Korean Job Discussion Forums

[braindrops]

Hi everyone,

Yes, I'm a first-time poster but long-time lurker of these forums, and I just wanted to sympathize with everyone who's totally freaked out about the job market in Korea right now.

One of my co-workers has been trying furiously to secure the title of "most depressing person in the world." He's constantly telling me about how it's impossible to find a full-time job, how recruiters have been basically stonewalling him (and others), and how the market's taken a downturn in the past 18 months. He trails off in mid-sentence and starts saying things like, "if it doesn't get any better, maybe the best thing is to, you know, uh...just, you know, pack up and call it quits. Head back..." And awkwardness ensues.

I try to be positive, but then I hop on the forums and people with 8 years experience and MBAs are saying how they are unemployed and saving up to eat cup ramen every other day.

What with the gov't-sponsored employment pipeline seemingly coming apart at the seams these days, spilling the undigested remnants of English teacher across the nation, I can imagine that competition, especially for the standard contracts, will only continue to get fiercer.

So my question is this. What are the options? Aside from not coming to Korea altogether, being unemployed, or fleeing the country, what choices are available to the E-2, F-4, F-2 and F-5?

It seems like bashing your head and spamming recruiters is a caveman's thing to do in the face of an supply-laden market, so I'm thinking we need to get some suggestions up in here about some alternative ways to score a job / make money in this country. For instance, people here have periodically mentioned other, non-English-teaching employment avenues like editing and writing materials, translating, recruiting, R&D, copywriting, consulting, etc. Yet these jobs are rarely posted and almost impossible to weed out in the flood of "English teacher" jobs posted on employment sites. And please, before the prostitution-type posts hijack the thread, I'm trying to keep this a respectable and (hopefully) useful thread, for myself and for others.

What resources should the job-hunter utilize to aid their job search? Internet and otherwise. Obviously Dave's has a job listing board, but if we could get some other ones listed so that people have an idea where to look. Also, since only a minority of us can functionally use Korean websites that post jobs (read: read and understand Korean), perhaps there is an alternative way that we can gain access to those sites.

This is for my own education but hopefully other people can read up and educate themselves too, and it's also for people who have experience to share some of their wisdom.

MUCHAS GRACIAS AMIGOS!^^ fighting~~

[bbunce]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post.
First, I am a "newbie" and have very limited knowledge of the Korean employment situation except from what I've read in this forum, my previous Hagwon director's comments (in broken English), and recruiting agencies.
Currently, I am enjoying a week of unpaid leave because the director was forced to lay me off due to financial hardships after just working 2 months. I was lucky though because Korea Recruiting was able to locate another school about 60 miles away for more money and better living arrangements. It only took them 48 hours from the time I learned I was being laid off until this unadvertised position became available. In my case, timing and an excellent recruiting agency/relationship helped me get the job.
I also had an outstanding relationship with my previous director. I know he contacted everyone he knew in the hagwon business to arrange a transfer. However, he could only locate part-time positions which was unacceptable for me. He also wrote an outstanding reference letter I will use to find employment again in Korea and the United States.
Your friend could just start going building to building and drop off his resume to everyone in the area. Good luck.

[ThingsComeAround]

If you and your friend are in country, I would recommend hitting the pavement and asking or cold-calling schools you prefer to work in.

Also, you should have been networking. Everyone knows the best jobs are almost NEVER advertised, and friends let other friends know about good spots available. What places could you go to that have professional organizations? How could you get your foot in the door if you are doing the same thing every one else is doing?

[The Floating World]

[Zyzyfer]

[ThingsComeAround]

@ Floating World

Depends how you view it. Really.

I attended a K-lang hagwon and saw ads there for fluent speakers, or temporary visitors. Have you tried your network of ex-co-workers (provided you kept in touch?) There is work to be found but how hard do you want to look?

[thegadfly]

You need to set some parameters here, OP -- your post title states a GREAT job, but then you state you are worried about finding ANY job....

Teaching kindy in a hakwon may not be many people's dream job, but it IS employment. Teaching split shifts for a chain of schools is also a job. They aren't great but they are SIGNIFICANTLY better than the case of "saving up to eat cup ramen every other day." If you have your documents sorted, you can very easily get a job that will put a roof over your head, food in your belly, and give you enough left over to either save nearly $1000 USD a month.

The worst hakwon gig is significantly better than being homeless, jobless, and slowly starving to death.

