Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Mila]

I have a public school position confirmed and am currently just waiting for the NOA. I'm quite satisfied with it...but would still prefer to be working in Seoul. So I'm planning to also apply for a hagwon in Seoul. (I have all my documents ready). But my question is if I'm accepted to a hagwon, is it too late to reject the public school position?? If I do, will I be somehow blacklisted?? Or if I don't get a suitable hagwon, can I still accept the public school job? Technically, I haven't rejected them yet. I'm just trying to wait and see other options.

Thank you

[cincynate]

Do you have 2 sets of documents? If you have your NOA on its way, that means you already sent your documents to EPIK/SMOE/etc.. It won't cause you any issues as long as you don't apply for your visa with your local embassy.. However, if you accept a position at a hakwon and get your visa issuance number, then it will cause you problems if you try to apply for the visa using the NOA from the public school system.

[Modernist]

You are going to have to get over your desire for the perfect [whatever] very quickly upon arrival here. In my case it lasted about 3 1/2 minutes after leaving Incheon [which IS pretty close to the perfect airport, I'll concede].

Your question is basically, how long can you string along your non-Seoul PS whilst chasing some kind of mythical perfect hagwon [in Gangnam, 10 minute walk to school, teaching classes of about 6 or 7 perfectly behaved, adorably cute, intellectually gifted children of the professional-technical class, for 2.5, right?].

The bottom line is that the PS has a time they expect you to begin working. Once they issue a NOA and you receive it [they will track it, so they will know when you actually have it in hand], you are supposed to take it to your local consulate to get the visa. About the only wiggle room there is if you live a long way away and it has to be done through the mail. About a week max. Then you have to book your ticket. They will be expecting you to commit to being at the school by a specific day, likely a Monday.

If you pull out any time after accepting the NOA, you will likely never be hired by any PS in Korea again. So you have perhaps 2 weeks from now to try to find your perfect hagwon. I'll give you a hint: the relatively few really great ones are little places that only recruit from people already here and by word-of-mouth. Given the problems many people are having finding PS jobs now, you would be wise take the bird in hand.

[koreatimes]

[Mila]

[soyoungmikey]

Not sure why you'd want a Hagwon job anyways. The odds are you will encounter more problems than at a P.S. You will encounter non-payment, before contract dismissal (meaning no severance), going out-of-business, non-payment of pension and/or healthcare... the list goes on. In the P.S. I'm sure there will be problems but more often than not it will be co-teacher or student issues. Better to deal with one or two problems than many. As well, at P.S. less working hours, more vacation and weekends and evenings off. Food for thought.

[isitts]