Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mushroomyakuza]

Hi guys

I just joined the Korean forums but I've been on the international job boards for a while now. I'm seriously looking into Korea as a prospect for living and teaching starting next year around Feb/March time, but wanted to ask for people's opinions on coming there after being in Japan for two years.

I lived and taught in Tokyo, working for a fairly large eikaiwa, working from around 12-9 for five days a week. I'm aiming (hoping) to land a public school job through EPIK/SMOE, as I'm primarily interested in working in Seoul.

Obviously if I got a public school teaching job, it's a significant change of pace and lifestyle. But I'm asking more generally, how do you think the transition from Japan to Korea would be? Some friends I had used to teach in Busan and said that Tokyo was a definite upgrade in their minds. I'm unsure if they worked in hagwons or public schools, but I'm going to assume it was hagwons. Would people generally agree with this statement?

I enjoyed my time in Tokyo a lot, and while I'm looking for something similar but different, I don't want an exact repeat either. Any information anyone could give on this would be most welcome.

Also, this sounds like a naive question to my own ears, but I'll ask it anyway. Obviously making friends and meeting other foreigners won't be difficult if you're working in a hagwon with other foreign teachers, but if you're in a public school, how easy/hard is it to meet other English speakers? I am planning on learning Korean, but this obviously takes time and it would be nice to know I'm among some friends from the start rather than isolated from an obviously thriving ex-pat community that I'm simply not in touch with.

Thanks again

mushroom

[Dodge7]

If you're looking for a huge letdown after Tokyo, by all means come to Korea.

[mushroomyakuza]

Harsh. Or is it?

Have you been in Tokyo yourself Dodge, or is this assumption?

[thrylos]

[Dave Chance]

It depends on your temperament and interests.

Culturally, Korea is virtually nothing in terms of sophistication and nuance/inspiration compared to Japan (let's not even get started on the topic of general organization and tidiness in the streets).

Level of food quality also not comparable, although there are some that say along with the Michelin stars and general attention to detail are certain radiation risks (and also balanced out by the fact that it is a whole lot cheaper to eat out in Korea with larger portions being dished out).

However, if you land a public school job, your hours would change to something like 8:30-4:30, and you'd get more paid vacation than your typical eikaiwa.

Also, if you like challenges, teaching in Korean public school will not fail to throw any number of curve balls your way (i.e. announcing to you after you come in that your whole schedule for the day has been changed)- it beats the monotony of the typical eikaiwa routine, but only if you enjoy such 'chaos surfing'.

[cheezsteakwit]

Don't mind dodge. he's one of the more pessimistic posters on here , despite being married to a korean.

Although, i suspect some of the other 'usual suspects' will be along any minute to tell you you're crazy for coming here.

In regards to your concern about making friends if you get a PS job, usually there is an orientation session for a week or so before the semester starts. That'd be a good chance to make friends.

Also, a lot of towns / cities have facebook groups to help foreigners meet/ survive.

I'm in a smaller 'rural' city near Daejeon & there's about 40-50 foreigners here. I dunno how that compares to other places, but I don't think it's hard to make friends in Korea , esp. in a bigger city, & i'm an introvert.

Having said all this , i've never been to Japan, so i dunno what i'm missing. But i hear/ read it's more expensive there.

Best of luck to you.

[Pablo]

[JustinC]

It's not difficult to meet friends, even if you're in the boonies. If you get a motorbike or car you can see a lot of places Koreans only resource for their holidays.

[mushroomyakuza]

I appreciate the responses guys, but all due respect, you're kind of giving me rhetoric without reasoning to an extent. "You'd be crazy to come here" - okay, but why? Pablo, you lived in Japan for five years so you are in some position to say why. If you dislike Korea (I doubt that, but your post seems quite negative?) why did you not return to Japan?


