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adamweldon
Joined: 28 May 2012
Location: Dublin, Joburg, London, Limassol
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 Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 9:04 am Post subject: High demand for jobs - Will I ever get a Job? |
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I have had recent correspondence with about two recruitment agencies saying that getting a Job in Korea is almost impossible if you do not have a Post graduate Degree (Masters) and therefor have been offered Jobs in Georgia which I am not interested in.
But in truth is it really going to be impossible.
I am applying now for August/September/October Job
I am 23 and have an Honours Degree from a top 10 university in England in Multimedia & Digital Systems.
Only a short stunt of a month teaching maths in a school in england and a lot of experience coaching cricket to children in South Africa, Ireland and the UK
I am also in the process of doing an i-to-i 140 hours combined TEFL course.
I really want to get over to Korea to either Seoul or Busan, or any other major city. But I also want to be realistic as I am a first time applicant.
What are my chances because at the moment I feel like I'm taking one step forward and two back?
Thank you for any help
p.s. This forum is fantastic and I have found heaps of info already. |
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amcnutt
Joined: 22 Mar 2010
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| Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 9:14 am Post subject: |
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| As long as you are native English speaker from one of the 7 countries specified on websites and you have some form of BA/BSc bachelors degree you can get a job in Korea. If you want to teach in public school you also need a 100 hour TESL certificate (changed requirements this year). However, you should be able to find a job at a hagwon no problem. Try different recruiters, perhaps? |
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Skippy
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
Location: Daejeon
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| Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 10:16 am Post subject: |
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| If you where trying for a University position or a top tier adult hagwon I could see the demand for a Master's. But as long as you have a 4 year you are fine. The TEFL cert is a bonus. |
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ontheway
Joined: 24 Aug 2005
Location: Somewhere under the rainbow...
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| Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 10:35 am Post subject: Re: High demand for jobs - Will I ever get a Job? |
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| adamweldon wrote: |
I have had recent correspondence with about two recruitment agencies saying that getting a Job in Korea is almost impossible if you do not have a Post graduate Degree (Masters) and therefor have been offered Jobs in Georgia which I am not interested in.
I am applying now for August/September/October Job
I really want to get over to Korea to either Seoul or Busan, or any other major city. But I also want to be realistic as I am a first time applicant.
What are my chances ... |
Chances are that you need to find two new recruiters.
Your chances will be even better if you open up your search to all parts of Korea and all types of schools. As you place limits on your market, fewer opportunities will appear. |
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Ibsen
Joined: 09 Dec 2011
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| Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 11:09 am Post subject: Re: High demand for jobs - Will I ever get a Job? |
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| adamweldon wrote: |
| I have had recent correspondence with about two recruitment agencies saying that getting a Job in Korea is almost impossible if you do not have a Post graduate Degree (Masters) and therefor have been offered Jobs in Georgia which I am not interested in. |
Unless you are looking into a University job, your current qualifications are more than enough to find a job in Korea. You seem more qualified than me and I had no problem securing a job near Seoul and was even able to be a little picky about it.
My advice to you would be to either drop those 2 recruiters you have now, or get a few more recruiters who actually plan on working with you to help you get a job. I myself used 4 recruiters and did about a dozen interviews total (all for hagwons mind you) and ended up getting offered 5 different jobs. I literally had some hagwons begging me to reconsider their school once I informed them I would be taking a different position. All I have is my BA from a University and minimal experience tutoring math, so really you should be fine. |
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Modernist
Joined: 23 Mar 2011
Location: The 90s
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| Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 6:06 pm Post subject: |
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| therefore have been offered Jobs in Georgia which I am not interested in. |
Ah, yes. Georgia. Are the two agencies in question Reach to Teach and Footprints? Footprints in particular has been pushing the worthless, no-qualifications 'jobs' in Georgia really hard. They have a big fat contract with the Georgian government to do it. They get a nice bounty for every sucker they pull in, better than what the Koreans offer apparently. It doesn't even sound like you need a degree to 'teach' there! And of course the money is a joke. If you want to teach for nothing, join Peace Corps and at least get some benefits out of it. Not to mention that Georgia is such a rinky-dink pit of a country it makes Korea look good by comparison.
Obviously, to say the least, you do NOT need a Master's degree to teach in Korea. Please. Mostly what you need is to be breathing, take a decent headshot and sound nice on the phone [remember to mention how much you LOVE Korea! Can never say it enough!], as far as I can tell.
