Korean Job Discussion Forums

[marsavalanche]

Currently looking a job, and the one thing I'm not cool with is the overtime. Has anyone ever been lowballed this hard?

My last contract was 18,000, which I thought was fair. What is the lowest one should accept in terms of overtime?

The last time I tried negotiating ONE thing in the contract, the employer rescinded the offer. Still, I won't compromise my ethics to rush towards a job that is going to still be there next week. Am I being too picky/stubborn?

[jrwhite82]

Sorry to hear about your negotiating woes. Hopefully you are still gainfully employed while you are doing your job hunt and/or have the means to be selective.

If an employer wouldn't negotiate one thing on a contract, its probably better off that you won't work there because he sounds like a very controlling individual.

12,000W is low ball but is it worth passing on a good opportunity? How much overtime will you be doing realistically? I've worked 2 positions that have not offered any overtime hours. Although I would have been paid for them, we just never had any overtime to actually work.

The way I would calculate overtime is take your salary and divide it by the number of teaching hours. That is a reasonable rate. Say you are teaching 120 hours a month. And your salary is 2.2. That means you are getting 18,333W per hour. Why should you get paid less for doing extra work? If anything it should be more than your regular pay. If an employer doesn't see reason with that logic, than I question their ability to manage a business.

[marsavalanche]

Okay this job says 40 40-50 min. classes per week (so 160 40-50 min. classes per month).

I'm not sure what formula you used to get 18,333W but from the sounds of it this job is quite dodgy, no? BTW this job is 2.3

Once again thanks for your help jrwhite.

Edit: Okay, I figured out the math and it comes out to 19,166W/hour.

Holy sh** if I'm getting 12,000W per hour it's CHEAPER to have me work extra. WoW!!!

[sulperman]

[marsavalanche]

Yea my last job in the contract said 32 40 min. classes/week but in actuality it came about to about 25/week on average. I know I'll never get a hagwon job that was that chill, but 160 seems excessive.

[ssuprnova]

[tokkibunni8]

40? run,run,run!

[bobbybigfoot]

The fact that you are even considering this job is astounding. Something must be seriously wrong with you.

[Ice Tea]

Jesus people must be desperate out there. You can make $12/hr anywhere back home. Why go through all the nonsense of Korea for that much?

[Junior]

A lot of the people saying "there must be something wrong with you" are usually blonde americans who have an easy time of it.

Many posters giving advice do not realise how bad the job market actually is.They've had the luxury of sitting in the same job for a couple of years. And all they remember is that there were loadsa jobs around before, so they assume there must be now.

[bobbybigfoot]

[northway]

[lichtarbeiter]

I would have to be offered over 3 million a month (and 4 weeks of vacation) to even CONSIDER working under those conditions. They want you to do it for 2.3. Sorry, but that's bottom of the barrel.

As far as the OT goes, that's totally lame, but not necessarily a deal-breaker. Before signing my contract, I asked the employer about their OT rate, and found out it was surprisingly low also. However, after doing some research, I found out that the only overtime that exists here in practice is purely on a volunteer basis, and that if you work a 6th day in a week, you're compensated with an extra personal day that can be taken whenever you want. Works out well for me.

But the job you're looking at looks horrible for completely different reasons.

[tokkibunni8]

40 classes a week. what is overtime? over the 40 th class is overtime???? when i signed with my school, they told me i will be teaching anywhere between 30-36 classes a week. i tjought it was a lot, but was told anything over 22 classes was overtime.

and, even better when i learned that my overtime was not english classes but photoshop and math classes in english

anyways, back to the point, after what number of classes is overtime?

[Junior]

The reality is this:

There are very few jobs left in Korea now.
Those few that remain are (surprise surprise), less than attractive positions.
Nationwide, esl employers have noticed the change and are taking advantage. This means many jobs now only offer substandard conditions.
Even (gasp) blonde females have begun to complain about a lack of options.
Thats how bad it is.

The guys out there claiming they wouldn't work for less than "5M a month and 6 months paid vacation" etc are talking smack. They're just lucky that they got in before the lock. If they all got fired now, most of them wouldn't be able to find another job at all. But then again they probably have mummies and daddies to help them out of trouble at every turn. Thats not the case for everyone.

To the OP: just do what you have to do. Not everyone's circumstances are the same.