Comparing food, I am probably not your typical customer - I can't stand sushi, have a general dislike of ramen and yaki soba, tolerate curry rice and love okonomiyaki. By all means, this may make me uncultured when it comes to food, but I like what I like, and Japan didn't have much of it. I lost a fair amount of weight out there in fact. Generally, I prefer Korean cuisine. I love kimchi. Small details, perhaps, but worth mentioning I thought.

In reply to Dave Chance's post, I do enjoy a challenge, and this is actually what I'm looking for after getting to a point at my eikaiwa where I could flip open a textbook, glance at it for about ten seconds and immediately know what I'm doing for my lesson. A comfortable life maybe, but monotonous and dull after a while.

Also, culturally, I'm not that sophisticated either, so that shouldn't be much of an issue. That said, I'd like to know more on exactly what you mean in this regard. If you're comparing Japanese history/traditional culture against Korea's and the importance weighed upon it, this honestly doesn't bother me in the least. This may be blasphemy, but I never had much interest in the traditional Japan and am far more of a modern, city creature. Self-confessed pleb right here.

Appreciate all the posts and advice so far, please keep it coming. Thanks for the tips about facebook and networking to meet other foreigners.

[Kimchifart]

[Kimchifart]

[viciousdinosaur]

Negative Nancy is here

1) If you are sort of white tras (as your self-described) maybe Korea would be good for you

2) If you are someone who has an eye for detail, plans ahead, is organized, relies on logic, has standards, or is a perfectionist, Korea will be your own personal hell.

3) My cousin started out working in Seoul, but quickly moved to Japan. He loves it there. That country is just more his cup of tea. And now with the exchange rate I envy him a little.

4) I only briefly considered working in Japan. My problem with the country is there were TOO MANY foreigners. Everyone in the world knows about Japan and the country is just filled up with them. Being in Japan didn't feel like being in a exotic country. With all the old people it actually felt like being back home. That was the turn off for me, but these days Korea is almost the same thing, which is really frustrating for me. I like a life that is a little more exotic. I might make the move to China or Vietnam some time next year. But that's just me.

[nicwr2002]

I studied in Japan for a year, so I can't comment on the work experience side. However, I had to post about what others say about the food. The food here has a lot more taste than a lot of Japanese food. Now if you like ramen, curry udon, sushi, then yea Japan does that better. As far as historical buildings and sight seeing, Japan has the upper hand there, but only because Japan destroyed Korea back in the war so there isn't much to look at historically. There are beautiful landscapes and mountains to visit if you are in to that kind of thing. For cleanliness, for example, trash in the streets, Japan is a little cleaner than Korea, but it's not overly so. I feel the people here are friendlier for the most part than Japanese. Less xenophobic than Japanese, but a lot more prideful when it comes to their stuff than Japanese.

Now, if you are looking for time off, if you teach at a hagwon then you are pretty much limited to a week off in the summer and week off in the winter at the school's discretion, plus a few minor holidays that would grant you a 3 day weekend or a Wednesday off. If you work in the public sector then you will have plenty of time off. Japan has a lot more holidays to work with than Korea. (Korea has fewer than America and they call America the country with no holidays.)

Lastly, Korea is on the way up I think, while Japan is pretty stagnant in growth and with eikaiwa jobs shrinking and becoming more competitive, Korea would be better, in my opinion.

[viciousdinosaur]

[lemak]

Were I in your situation personally I'd bypass Korea altogether and head straight for China. Light years ahead of the ROK in terms of culture and history, world-class food, and far more open and welcoming people.
If money isn't a huge issue and you're interested in learning about the place, the language and exploring then get a university job. 12 hours or so teaching a week, but the pay is pretty average. Good if you have some savings already from Japan.
If you want to make cash grab one of the private school jobs somewhere like Wall Street and you can actually make more $ than a public school in Korea.
Each to their own, but in my book for the most part teaching in China and the general living environment here absolutely blows Korea out of the water.

*If you have a specific reason that you MUST go to Korea, or personal reasons why you DON'T want to go to the PRC then feel free to disregard*