Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ironic]

Hi Everyone

I'm new to the forum & am studying various threads in depth for a position in September in Korea. I'm interested in public school & university, but for a 6 month spell until the new academic year 2012 begins, I'll keep my options open.

A bit about myself to creat the context for my questions & then my questions for now. I'm a 41-year old, male UK qualified teacher of French & Spanish, who added a TEFL about 3 years ago. My degree is Modern Languages (French & Spanish). I've about 10 years experience in UK state & international schools teaching French & Spanish, as a Head of Department & Assistant Head Teacher. I also did a year in 2009/10 in a bilingual school teaching English (Cambridge First Certificate) in Spain, my last position. I'm currently on a sabbatical year, travelling. I've got 2 MAs: Latin American Studies & Education (Leadership & Management). My dissertation from the latter is to be published in a scholarly journal in April.

Right, it's a bit of minefield what I've read so far, & I'm used to just picking up trade newspapers like the TES, finding something that interests me & applying, so here goes:

1. Where do you go to find jobs?
It seems Dave's Job Board, recruitment agencies & local English Language Newspapers, from what I can gather so far. Am I correct?
If not, where? If yes, anywhere else?
Which is the best & most common source of these? I've also got weblinks to several other sites, like this one, which I haven't looked at yet.

2. What is the value of using a recruitment agent? My gut instinct has always been to avoid like the plague, but they get quite a few mentions on this site.

3. Based on the minefield of informatiion, much of it contrasting, I'm thinking of just coming out at the end of July or beginning of August & finding a position from Korea (hence the willingness to be flexible for 6 months). I've read of a lot of bad experiences here & have many myself in international schools, so would rather pay my own way & take it from there.
If I come out myself & find a job, will I have my airfare paid for?
Will I get free accommodation or are these generally reserved for those who get jobs from home.

4. With my qualifications above, am I eligible for university teaching, or does the MA have to be TEFL/TESOL? I have worked in a state university in Mozambique as a Teacher Trainer of university students.


5. I've just bought the Lonely Planet South Korea guide to get an idea of locations etc. so, even if I decide to apply from here, I won't be doing so for another few weeks, anyway. Any other useful sources of such information?

Finally, if anyone is willing to continue from here via personal email contact, I'd be very grateful.

Thanks & Best Wishes

[northway]

Your first visa requires an interview in your home country, so I don't recommend coming here without a job lined up.

[Ironic]

Thanks for that.

When did that rule come in? I've seen lots of posts recommending people to just come. So your reply comes as a surprise, nobody has said you can't get a job in Korea before coming... you turn up as a tourist, get a job, have to leave on a visa run to a nearby country, pick up your E2 there & return to Korea?

[dyc]

[mariaanceney]

I actually came to Korea before I got a job and there are downsides to doing so, but there are also a lot of positives. I found that being able to go to job interviews in person gave me a better idea of what the job environment might be like and who I would be working for. Also, during my job search, I was able to get job offers for two positions that weren't teaching jobs (English secretary for a CEO and English editor for a graduate school), both of which I'm sure I couldn't have gotten (or even interviewed for) if I had been in the states. My husband was also offered a position and one the Foreign Language Schools that pay high-by-the-hour wages despite not having any experience--again, only possible because we were here.

In the end, I (an my husband--we took the job since we could do our visa run together) found a job that paid for a roundtrip ticket to America and back for the visa. Also, you can always do a visa run to Guam (unless you work for Poly--they said it was impossible--the Korean consulate in Guam said otherwise). The Guam tickets seem pretty stable at around $500.00 US roundtrip at this time of the year.

Depending on your goals and your timeline, coming to Korea first might not be such a bad idea. I do recommend having a plan about where to stay for at least a month before you come and have ALL of your documents ready to go.

[watergirl]

Coming here before you get a job, as I understand it, used to be the best way to get a good job. But now, the gov has changed the regulations and you need to have an interview with the K consulate in your own country and you can't do this until you have a job offer, along with other paper requirements. Maybe you can get around this, but for your first job in Korea, you still need to do it.
Be careful what you read here, some things are wrong or out of date, partly because the rules keep changing.

Anyways, for you, you should try for the better jobs because of your qualifications. Actually, for university jobs, this website seems to be the most popular place for the unis to advertise but the positions only usually start in september or march (and most in march). They advertise 3 mths before these dates. Also, unfortanately, unis tend to prefer to interview peoople in person which means in practice, yoou have to have been here for 1 yeAR.

Afterschool programs, working in a seperate English program within public schools are probaby the second best bet. You only teach, usually, from 12:50 - 5:00. Have small classes, a lot of freedom, etc. They too, like unis, advertise themselves and prefer people in Korea already as they don't have to pay airfare and can be picky because their jobs are better.

I think, your best bet would be public schools which have decent working hours, lots of holidays, and guaranteed pay etc. You have to apply through recruiters for these. I've heard you can apply directly with the education boards.. for Seoul this is S.M.O.e or outside of Seoul, in the suburbs, this is G.E.P.I.C . Busan is also supposed to be nice. It's the big city in the Southern part of Korea. That's EPIC.

Unfortanetly, they tend to hire in march or september also although you can check with recruiters because always, there are some schools whose teacher's contracts finish outside of these times.
I found that many recruiters advertised they have public schools when they actually didn't. So you need to apply to many recruiters and find the ones that actually do. It's true, take what recruiters say with a grain of salt, but as long as you check with one foreigner abuot the working conditions, you should be able to get a good idea.
I've had an interview with public schools where the recruiter didn't want to provide the email address of a past foreign teacher, but I pushed for it, and got it. But, with public schools, you don't really need to check out the situation as much, since they are a government run inst and will have to follow the rules.

Of course, you have good principals and bad ones. The good ones let teacher go home early, around 1:00 during school vacations and this is much better. I will try and send you some emails of recruiters who I found actually had public schools.
I don;t know much about international schools. I think they pay quite well, and you wouuld be quallified for them.

Anyways, after you've been here for 1 year, I think you could definitely get a uni job, which has loads of paid vacation (4 mths) and very minimal working hours (15-20hrs/wk). Just remember, they recruit Dec-Jan and May0June. Nt exacty sure. I have seen a few ads fom Unis in country areas who are willing to hire people outside of Korea, especially if they have an ma because a lot of foreigners here don't.
Anyways, hope this helps, and good luck.

[watergirl]

Sorry as for your qs. No they don't really require that your MA be in linguistics or EFL. If you do come here 1st, it's very unlikely anyone will pay your airfare, but most jobs will provide you with accomodation. Of course, that's once you've been offered the job. Finding affordable accomodation here, before you get a job isn't too difficult and fairly cheap by int'l standards.
And most contracts, that provide housing, require you stay for 1 year. Of course, you could sign, and simply give your notice.