Don't get too hung up on the Seoul/Busan thing, really. All cities in Korea are the same. Seoul just has MORE of all the same things everywhere else in Korea has, excepting Western food [not a minor thing, to me at least, but you don't need to LIVE there to access it]. Busan does have nice beaches, if you care about beaches, and it's slightly less ugly than usual. But there are lots of places close to Busan that aren't actually IN Busan that would still serve you well.
You might be able to get Fall jobs since some of the PS slots, like mine, have middle-term starting dates. And hagwons have people quit unexpectedly all the time.
Tell the Georgia recruiters that due to their failure to listen to your expressed requests you will have no further contact with them and will be advising others to do the same. Find new recruiters. As many as you can. At least a dozen. Just keep carpet-bombing them until something catches. They aren't your friends or advisors or mentors. They just want to make a buck, like everyone else in this so-called 'profession.' Treat them like the car salesmen they basically are. |
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cronolegs
Joined: 01 Feb 2012
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| Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 6:52 pm Post subject: |
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Ive been here 3 months, also fairly new out of uni. (went to reading , got 2.1 IT).
Anyway, just go through Daves list of jobs.
Email every single recruiter, with the correct documents. Start getting your Criminal record check now.
I had 2 interviews a day and had a job within a week. My Record check got delayed so I lost that job.
When all my docs actually came through and were in my hand I applied to everything on Dave's again.
Had 3 job offers within a week. (these were all specified Incheon or Busan. I didn't bother with Seoul... was told it is to hard).
So basically there seems to be loads of jobs. Just email all the recruiters.
I didn't bother with the mainstream recruiters using Epic. Was told they only hire American girls. |
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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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| Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 7:25 pm Post subject: Re: High demand for jobs - Will I ever get a Job? |
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| adamweldon wrote: |
I have had recent correspondence with about two recruitment agencies saying that getting a Job in Korea is almost impossible if you do not have a Post graduate Degree (Masters) and therefor have been offered Jobs in Georgia which I am not interested in.
But in truth is it really going to be impossible. |
Somebody is:
A) NOT telling you the truth OR
B) you do not fit the immigration requirements.
IF you hold a passport from one of: UK, USA, CAN, AUS, NZ, S.Africa
AND
hold a minimum of a bachelors degree from an accredited university
Then you can get a job in S.Korea.
IF you want a Public School job you can add a TEFL certificate (100hr) to those requirements.
If <A> then change recruiters.
If <B> then change countries for your job search.
. |
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ewlandon
Joined: 30 Jan 2011
Location: teacher
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| Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 9:43 pm Post subject: |
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| cronolegs wrote: |
Ive been here 3 months, also fairly new out of uni. (went to reading , got 2.1 IT).
Anyway, just go through Daves list of jobs.
Email every single recruiter, with the correct documents. Start getting your Criminal record check now.
I had 2 interviews a day and had a job within a week. My Record check got delayed so I lost that job.
When all my docs actually came through and were in my hand I applied to everything on Dave's again.
Had 3 job offers within a week. (these were all specified Incheon or Busan. I didn't bother with Seoul... was told it is to hard).
So basically there seems to be loads of jobs. Just email all the recruiters.
I didn't bother with the mainstream recruiters using Epic. Was told they only hire American girls. |
passing on the incorrect information that you recieved?
Seoul is not too hard, EPIC does not hire only american girls. You can get a job in Seoul through EPIC if you want. Getting a job anywhere in Korea is easy. |
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ewlandon
Joined: 30 Jan 2011
Location: teacher
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| Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 9:47 pm Post subject: |
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| cronolegs wrote: |
Ive been here 3 months, also fairly new out of uni. (went to reading , got 2.1 IT).
Anyway, just go through Daves list of jobs.
Email every single recruiter, with the correct documents. Start getting your Criminal record check now.
I had 2 interviews a day and had a job within a week. My Record check got delayed so I lost that job.
When all my docs actually came through and were in my hand I applied to everything on Dave's again.
Had 3 job offers within a week. (these were all specified Incheon or Busan. I didn't bother with Seoul... was told it is to hard).
So basically there seems to be loads of jobs. Just email all the recruiters.
I didn't bother with the mainstream recruiters using Epic. Was told they only hire American girls. |
passing on the incorrect information that you recieved?
