Korean Job Discussion Forums

rowdie3 · Joined: 22 Sep 2003 Location: Itaewon, Seoul

Yeah!! That's good news. Sounds like a good school and one that is willing to think of the employees needs. Congrats!!

Hope your new adventure is lots of fun and that Korea treats you well. Smile

SeoulMan6 · Joined: 27 Jul 2005 Location: Gangwon-do

I'm glad it worked out, but it's not always the case. I think other people should think hard about things before acting.

For one, is it really a 'dealbreaker'? If it is, then stand your ground. But for me, having a great job for one year is probably worth 2 weeks of housing inconvenience. Second, while nobody wants to be a 'doormat', the flip side is that you can easily be seen as someone who is a 'troublemaker' and someone who is 'inflexible'. And believe me, you don't want to start your time in Korea with that reputation. (Reputations in Korea are often quickly earned and difficult to erase.) There are two ways of seeing things.

Again, I'm glad things are cool, but other people with other employers might not be so lucky.

3DR · Joined: 24 May 2009

luckylady · Joined: 30 Jan 2012 Location: u.s. of occupied territories

Tyshine · Joined: 04 Apr 2011

12ax7 · Joined: 07 Nov 2009

Some low level administrator probably suggested the shared housing out of laziness, not greed.

In any case, I read somewhere that it's illegal for employers to require that men and women share accommodations (there's been some unfortunate and totally preventable incidents in company dorms here).

Mix1 · Joined: 08 May 2007

[quote="12ax7"]Some [b]low level administrator[/b] probably suggested the shared housing out of [b]laziness[/b], not greed.
[/quote]
^This.
Quite often, these mixups and screw-ups are down to some shmuck administrator or secretary who doesn't care about your welfare in the slightest. He throws out the lowest offers and suggestions that are easiest for him, and he doesn't want to ruffle any feathers above him. Half the time he doesn't even ask his superior what he or she actually prefers, or inform them of any changes. He's counting on you just to accept his terms without argument.

Whenever these admin people inform you of something, take it with a grain of salt. It could change 5 minutes later because one thing they tend to not do here is share information with each other so you'll get a ton of mandates that suddenly aren't mandates at all. Also, remember that when they say they can't do something, they actually CAN in most cases, they are just CHOOSING not to, and hoping you'll fold.

Don't fold.

Your school actually sounds like it could be a good one, but still, don't be a pushover because as someone else said, "give them an inch and they'll take a mile".