Korean Job Discussion Forums

[elizabethbennet88]

My question concerns whether my experience finding a job right now is similar to other South African teachers'.

This is the second time my husband and I are looking for a job in Korea. The first time around was in August this year. It was very easy finding offers and my impression was that Korea was an employee's market. In the end we decided not to take any jobs at that point in time, due to my husband getting a delay on his due date for his thesis.

Now we are looking for a position once again and it is much harder. I have read that this is more or less common and I understand that there are many factors contributing to the over-supply of teachers at the moment. (It's pretty weird, still, it's like everything changed overnight!) Obviously there has always been a picking order for hiring teachers, but it didn't seem to show so much before when "anyone could find a job in Korea." My question is this:

What do you guys find to be the picking order?

Because in my experience so far, accent is starting to play a big role. My husband and I both have normal South African English accents. My impression is that that was okay before. Now, recruiters and schools are telling us they want "soft" (!) American accents.

Are other South African applicants also experiencing this?

[andrewchon]

About 50% of the knock-backs I got, reported that they got a 'Bok instead so my guess is that 'fricaans are preferable over Gyopo in medium sized cities. Then again, my Australian background may have had something to do with it. (Oz is highly out of favour in Korea t the moment)

[Kimchifart]

[proverbs]

i have a good friend who is a recruiter, so ill give my 2 cents.

from what i've heard from him, there are 2 categories..US/Canadian and the rest. basically, you are automatically in the 2nd tier for not being North American.

the parents are the ones that want their kids to learn English with a North American accent. so, the schools only look at resumes with candidates from the US/Canada. obviously there are schools that don't care, but they are slowly disappearing.

if you are lucky enough to get an interview, make sure you try your best to talk with a 'soft' American accent..just like the other school wanted.

at first i thought it was completely ludicrous, but now i kind of understand why. if you work at a school where you have multiple teachers that rotate during periods, it can be very confusing for the kids. since there are multiple accents, the teachers could say the same word, but it would sound completely different. this would be fine for more advanced learners, but i can see why it would be confusing for beginners and young children.

[Ribena]

Unfortunatly for them they are failing to factor in the different American accents and some of them are rather heavy and difficult. If I was running a school and thinking along those lines I would probably stick to just the Canadians myself.

I'm not Canadian but I can see why they might favour them over even Americans. I also find New Zealanders in general have easier to understand accents. That would be my pick.

[big_fella1]

I'm an Aussie and I believed that South Africans were preferred for one reason. Korean employers are not obligated to make pension contributions for South Africans due to treaties between Korea and South Africa. This saves the employer 4.5% in salary. Of course there are dodgy hagwons that just ignore pension anyway.

But this years employment market has been horrid and there is a preference for North Americans. It's rather sad when you consider the way many Americans butcher Shakespeare's language.

[overdrive2023x]

You sure it's not just because the Fall intake is larger than the spring intake?

[Weigookin74]

I think there are plenty of South Africans in the countryside working for public schools. But, I also heard one POE has requested no more SA's. Just rumor; not sure if it's true. Recently, GEPIK cut it's budget and it has left many teachers scrambling for work. They can hire experienced teachers who are already in Korea. I think it leaves out any out of Korea inexperienced applicant for the time being. Maybe in a few months, it'll correct itself.

[ttompatz]

EPIK applications closed Dec. 2. Next cycle will be next April.
GEPIK is NOT taking any applications.
GEPIK is letting 1000 teachers go between now and the end of Feb.
SMOE is letting 700 teachers go over the next 90 days.

Hagwans on average recruit about 1000 teachers per month.

There will be a glut of teachers in the system for the next 3-4 months assuming there are is no increase in the number of economic refugees from the States applying which would result in that glut being extended for 6-12 months.

Good news is that the industry by nature is self correcting (workers are highly transient and will have either moved on, moved home or found jobs). Next year will be not much different than last year.

.

[jrwhite82]

[brickabrack]

[krnpowr]

[ttompatz]

About 1000 positions will be axed in Gyeonggi province.

That means some will NETS not be renewed, some who are leaving will not be replaced and many who would have been hired will not be.

700 positions in Seoul are on the block.

Individual schools may be hiring based on local budgets but the provincial offices of education largely won't be.

The funding cuts for NETS in Gyeonggi (provincial funding) were deep and the province hasn't changed anything for the next fiscal year so you can read into that what you will...

.

[elizabethbennet88]

Well, thanks to all your replies I understand the dynamics of the market a lot better.

@proverbs: I trust you're right about there being only two categories, really. @andrewchon: Not denying that Aussies are having an even harder time. But I guess the discrimination is aimed more towards the category "other" than any particular subgroup non-US/CAN.

@proverbs: I also have sympathy with the point about different accents being confusing to first time learners of the language. And I get that Korea has a great affinity with American culture and all. It's a bit hard to understand coming from South Africa where part of your competency in English is being able to deal with the insanely diverse range of accents floating around. I do think Ribena has a point, though: one gets a pretty funky range of American accents as well!

For what it's worth - we got a job offer. And, from everything discussed above, we are taking it despite a relatively low salary (2.0). So thanks for helping us understand how desperate we are - lol! Good luck to our fellow countrymen and "other." Hope you also get lucky.

[shifty]

The job market must really be in the doldrums. B/c if you think of it OP, you and your husband present an attractive package in terms of shoving the both of you into just one apartment plus the no pension obligation.

In addition, there must be a fair number of schools who have been burned by North American runners simply from greater exposure to them.

Now these schools are theoretically in my mind more open to consideration of alternate candidates. In any case I know of at least two hakwon owners who wouldn't have another American and actively sought South Africans.

Probably the ongoing demand from parents for the N.A accent has brought them to heel.