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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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braindrops
Joined: 13 Sep 2011
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 Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2011 8:03 am Post subject: |
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sure...i thought i mentioned it earlier, but if i didnt...
i ruled out the part time position...too many moving parts, no guarantees. no flexibility on the part of the owner. it was a take it or leave it position, and i decided to leave it.
so right now i am working on a contract with the non-seoul place...some contractual hangups that need to be ironed out. i also recently interviewed with another place in seoul that is offering a full-time deal, but interestingly enough, it seemed as though they were implying that the deal was a two-year offer. there are two more rounds of interviews, apparently, the details of which i have no idea...but the interviewer said i would get a callback tomorrow. this one sort of came up last minute, so for the time being i am gonna let it simmer while i see what happens with the deal that is further along.
contract negotiations involve, well...everything. i dont like surprises in my contracts...so as you might sense, we're still a ways away from finalizing anything.
oh, and about the 38th degree belt comment...get over it, giggle about those outrageous pay comments if you want. if it is true that non-gyopos are barred from making that much, then it really is a dead horse. i didnt know that this forum was meant to talk about non-gyopos only. |
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PatrickGHBusan
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: Busan (1997-2008) Canada 2008 -
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| Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2011 9:12 am Post subject: |
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| if you were to open a hagwon in busan, what steps would you take to ensure yourself a solid start? |
Let me start off by saying a lot of what you ask is out of my depth. I have never contemplated starting a Hakwon or an educational facility in Busan.
I did start a consulting agency when I was in Korea but that was a different market than education.
All this being said, areas of interest in Busan have varied greatly over the years and the neighborhood or area you would pick would be greatly dependant on what type of educational facility you wish to open. For a Hakwon it will also depend on what is your target clientele, what your means are and so on.
Necessary steps?
Solid cash reserve to weather the early times
Solid business plan borne of solid market research of he area you are interested in.
If you intend on managing the place, you will need CONTACTS in numerous sectors (immigration, banks, realestate, marketing) but others who own and run hakwons and who post here can answer you far better than I can.
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| based off your knowledge of the market and its differences from the seoul market, is there a specific region of busan you would find attractive? |
Depends on the type of Hakwon you want to open, on your means, on your target clientele....
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| test prep is supposed to be highly specialized...what is the state of the test prep industry in busan? |
It is competitive in terms of institutes vying for clients/students and finding proper teachers for such work can be challenging. Except for that I will defer to more experienced people in this field.
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if you had the benefit of owning a large plot of land in busan, from which you could set up an educational facility, and you also had means to circumvent the usual govt red tape parade that comes with starting a business--say, you were a citizen of the country and had no outstanding liens or debts--what would be the next order of business to discover/research? |
If this is a hypotethical...no idea.
If is for real, then your previous questions are rendered moot as the area where the insitute will open is already decided since the land is owned.
Now all that being said, getting something built is expensive, no matter who you know. Renovating something is also expensive and time consuming.
Now are you a Korean citizen? Or are you speaking of some sort of business partner?
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| and aside from haeundae, where are other attractive areas of busan where might reside those with discretionary educational income? |
If you mean where do Koreans with means choose to live in Busan then the list is pretty long and varied and includes Centum City, parts of New Haeundae, parts of Gwanganlee along with a few other areas of Busan.
If you mean clientele wise (as in where to rich people live as a client base), see above but opening something in those areas will cost you through the nose.
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| what are the well known schools of the area, the ones that people try to get their kids into? |
You will need to check these out yourself! There are lots of choices.
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| and where can you find good mediterranean food in busan? |
 Not a fan of med food so, no idea. |
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TheUrbanMyth
Joined: 28 Jan 2003
Location: Retired
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| Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2011 6:35 pm Post subject: |
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| braindrops wrote: |
goodness...i never said it was likely! ... man. let's keep the logical fallacies to a minimum.
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No one makes nearly 2 million USD a year working at a hakwon. Common sense alone should tell you that.
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Jeffrey Sohn, 38, a well-known SAT Writing instructor drew a salary of 1 billion won per year (almost 1 million US dollars) to teach at the highly-regarded Recas Institute.
If you did your research, you saw this in the news last year...the guy got beaten up gangster-style because he was leaving Recas. Scandal ensued...
"Sohn...drew a salary of 1 billion won."
That's as Extremistan as it gets, but it exists.
That was a salary of 1 billion...it did not count his shadow income.
Keep reading:
"His contract was almost finished and his bosses founded out that he was thinking of taking a better offer elsewhere. Better than a million a year teaching SATs?"
If a guy is drawing a million bucks a year from a hagwon, is it unreasonable that there may be others who are making 40% of that? is you work 200 hours a month at 200 bucks an hour, that is what you would make.
But you know what...thank you for saying that I'm lying about this. You are correct...these are just stories. I withdraw. |
A billion won is a far cry from the 2 billion won figure you were flashing around earlier. That's what I took issue with.
