Korean Job Discussion Forums

[awright538]

Hello,

Unfortunately, I was not accepted to the 2012 EPIK program as I had hoped. Now I'm on the search for a job in a hagwon. I am currently working with the recruiting program HandsKorea, which I am moderately skeptical about (my TEFL certification company, Oxford Seminars, put me in direct touch with them), and would like to know about other recruiters.

I have a bachelor's in English and a TEFL certification, but no prior teaching experience spare 5 months of volunteer tutoring at a GED program stateside. However, I plan to make a career out of teaching and I am serious about my work.

As teaching in Korea is new to me, I am writing to inquire about any tips for my job hunt. What should I look out for in a contract? Does HandsKorea suck, and what are some of the better recruitment companies I could be working with? I don't want to end up in some hole hagwon with a disastrous apartment or terrible commute. I don't really care about salary because I've been working min. wage in the U.S., and what I'm looking for is a great job experience.

Thank you for your time and advice.

[plchron]

If you don't care about location, apply to Ulsan MOE, I think Footprints is their exclusive supplier of teachers. They are looking for people for February intake. It is a straightforward EPIK gig, but you are in the province that surrounds ulsan, or actually in the city.

[Modernist]

Huh, a BA in English & TEFL won't get you into EPIK now, huh? How things have changed. Don't feel too bad OP, this is just a temporary abundance for Korea, and it's gonna sting for them when the supply suddenly dries up

I don't know anything about your recruiter, but as a rule if you are using them based on a kickback [you are], they probably aren't the best option.

I worked with Gone2Korea for a while and they were always professional and good about staying in touch. They have a ton of useful and accurate information on their site too. Footprints is OK but they do try to 'steer' you towards certain places--stay away from Georgia!--and 'added value services'.

I can personally vouch for Korean Horizons, Alistair is as straight-up as they come and doesn't BS you at all; he got me an excellent PS position. His ads are correct, too--EPIK is NOT the only way to get a PS job in this country.

[thebektionary]

i used hands korea last time (my first time) i came to korea.

DON'T USE THEM.

at the time, my boyfriend and i of course knew nothing about korea. they took advantage of this and told us that chuncheon was 45 minutes away from seoul and that it was a fun city. bullshit it is. we took the couple position only to find out from them 2 months later, after already going through with the visa process, that they couldn't hire one of us and that one of us was me. "no worries!" they exclaimed. "we have found you another school close by". it was too late for me to get out of this situation since i had already sent in all my visa stuff so i was stuck with this bullshit school they put me in. turned out i was the first and only foreign teacher that this school had and will ever have. it was a disastrous experience. i was put in absolute hell for 9 months until i was fired for having a fever and not being able to teach my class. the boss physically assaulted me, forged my diploma for someone else, made me clean the hagwon twice a day, made me work 10 hour days, didn't pay my pension and evaded my other taxes. i was often expected to teach a class with no books or material. there were no resources in the school to use. there was only one computer and it had a million viruses so it was impossible to use. it was also an extremely racist environment. i got accused of thinking i was better than everyone else because i was "a white girl". i suffered from depression and anxiety the whole time i was there until i got fired and switched to another school in guri where i was very happy. if it weren't for getting fired, i would've left korea with a terrible idea of korea and korean people.

throughout this whole thing hands korea never did shit.

so yea...
they suck. don't use them.

[theevilgenius]

Hey OP if your serious about teaching then you probably shouldn't work at a hagwon because it's a lottery whether you'll get a good one or not as most schools and recruiters will lie to you to get you on a plane but here's my advice for you anyways if you get offered a job in Busan for example, go onto facebook and search for a Busan group for teachers and post a question about the school, hopefully you will get some information about the school from people.

[BananaBan]

[plchron]

if you are serious about teaching than public schools are all a joke, while only some hagwons are a joke. By joke, I mean, easy as hell, just play games using english, don't piss off the co workers, etc.

[TheUrbanMyth]