Korean Job Discussion Forums

[vespasian]

Does anyone know of places that offer 9 month teaching contracts? I want to teach in Korea, but I want to begin graduate school in 2013. Any suggestions or tips?

[Skippy]

Never heard of nine month contracts. Your best bet is to find a place that will take you for a year. Tell them before hand that you will leave after 9 months.

Expect many rejections, some piqued interest and a few offers.

Also accept you will NOT get
year end severance
plane ticket back
Same amount of vacation.

Expect
Apartment troubles as many places sign contracts and leases.

[ttompatz]

[Troglodyte]

I agree with Ttompatz. Although you might find a job, the economic benefits of coming over for only 9 months are not great.

If you just want to fill your time while you wait for grad school to start, then it should be fine. You won't go into debt. You'll probably even make a little bit of money, but your savings will be small.

I'm not sure how hard it is to apply for a short contract from abroad. I've done it while in Korea a few times. If you're here and can get your visa in Japan or especially if you can transfer your current visa, then it's relatively easy to get an offer. Do you have all of the necessary documents already? If not, then no recruiter or school will even consider you (even for a regular length contract).

If you do decide that this is what you want, then just apply to as many recruiters as you can find. Tell them that you're willing to buy your own ticket over if the company provides return airfare, and you're willing to give up the severance bonus. If you want, you could tell them that the other benefits are negotiable.

Now, if you want to make a bit more money teaching English for 9 months, and you're willing to buy your own plane ticket, there are other options. Of course it's not permitted to teach in Korea or most other countries without a work permit, but some countries turn a blind eye to it for various reasons. (To some degree, Korea also does this.) In Asia, he biggest wages are in Japan. Japan also has the biggest cost of living. On the plus side, once you get a work visa there, you're allowed to work at any school. (In Korea the E2 visa restricts you to one employer except under unlikely circumstances.) You can also go to Vietnam. They don't pay as well as Korea but it's not far behind. Cost of living there is cheaper. They generally don't care about work visas (I suspect that the majority of foreign English teachers there don't have one.) I'm not sure about how the money is these days in the Philippines and Thailand, but I think that they aren't bad. You can probably find work there without a work permit as well (or so it used to be).

Check out the job forums for other countries that you might be interested in to see what the situation in each is. If you're only coming for 9 months though and you'd like to save some money, I'd recommend against Korea.

[vespasian]

wow thanks for the thorough and speedy responses! definitely helped put things in perspective

[sojusucks]