Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Seon-bee]

What's the starting salary for a newbie with no experience or certifications in 1) Seoul, 2) Busan, 3) Daegu?

[viciousdinosaur]

-$400 (The job you didn't get minus the money you spent on documents)

[r122925]

When I first came to Korea fresh out of college back in 2005 my starting salary was 2.1. This was at a hagwon in Seoul.

I still live in the same general area (but thankfully no longer working for a hagwon), and by chance recently I happened to meet someone who works at the same hagwon where I started out. He was a newbie who'd been there less than a year. It turns out this guy is now making 1.8 (same school, same general working conditions).

I realize this is just one isolated case, and may or may not be representative of the overall job market. But I was still surprised to hear it.

At this one particular hagwon, over the past 7 years, wages have dropped about 15%. And since prices/cost of living have also increased since then, the real difference is even greater.

I'm not really one to judge... if the people taking these jobs are happy with it, having a good experience, or doing better than they were back home, then more power to them. But it is a disturbing trend, and it does make you wonder, at what point will people just stop coming? 1.5? 1.3? lower?

[cincynate]

It appears that the salaries for teachers with no experience and no education degrees has dropped significantly. With the market being as flooded as it is and the PS positions slowly disappearing, hiring has become more selective.

I've seen many advertisements for jobs in the 1.8 million range. The person that was hired after me when I left my previous hakwon was making 300,000 less per month than I made.

I wonder if this glut will ever disappear and newbies will stop accepting low salaries and such deplorable working terms.

[shamash]

I'm starting at a hagwon in Seoul on the 30th at 2.2.

[soomin]

For me in Daegu, just browsing about, 2.0 seems to be the lowest, but 2.1 is the average... these sometimes say that experience will warrant an increase in pay, but since you don't have that, I'd expect around 2.1 in Daegu. Why don't you look around the jobs board here or on other sites? You might get lucky?

Also, if you're willing to live in less desirable places here, they'll sometimes offer more... When I first started 3 years ago, I got 2.4 but lived on the outskirts of Daegu in the slums... I wouldn't expect that kind of pay these days, though...

[northway]

Anecdotally, my old school always paid 2.2 for newbies until their most recent hire (beginning of July), who is getting 2.1. It might not mean anything, but it seemed rather telling to me that after four years they finally dropped the starting salary.

[iggyb]

China seems to the hot EFL market right now for the type of people Korea has pulled in the last 20 years -- people fresh out of college with no training or experience.

The big question is whether the industry there will repeat the mistakes of Korea, Taiwan and Japan.

If the Chinese government regulates the industry and cuts down on the number of rogue hakwons ripping expats off left and right, then China will continue to pull in more and more of the expats Korea normally got.

That might prevent the ESL industry in Korea returning to a darker period when rogue hakwons were more common and benefits were lower.

Pay and conditions got better in Korea in the early and mid-2000s because the hakwons had created such a bad name for it, and the Won had devalued considerably, they were having trouble getting people to fill the job openings.

Now things are completely different. The employers have the advantage. I think that will mean working conditions in Korea will get worse - as bad as China's growing industry will allow the hakwons to get...

[WadRUG'naDoo]

Don't expect salaries to ever go up again. At least significantly so. Taiwan has been paying the same (or maybe even less) for many years. At least a good decade or so.

However, you're not going to get much better in Asia, starting out in the industry.

[PatrickGHBusan]

[northway]