Korean Job Discussion Forums

[big_fella1]

Guys I know for EPIK, GEPIK that you have no choice but DO NOT PAY YOUR AIRFARE to come to Korea for a hagwon job.

I've been hearing too many stories lately of hagwons getting the visa for someone and cancelling the job. The problem for you is Korea's incredibly restrictive visa system. If you have the visa in you passport its a major headache but in all likelyhood you will need to wait outside Korea for 90 days until your visa expires.

No airfare, no contract. I know other countries don't pay airfares but its cheaper to get their visas and you're not as tied to your visa sponsor.

[Dodge7]

good suggestion.

[EZE]

And if they say they'll reimburse you after the first payday, it might not necessarily be true. At my last school, a coworker didn't get reimbursed until the third month and another coworker still hadn't gotten reimbursed when I last saw him and there were only two more workdays left in his contract.

[wonkavite62]

I am horrified that hagwons are playing this game. A few years ago ALL hagwons would pay for my flight to Korea. Part of the appeal of Korea for me is relatively low start up costs. If a hagwon owner starts telling me that I have to pay for my flight upfront, I might just say that I've got a terrible ear infection, and I couldn't hear what he just said, but it's standard practice for hagwons to pay for teachers to fly over.
And if he insists, and asks me to pay for rent for example, I might just say I have a really great offer from ***cool Japan*** and that I'm really excited about Japanese culture: I want to climb Mount Fuji and practice my kanji!

[EZE]

If the school isn't going to pay airfare, there's an almost 100% chance that you won't get health insurance, pension, severance, and a lot of other things. Even most "good" hagwons commit fraud against their foreign employees, but to come to Korea to work for an employer who won't pay for your flight really is jumping into the deep end of a pool full of doo-doo.

[EZE]

[Deja]

[EZE]

[ontheway]

If you want a good E2 job in Korea, you should expect to pay for your own ticket and be reimbursed.

Many of the best schools* - hogwans - in Korea will not prepay your ticket. It will be in the contract that you will be reimbursed at an early specific date, which will be honored. If you aren't willing to prepay your own way with reimbursement after arrival, you will not be taken seriously and will not be hired, so you'll miss out on the best jobs.

Most hogwans will pay your full pay, register and pay for National Health Insurance and Pension and honor contract terms, despite the bias of certain posters on Dave's.

For those who come on their own dime without a job, or who search for a new job while in Korea, there are some hogwans that offer a cash bonus in lieu of airfare.



*School in Korea means a hogwan that teaches well. Most hogwans are far better than all of the public schools in Korea. Most children in Korea learn at hogwans, from home teachers, or by teaching themselves to make up for the low quality public schools.

Although the definition of a "school" is a place where people go to learn, most Korean public schools are primarily babysitting and testing centers that don't teach and it stretches the definition to call them schools.

[big_fella1]

[EZE]

[MetaFitX]

I paid my own way to come here on my contract and was given a 90% reimbursement a few months later. I don't see what the big deal is? Almost every other country doesn't pay airfare upfront. Why should Koreans? They want to see if you are not an alcoholic loser who swears at the kids before giving you a visa. I see no problem with this.

I also needed a job bad like many others in this horrible economy, so that was part of it.

[World Traveler]

[World Traveler]

[busanliving]

I'm almost tempted to tell hogwan owners not to pay airfare anymore. There have been several stories of posters doing midnight runs during the first month for no warranted reason.