Seoul is not too hard, EPIC does not hire only american girls. You can get a job in Seoul through EPIC if you want. Getting a job anywhere in Korea is easy. |
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Weigookin74
Joined: 26 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 10:22 pm Post subject: Re: High demand for jobs - Will I ever get a Job? |
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| adamweldon wrote: |
I have had recent correspondence with about two recruitment agencies saying that getting a Job in Korea is almost impossible if you do not have a Post graduate Degree (Masters) and therefor have been offered Jobs in Georgia which I am not interested in.
But in truth is it really going to be impossible.
I am applying now for August/September/October Job
I am 23 and have an Honours Degree from a top 10 university in England in Multimedia & Digital Systems.
Only a short stunt of a month teaching maths in a school in england and a lot of experience coaching cricket to children in South Africa, Ireland and the UK
I am also in the process of doing an i-to-i 140 hours combined TEFL course.
I really want to get over to Korea to either Seoul or Busan, or any other major city. But I also want to be realistic as I am a first time applicant.
What are my chances because at the moment I feel like I'm taking one step forward and two back?
Thank you for any help
p.s. This forum is fantastic and I have found heaps of info already. |
Sounds like "Foorprints" trying to get you to take a bad job no one wants. You can come over here, just use another recruiter and tell them to quit lying to you. |
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luckylady
Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Location: u.s. of occupied territories
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| Posted: Thu May 31, 2012 11:25 pm Post subject: Re: High demand for jobs - Will I ever get a Job? |
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| adamweldon wrote: |
I am 23 and have an Honours Degree from a top 10 university in England in Multimedia & Digital Systems.
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so England has 10 unis? wouldn't have thought there were that many for such a tiny little country  |
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adamweldon
Joined: 28 May 2012
Location: Dublin, Joburg, London, Limassol
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| Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2012 3:41 am Post subject: |
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Thank you all for the replies, I definitely don't feel as worried as I did before.
The recruitment agency in question is 'Teach Away' they sent me this after I told them I was not interested in Georgia:
| Quote: |
Thank you for updating me on your interest to teach in Korea. Your application was initially reviewed for positions in Korea, but requirements have become stricter to teach in Korea (ie. TESL certification along with post-certification teaching experience). I did not notice this type of background on your application, hence you being contacted for our Georgia program. Many applicants are using this shorter term program to gain experience applicable to other programs like Korea.
If you would like to proceed with Georgia, I appreciate receiving your competed application. Otherwise, unfortunately there's not much else available at this time that I would be able to put you forward for. |
And the other agency said it was difficult to place me in Busan or Seoul but should have no problem else where in Korea if I am persistent
So ofcourse after receiving such replies I was like  but non the less my spirits are lifted and I will continue to go through the process.
I have got both an Irish and South African passport and meet all the requirements listed. But from reading al the comments it feels like you're all right, that the agencies are trying to push new comers into a certain direction and mislead them with false information.
Seems the best way is just to e-mail as many as I can and take it as it comes. I am worried about being screwed over and uncomfortable with sending my original degree off too.
But thank you all for your help honestly made my life a whole lot less stressful.
p.s.
| luckylady wrote: |
so England has 10 unis? wouldn't have thought there were that many for such a tiny little country |
There are 89 universities in England and 115 in total in the UK :p |
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ibeattheborg
Joined: 17 Dec 2010
Location: the deep blue sea
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| Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2012 8:51 am Post subject: |
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| Good God!!!! I have heard a few porkies from recruiters in the past but to try to send you off to Georgia because "unfortunately there's not much else available at this time that I would be able to put you forward for. " Well, that's just nasty. There are hundreds of jobs available in Korea right now and for the next two months. Maybe you are shooting a little too far into the future with a September/October starting time but for July/August there are manymany openings. Wait another month to see more jobs for September. Shame on your recruiters! If you are interested in a Busan hagwon for the first of August let me know. |
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ttompatz
Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Location: Kwangju, South Korea
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| Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2012 3:12 pm Post subject: |
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| adamweldon wrote: |
| I am worried about being screwed over and uncomfortable with sending my original degree off too. |
You don't send your original degree anywhere.
You get a "certified true copy" made and have an apostille affixed to that.
Scan it.
Send the scan of that and the scan of your police check with your Application.
You send the original COPIES (with apostilles affixed) when you finally have a contract in hand and have signed on the dotted line. They are needed by immigration at that point for the visa confirmation application.
NEVER give anyone your original parchment to anyone. They don't need it.
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