Korean Job Discussion Forums

[refreshingblend]

Hello, I'm new to these forums, having been introduced by a friend. I've looked around for discussion of this topic but if you are able to link me to a relevant old post feel free.

I'm getting close to signing a contract and expect to leave for my first job in about a months time (hagwon). I have a reasonable sum of money (around $1500), but I am slightly worried about how much I can trust a private language institution having read many posts on this forum about bad practice.

What I am most worried about is not getting paid on time and not being looked after.

I am aware that I can take steps to avoid this happening (arranging a chat with a previous employee and checking with members that the school is reputable) but I have to be honest, I just want confirmation that it would be rare for teacher / employer relationship to come off to such a bad start.

Your honesty would be greatly appreciated.

[Stan Rogers]

Anything can happen. People rarely have trouble in the middle of their contract. If something bad happens it will happen at the start (variety of possible problems) or as you are coming to the end of your contract (almost always money related).

These problems are not rare. More like uncommon, but they do happen.

Good Luck.

[tardisrider]

It's just one of those things you have to prepare for and hope against.

If it makes you feel any better, I don't hear about the no-payment thing happening nearly as much as I used to. Back in the 90s, it seemed to happen much more often.

[bbunce]

You should post your contract in the contract thread before you do anything else. Contracts can tell you alot about a school any you will get some good advice.

[cedarseoul]

Read Dave's religiously--not b/c the information is always accurate, but b/c you will get a balance of opinions here. And you will quickly discover that some posters (like Ttompatz and ontheway) are pretty well-informed and capable of answering most questions.

I've been in Korea since 2007, and while I've had a pretty good work experience, I've also had questions and concerns from time to time. Dave's has been an invaluable resource for me.

[refreshingblend]

Thank you. I will post my contract once I get it sorted. I suppose if the worst happened, I should have just about enough money to get back anyway.

[alistaircandlin]

I felt exactly the way you do, just after getting my first job, at a Hagwon in Incheon.

I'd been applying for jobs all over asia, decided on Korea because the pay was better than other places at that time. I accepted an offer, then read all the horror stories, and thought: oh my god, what am I getting into here?

I decided to give it a go, and, with some caveats, the horror stories I'd read about Korea didn't apply. I was pretty well looked after by other foreign teachers, who showed me round and gave a bit of teaching advice; there was no problem with payments.

It was however, a year of hard work - five or six hours teaching each day, and not many holidays at all. The managers of the Hagwon, were very far from perfect, but at least we got paid on time, got taken out for dinners, and so on.

Although, now that I'm more qualified and experienced, there's no way I would work under the same conditions now, I don't regret the experience - I was thrown in at the deep end after doing a TEFL qualification that didn't prepare me for teaching kids, but I learnt a lot that year.

Well, after rambling on about myself for too long - my basic advice is that you can only really know if it's for you by trying. I would try to contact some of the existing foreign teachers who are working at the place where you have an offer - see what they think. Also, you should probably expect that you'll have to work quite hard, and that you will have some of the problems all new teachers have with classroom and behaviour management. If you have some such problems though, it's not the end of the world, just an experience, and many others have had similiar problems too.

[YTMND]

[kimchipig]