Korean Job Discussion Forums

Swampfox10mm · Joined: 24 Mar 2011

I found several jobs on Dave's job board over the years.

FaceFaceFace · Joined: 12 Jun 2011 Location: Australia

angiegoes · Joined: 15 May 2011

I found my first school just talking to people at home, and one of my friends sisters was living in SK and offered me the job she was leaving. It's less stressful if you have someone you trust to give you the real low down on the school.

I got my second job right after the first. Visiting friends in the city I wanted to move to for a week, I had 6 or 7 recruiters setting me up on interviews. I interviewed in person, met the teachers/bosses, got a feel for the schools, and was offered contracts at all of the schools I interviewed with. They gave me a couple days to make a decision. This was my first time being able to really compare and contrast contracts. I ended up finding a really relaxed family run school on an ESL website, posed by the teacher who was leaving, and ended up taking it. I went home for holidays and had my old school fly me home, and my new school fly me back to Korea.
It all comes down to the environment of the school for me. If you have a boss that you can really be comfortable with, it is more likely that if issues arise you with be able to work them out together. So talk to them, ask lots of questions, be yourself. I was also the only foreigner at my two first schools, something you might want to consider. Some like it, some don't, for others it doesn't matter at all.

I found my current job online as well, and had a skype interview. Talked to some contacts in Korea, they had some good things to say about the school, so I really prepared for the interview, and they liked me, so I took it!

So there are lots of ways to find jobs, my personal experience has been having connections with people at the schools, but if it is your first job that might not be possible. Recruiters haven't panned out for me, but they did give me more experience as I was able to visit lots of school and see different contracts, and they helped broadened my view of how family businesses/ chains run in Korea. Talk to as many of the current teachers as possible, and have a definition for what you are looking for. If you don't want kindy, don't apply for kindy jobs. If you want a big city, get out the map and start looking at possible locations. Sometimes being close to a big city is more enjoyable that living right in one. Think about it and make your wish list. Then, prepared to be flexible haha. Ok, I've had too much cafe this morning.... no more typing!