Korean Job Discussion Forums

[cosmic lightning]

I was originally going to be coming to Korea this fall for the Gepik intake and was offered a contract; sadly, business commitments back home mean that I cannot come over when I was asked to and ultimately I had to turn the offer down. I still want to come to Korea though and am now turning my attention to the hagwon industry. Due to the unpredictability of many institutions in this sector I feel it would be best if I come to Korea first and go to interviews on the ground rather than accepting something rather blindly on the net. So my questions are:

1) What is the best way to research what type of schools are in a particular area? (Google is doing its best, but I can't help but feel nothing beats actually getting there on the ground and discovering things on your own/ through word of mouth).

2) Has anyone found schools in korea as a newbie by doing this method of landing first and looking for schools second? It seems most people want the security of a job before flying out to the country, which I understand, but for me I feel it really would be best to go and explore prospective institutions first hand.

Thanks.

[soomin]

From what I've heard, it's illegal to switch over from a tourist visa to an e-2... you would have to come over, look around, then go back home and do all the paperwork, visa issuance, consulate interview, etc... So, if you have money for a round-trip ticket and who knows who long to walk around... but, you can't legally switch to an e-2 working visa from here, so... I'd recommend sticking to google and here, and posting your contract on the review board.

Good luck!

[cosmic lightning]

Thanks for the reply. I thinks its possible for me to acquire an E2 visa in my home country (UK) before I fly out there from the Korean consulate- was considering doing this as the other option of returning home once having flown out there isn't really viable.

[valkerie]

You can't get an E2 visa without having a job first. Not sure if you could do the consulate interview ahead of time or not.

[cosmic lightning]

ah ok, thanks for the heads up. It's all becoming quite a headache now, i'm considering simply working in the UK until the spring intake for Gepik starts to roll around. I don't particularly want to chance it with a hagwon, seems like its too much risk.