And anyway to even make 40% of that you would have to be on top of your game and know your subject material and how to teach it. Plus you'd have to be qualified as well.
And it would seem that Sohn did not come by his salary by his teaching skills alone.
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/03/117_60660.html
Apparently he took the tests himself and then leaked the questions to his students...could have been how he garnered a reputation for "picking the right [SAT] questions"
Also he is a Korean national and therefore not subject to the rules and regulations that the vast majority of foreign teachers are.
Apples and oranges. |
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Modernist
Joined: 23 Mar 2011
Location: The 90s
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| Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2011 9:36 pm Post subject: |
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| someone mentioned earlier the new yorker like quality of the post |
Hah, don't flatter yourself. I wasn't speaking to quality, but to length. You COULD have written about 2 5-line paragraphs detailing your 'dilemma' as you claim it to be. Instead you gave this forum a discourse full of all kinds of details, none of which was germane to actually receiving the supposedly-desired 'logical analyses.' Why tell us all this information about money and how high-level the work is and on and on if you weren't looking to show off? Remember 'I would get 1.5 million more than any of the other instructors'? But oh, no, this isn't about money. Oh, no, why do people think I'm bragging? Poor, misunderstood me.
I'm hardly offended by any of this, more amused. Really, don't flatter yourself. I personally work considerably less than 100 hours a month at one of the more low-labor PS, and I make about 40% more than the average PS teacher in my province. I could care less if you make 10 or 20 or 50 milliion a month. I've got about 75 more weeks and then goodbye Korea and goodbye the 'education field' forever. And I had MORE than enough of super-rich people and their idiotic spending decisions and behavior in New York City. Enjoy your work catering to their every whim and further coddling their spoiled children, if that's really all you hope to do with your life. |
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braindrops
Joined: 13 Sep 2011
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| Posted: Mon Oct 24, 2011 10:24 pm Post subject: |
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Well now...i was pretty sure the new yorker like quality of the post comment was gonna be spun since the word quality could be interpreted in more than one way. I thought about clearing up the ambiguity...then i thought...nah. Someone is gonna get butthurt anyway...so lets see who gets his knickers in a twist. As the japanese once eloquently stated...you ah wiener. Hahaha.
Mr modernist...about mr. sohn, the figures vary on how much he made...the report i initially read said 2 from hagwon work, which was what i quoted. Another says 1M in salary...which, given your talent for interpretation, should have presumed enough verbal ambiguity to imply that the two were not mutually exclusive. So if you took exceptexception to that and insist on making comments on it, my suggestion would be to continue with your due diligence and do some close reading.
but you and i both know its not really that important...so...anyway...why dont you sit this one out, champ? take a few plays off...take a breather. since you have already made your master plan for goodbying the education field, let me be the first to wish you farewell. i am sure you will find greater happiness outside of this country and move on to bigger and better things. 
now, let me get back to the more interesting post. patrick, i forgot to mention earlier, but thanks for going point by point. i didnt give a ton of details because my questions were mostly speculation. there is a setup like that down there that im aware of, involving a well known educator who is looking for a younger business partner who knows the hagwon business...lets put it like, he has all the raw ingredients for a great meal but no recipe...i dont profess any more knowledge about it other than that. Thats why i just asked what kind of questions someone in that situation should be asking. Perhaps if i find out some more info i could pass it along? |
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braindrops
Joined: 13 Sep 2011
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| Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2011 12:19 am Post subject: |
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patrick, the owner of the properties has multiple plots in busan, but the main chunk of land he has already built a school there, a flagship school...he has a few other schools throughout busan. but they're not hagwons...they're actual schools.
so i understand what you were saying about the "fixed property" comment, so to clarify, there's more than one piece of property...that's what the question of what parts of busan would one look for such a business was posed for. it is true that the main properties that already have buildings on them would have to be used on site.
and no, i'm not a korean citizen...i'm asking on behalf of someone.
yeah, i've been to busan many times...i'm familiar with some of the areas. haeundae and gwangalli, dongnae, seomyun, shintanjin, etc. i have always heard that he new haeundae area was the most affluent, but these days i've heard rumblings that the riverfront properties adjacent to the gwangan area have superceded the haeundae properties. i don't know what to think about that.
your profile on the side says that you are in canada now...maybe you don't know the answer to that last question, as these buildings are very recent. but if you do, do tell. |
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PatrickGHBusan
Joined: 24 Jun 2008
Location: Busan (1997-2008) Canada 2008 -
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| Posted: Tue Oct 25, 2011 3:34 am Post subject: |
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Busa has lots of growth areas as far as residential values. New Haeundea was one of those areas now its more settled as a well priced (read high) area for property.
We visit Korea everyyear to see my wifes family and I tend to go there another time in the year for my work. We just recently purchased an appartment in the Centum City area and value there are high and in my opinion over-evaluated. We got a good deal however.
As for the rest of your post/questions, I think you need to ask more business minded people out there. As I said, I never managed a Hakwon.
Good luck. |
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