Korean Job Discussion Forums

[MA-TESL/AL grad]

I keep on looking in various forums but jobs in this area are few and far in-between. I have an MA-TESL and five years of experience teaching (4 in SK, one for an IEP in the US). I'd really like to go beyond just teaching and actually take on something more intellectually challenging. My wife is Korean so I should be F-2 eligible.

[Zyzyfer]

The ads are few and far between because the jobs are few and far between. On a good week of job hunting, I'd expect to see maybe 2 to 3 editor/writer positions. Most places only need 1 or 2 editors/writers tops, although some publishers hire more.

The F-2 helps. The lack of editing/writing experience does not. You might want to consider firing off cover letters and resumes cold to larger publishers, but you'll want to craft them to highlight your thoughts and experience with curriculum development. Simply saying "I'm not challenged by teaching" won't cut it.

[MA-TESL/AL grad]

You can rest assured that I never mention anything negative like that in my cover letters... but I appreciate the advice nonetheless.

I do occasionally see editing jobs... I have never seen a posting for assessment work (which I like to think I am particular good at). I will keep on looking but if there are any suggestions of companies to contact I would always appreciate it.

[Zyzyfer]

I've seen some cover letters stating exactly as much. Just figured I'd mention it.

What exactly do you mean by assessment? Assessing curriculums at existing institutions? I'm not aware of a market for that...

[pavement burns]

While I am not suggesting you aren't trying hard enough at the same time have you checked the advanced google search feature? I find 13,000 hits for writer esl editor jobs in Korea at present?

http://www.google.ca/search?q=writer+esl+editor+site%3A.kr&hl=en&num=10&lr=&ft=i&cr=&safe=images&tbs=

[MA-TESL/AL grad]

In large Hagwons that take themselves seriously, personel create assessment tests designed to place their students. In order to create tests of any usefulness, it is very helpful to have some sort of training to do so or at least familiarize yourself thoroughly with the literature. I have the training and experience to do so.

I think it would be particularly fun to design IBT, IELTS, TOEIC, PTE, GRE, etc. prep courses with what I know about these tests combined with the admittedly shady stuff foreign firms and their clients do to get test questions.

I bet the last poster thinks s/he clever with that google search but you obviously did not actually look at the hits google gives you. I press Control + F every time I check ESL cafe and other forums that have recent job offerings.

[Zyzyfer]

Oh, I see now.

A former coworker applied cold to a major chain and got hired largely based on his work experience. So if you spin yourself well - and it sounds like you can do that with little trouble - you might be able to rock something by applying to the big guns like YBM, Pagoda, CDI, Hackers, and the like.

And yeah, I've never seen assessment test positions advertised. The vast majority of jobs that are not generic editing jobs are just straightforward content development. I don't even know if the market here would want native English speakers crafting or designing assessment tests, it's not something I'm familiar with. Meh, there's probably a job somewhere doing something like it.

The main thing is just being patient, particularly if you don't have work experience yet. The pace is a lot slower than with hakwons.

re Google search: Too right. I've tried that before and it doesn't work very well.

[edwardcatflap]

In my experience placement tests are

a) Created by staff who already have other jobs, such as teachers or managers.
b) Relatively short as you don't want to keep students hanging aorund doing tests too long before they've even signed up for a course.
c) One size fits all so there's one test that can place people in all of the available levels.
d) Don't change very often. People get used to them and they don't welcome something that might be more difficult to administer.

For these reasons I'd be surprised if there was any specific position that involved just writing placement tests for one organisation.

There may be opportunities to design courses to teach people test techniques in some big chains and there are jobs around writing the test questions.

[OneWayTraffic]

At Pagoda at least, placement tests comprised an up to 10 minute interview with a native speaker. No pre prepared test could compare IMO. It doesn't take long to pin someone's level.

[PatrickGHBusan]

Your lack of practical experience in this field will be a disadvantage to you when you apply but its not impossible.

I would strongly suggest you start buidling (if not done already) a porfolio of curriculum you developped on your own. When you apply for these jobs, send a sample of your portfolio.

That may compensate for your lack of practical experience in curriculum development or test development.

With your qualifcations and experience you should get some interest from emloyers that do hire curriculum designers/editors.