Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jasd]

I have a undergraduate degree and I will be completing my Masters degree this September at which point I plan to return to Korea (both degrees are non specific to teaching English). I have 1 year experience in Korea teaching adults and during that time I did a part time job teaching TESOL at a university that my director asked/forced me into doing which was once a week and lasted 3 months. So, when I return I will have a Masters, 1 years experience, 3 months part time experience at uni level, and I have signed letters of recommendation for both my hagwon job and from the university.

Ideally, I want to teach adults again but do not want a split shift gig. I know getting a Uni job seems to be more about who you know and being around at the right time so my question is if I return to Korea and once there tried to find a job, what would be my chances of being accepted into a university job??

cheers

[swashbuckler]

[jasd]

The MA was arranged before going to Korea which was originally a plan to save money for it whilst having some fun, gaining new experiences in a different country. However, towards the end of my year there, before coming home to start my MA I realised I would probably be returning out there because I liked it, the lifestyle, friends etc

I don't want to do an MA in TESOL because I would be in some ways committing to that as a career forever whilst I've seen many people get Uni jobs with only a Bachelors.

Perhaps a better question would be to ask who has a uni job with the qualifications I have or less? I'm also considering doing a CELTA as I've heard they are good, especially for your own personal skill set as a teacher

[SimonPark]

You don't capitalize the first letter in the sentence. What do you think of the job you can get in Korea?

[swashbuckler]

[jasd]

[jasd]

swashbuckler - Yes - However, my Korean girlfriend is in the equation and without going into a generic rant about the economy, makes sense to work elsewhere and have more fun until things seem a little better.

The area in which my MA is in can wait, and certainly teaching experience will look good on CV.

[marsavalanche]

[sigmundsmith]

OK. I will try to be constructive.

Are you in the country now? If you are most University positions have been filled.

Are you willing to work in the country side? Some of these Universities will accept people with limited experience.

If you just want Seoul you may have a bit of a challenge. Every man and his dog seems to have some mickey mouse online masters that relates to English acquisition in Seoul. So, getting employed outside of the country is quite difficult.

And you only have one year experience so getting the glorified gig at a university will be difficult, even with an unrelated MA. It is not impossible but you might have to come back and do the hard yards like most people do!!!

Edit: so I just read you will not graduate with you masters until September. (My bad).

Are you planning on applying for University positions from your home country? If so, good luck.

I would suggest doing a search through google about getting university positions in Korea. There will be many links directing you to eslcafe.

Bite the bullet and take a position lower than what you want. You don't have the suitable academic qualifications that meets the needs for tertiary instructions - sorry to be frank

[earthquakez]

[oldlongears]

Since you mentioned that you might want to wait for the economic situation to improve before returning to find work in your own field, I will offer a warning of sorts. It could be better to stick it out in your own field for a little while. There is a very high chance that you will find it hard to reestablish yourself in your particular field after having been away for a few years. The potential difficulty will likely be increased by your having become specialized but then, instead of obtaining experience in that field, going to teach in South Korea for a year or more. Now, if none of that matters or applies to you, or if I missed something, go for it. But keep that warning in mind. I've seen and heard the above scenario play out for a lot of people.