laugh?

[BaldTeacher]

Yeah, but not about the subject of my thread.

Why, something wrong with the school?

[edwardcatflap]

Sorry, I had the impression you�d been on these forums a while. CDI has had so many threads about it over the years, people tend to treat it as a joke when it comes up again. The threads usually go along the same lines. Half the people think they�re unscrupulous slave drivers and the rest say they�re ok, you can earn more money but they don�t tolerate slackers etc..

[BaldTeacher]

Yeah, I hear that there are a bunch of different programs and what-not, but the April program is for younger kids.

It's just that the location for this one is A#1 and the director sounded nice on the phone. There are a few things about it that seem sketchy though.

Basically, if the apartment's nice then I'm willing to overlook some other stuff because the location is good and the hours are good, but nobody takes my weekends from me unless they take my life, so if that's the case then I'm not working for them.

[chellovek]

[ttompatz]

where to begin?

no pension,
no medical
no housing (they will loan you the key money).
no guaranteed salary (assuming you take the hourly plan)
no severance
higher tax rates
no holidays
no guarantee of a job after you arrive. It sucks to have an E2, paid your airfare and get fired before you start. It is a lot of cash to lay out and be stuck 1/2 way round the world and have to try to get a new job and work out a new visa (while arranging new documents).

What is wrong with CDI covers about 900 threads over the last 9 years.

ASKED and ANSWERED many times over.

Seeing that your thread was coming from someone who has been registered here for over a year I first thought it was either a troll or a joke.

.

[BaldTeacher]

I finally find the perfect location and it turns out to be a paper tiger.

For the record, this one pays a monthly salary and gives me apartment, pension, medical, etc, but it has me registered as an independant contractor, which is no good. You're right, that training is crap.

It would be in Sinchon.... But that's not worth all the potential crap.

[edwardcatflap]

[lifeinkorea]

[ttompatz]

[3DR]

[IncheonTOEFL]

CDI proper doesn't pay into the pension scheme.

CDI April seems to, hit or miss.

CDI proper has you work red days.

CDI April doesn't seem to, hit or miss.

CDI April is like any other elementary hagwon; Pagoda Kids, Avalon, SLP, TOPIA, etc.

With big names hagwons, the individual franchise owner will determine how good you have it re: pension, NHI, national holidays, vacation, breaks, books, etc.

The exceptions are LCI and Wonderland. Those are bad kindys that have held their bad reputations throughout the peninsula for almost a decade.

[ttompatz]

[BaldTeacher]

Anybody have any positive stories about CD April? I'll post my contract in the contract thread. It says that I'm an independant contractor, but says that I'll get pension and medical, plus a monthly salary.