Floating World decries being UNDERemployed, not UNemployed -- he doesn't want to work for 2.2 million a month, nor does he want to work a "full time" job to earn it. That is certainly his right, but stating that a part-time gig for full-time pay is difficult to find is NOT the same as saying jobs are hard to find. There are plenty of jobs out there -- they just aren't GREAT jobs.

You will find work if you are willing to work. If you feel that certain jobs are "beneath you" or that you "won't work for so little," then yeah, maybe you will have trouble finding employment.

...so... A job is simple. You wanted a GREAT job.

The problem with that is that "great" varies from person to person. I have what I feel to be a great job -- perhaps the best I have ever had in my life. I am closing in on being at the same school for a decade. I've seen dozens of other teachers come and go at this school over the years, and some of them hated it here. The very things that I LIKE about this place caused other people to hate it. A "great" job is actually a pretty personal judgment.

What makes a job "great," in your book?

Is your takehome pay the major consideration? Is it the amount of free time you have? Is it the way you are treated by administrators? Is it how much your students learn? How much freedom you have in choosing how to teach? How much guidance you are given when teaching? Are you looking for a place that hands you canned lessons and wants you to be a human tape recorder? Do you want to grow as an educator? Do you just want to have the least amount of stress or concern possible? Does your teaching matter to you? Do you take pride in your work?

Those are just a few of the questions you need to ask yourself in order to determine what a "great" job means to you -- and then you can pose more specific questions, which have a better chance of getting meaningful answers.

[The Floating World]

gadfly you are foi. Are you a recruiter by any chance. Listen to your ridiculous pullpit schpiel you just tossed out!

I haven't been unemployed fore more than a cpl weeks in the past 17 years.

But the truth IS that a lot of the teaching hours and schedule these days are downright horrendous and China IS looking a better deal.

16 - 22 hrs teaching per week plus office work is not a pt job and you damn well know it.

We all know that teaching for 6 fifty min classes a day is absurd and exhausting and virtually nowhere else on earth asks that much from teachers, only Korea. And the hours are only getting worse with 8 - 10 hr shifts being common advertised hours now.

At hakwans in Shanghai 16 - 22 hrs teaching is the norm. And that is not a pt job as they pay ft wages and give the teacher more time to prep and rest between classes and thus perform a whole lot better.

Anyway OP - unless you are female (preferably under 2 or on one of the f-visas - their aren't any great jobs out there anymore for male e2 teachers (unless perhaps they are newbs under 24 and tall and handsome.)

For purposes of what is deigned a great e2 gig I consider them -

1. decent non ultra-rural ele ps gig, good luck getting those any more if you're not a young pliable newbie who doesn't fit on the lower rungs of the pay scale.

2. AS jobs. Good luck if you don't have an f visa these days.

3. Dependable big franchise non wonderland type hakwan IN SEOUL or ILSAN with non slave mill six 50 min classes a day with only 5 min breaks between them type schedules.

Those for an e2 can be classed as greeat jobs in Korea. I didn't include unis, colleges, private schools as they are not for e2's with just a ba anymore, it's too competative and a lot of unis are even asking for phd now.

So basically, you want a great job as outlined above and are male over 30 with experience, you'd better go get an MA or pgce. If you're a young 'cutieful' female from NA or a tall brad pitt a like newbie who is all excited and wide eyed and under 25 then you'll be just fine.

[thegadfly]

[The Floating World]

Fair enough, misunderstood your point.

I honestly do not know how anyone can do 6 fifty min classes a day with only 5 min breaks between them though.

Also teaching in the usa from what you described sounds like hell and I'd actually rather go on the dole or take a job cleaning toilets until something better turned up than go through that!

I guess I'm saying it's cool to be willing to work hard, but there comes a point when it might just be better to slack back unless you really need the cash.

And yeah China is not catching up in a few years; it's almost there (in the big 2 at least) if you have 2 yrs exp and a 100 hr online tefl.

But yeah your main point I agree with essentially - a 6 fifty min classes a day slavemill is better than being homeless.

And I would advise the op to go get an ma (preferable tefl realted) if they want a great job now or in the future in Korea because the great jobs for just a ba and a white face days are over like kris kros bro. Or you could get married to a Korean lol. (I still have enough faith in people that I believe nobody has actually done that just for an f visa, but each to their own anyhow.)

[World Traveler]

[thegadfly]

[World Traveler]

[thegadfly]

[World Traveler]

For how long you've been here, you must be up to 4 million per month now if that is the case. I had no idea hagwons paid that much. Congratulations on your success.