Korean Job Discussion Forums

[JaySee]

Hi all, I am currently six months away from completing my first year contract in a Hagwon in Korea. It's located in a smaller city in the Jeolla province, I will be finished in mid November and want to stay in Korea for another year.

This time I would like to work in a bigger city, Seoul, Busan, Daegu, Daejeon or Ulsan would all be great.

I would also like to work in a public school this time but would not be against finding a good hagwon.

Can anyone tell me the chances of getting a public school job in any of the above cities in November, December or January?

A bit about me, I'm an Irish male, 23 and have a tefl cert and a years experience when November comes around and will be on the ground here in Korea so I won't need any airfare.

Thanks in advance for your help...

[YTMND]

The school year starts in March, so your chances of work are slim and none. You would need to get a school that is hiring directly and out of the loop.

In that case it would be more practical to end your contract early and start in August or September (the second half of the school year). This would give you more public school offers, and since you wouldn't be contracted to finish until halfway into that year, they might be happy to extend your contract to finish the school year. This is all speculation, and in my case they told me either to sign another year contract or nothing. So, they wanted 2 years, not 1.5.

If you go this route, be ready to give up some money and free time to your current hagwon. You wouldn't get severance or airfare money home. This is a good negotiating tool. The earlier you mention this to your current employer, the more they will want to bite off from you. So, I would wait until mid-July (after you get paid for June at least) to bring it up to them. They will either want to find a new teacher or be happy about saving some money and let you loose earlier.

Also, start saving your money now. Don't buy big things. You will be surprised how (much of) your money goes away when you are in transition.

[ttompatz]

Rather than quit early, extend for a few months or, if the employer is not willing, finish your contract and switch to a D10 visa.

In both cases you will be able to apply for and get accepted into the EPIK/GEPIK intake for the start of the new academic year in March 2013.

If you transfer or switch to a D10 then back to an E2 you do NOT need to get new documentation for immigration BUT you will probably need to get it for the new employer (EPIK/GEPIK) even if immigration doesn't want/need it.

Documents need to be valid from Nov through January so time your ordering them accordingly.

.

[JaySee]

Thanks for the replies guys.

I would rather not extend as my school has went from five teachers to three teachers since I have been here with the same number of students so the class sizes and workload has become a bit of a joke.
In saying that, I am always paid on time and I would not like to quit before the end of my contract.

If I finish in November with papers in hand and my severance and airfare in the bank then what about going looking for a good hagwon job in a big city?
What are the chances of Seoul being an Irish male?

[ontheway]

Why not maximize your options?

Look for a new hogwan job in Seoul or wherever and, if you find something you like before September, you can take that. You can hold off on renewing with your current school until then. If you haven't found something good by the time your current school wants to renew your contract (if they want to renew) then you can ask to extend your contract for only 3 months. During that time you can look for a public school job for March 2, 2013 and also keep your eyes open for a hogwan job if the public school job doesn't materialize.