Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Dodge7]

ontheway is a tool, don't listen to him and don't let hagwon bosses tell you to pay your own flight out. That is not the norm and not to be expected. I wouldn't trust them. Have them pay it.

[augustine]

[EZE]

[ontheway]

[ontheway]

Now, here is the real crux of this situation.

For E2 teachers, please note:

The truth is that the majority of hogwans in Korea - these are standard, average hogwans - will pay your full salary, essentially on time, they will enroll you for National Health Insurance and National Pension and pay the legally required amounts. They will withhold and pay in the required taxes: some do it by the tax calculator (which may actually underwithhold since the loss of the 30% exemption for foreigners), some will do a similar computation with slightly higher withholding at a more accurate rate according to a link by Thompatz, some follow the advice of public accountants to withhold at the 3.3% rate(many public schools withhold at the 3.3% rate) ... each of these withholding methods is legal (as long as all the money withheld is paid to the National Tax Service as required, generaly once or twice per year), though 3.3% is excessive for most E2 teachers. (Remember the income tax is progressive up to 36%, so some E2 teachers pay much more than 3.3% legally). The standard, average hogwan will give you clean housing, generally a single occupant, studio apartment of some kind. The standard, average hogwan will pay for your ticket to Korea - some prepay, some reimburse. Most will give you cash reimbursement for your return airfare if you stay in Korea or fly to another destination.

It is important to understand that these things are standard, average, normal. You should not accept less. It is legal to be an Independent Contractor on an E2 visa, but you will lose out on too many benefits and for nearly everyone, you should turn down such jobs. It is not legal to be an employee without the National Pension and National Health Insurance, and you should turn down such jobs.


Now, it makes me wonder, just what are the interests of those who lie and mislead newbies into thinking that it is standard, normal, the usual situation to get screwed out of their legally required benefits? Since it isn't true, it makes me wonder. Perhaps they are representatives of bad schools or recruiters trying to keep the teachers who are being cheated in their place. Telling them it's normal so they should take or keep a bad job that doesn't offer all the required benefits to employees, telling them it's normal to get screwed, makes it feel OK so they won't rock the boat. What makes these people do this?

Most, the majority, of hogwans pay the legally required National Health Insurance and National Pension for their employees, withold and pay the legally required taxes and provide a clean, studio apt.

This being the case, newbies should not take bad offers, should not stay with employers without benefits, should not take legal IC jobs unless they really know how and intend to make it work for them by working multiple jobs. Even though some here tell you it's standard to get cheated out of these things - it's not.


As to the very best schools - meaning hogwans - a very small percentage of the total, think bell curve - they offer more than the above for teachers and the best English programs for their students. You won't find them advertising, but you may if you network or if you're lucky and a recruiter knows about them. At these schools you can earn raises during your contract term, bi-annual bonuses in lieu airfare when you continue for longer periods, free meals, and large one or two-bedroom apartments with everything furnished. At these schools you will have respectful students who study, very small class sizes, the responsibility, hard work and respect from your school that goes with being a real teacher, and you will be rewarded with love and thanks of students who become fluent in English before your eyes. And these schools generally do not offer to prepay for airfare. If you demand prepayment, they will not cave in to your demand - they will hire another teacher.

[TheUrbanMyth]

[PatrickGHBusan]

[Dalton]

I would never consider a job in Korea without prepaid airfare. It's a major reason for choosing Korea over all the other countries that an EFLer can choose to work.

In Korea the school owes you 2 months pay and a ticket back to your home country. Surely that's enough exposure to accept a position in Korea. Adding more to it like a weeks pay, the cost of the ticket there, deposits for various things is just plain ludicrous.

1.If the school can't afford to pay your flight there, which is less than a month's salary then how can I believe that they'll be able to afford the 5,6 or maybe 7 thousand that they've promised to come up with at the end of the contract. My monthly salary?

2.If the school won't do it because they or their buddy or some other school in Korea once upon a time got burned then I would be even less inclined to work for them. Clearly they have a bad attitude towards foreign teachers, painting them all with the same brush. Who knows what other notions or attitudes they will have towards you once you start working there. I don't want to know. I don't want to work anyplace that has a preconceived, negative opinion of me and my kind before I even work a single day.

3.If the school won't do it because they think they don't have to, they think they are the top school in the land for example then I would be even less inclined than the last case to work for them. This kind of attitude towards potential employees could manifest itself in other ways such as demands to clean the classroom, sit in the school all day even when there are no classes to teach, demands to lesson plan in house for 6- 8 classes a day. Demands to work on the weekends, make up classes for official holidays, hand out fliers on street corners on the weekends, help paint the school, get the owner a date with a western girl, hold back a weeks pay, refuse to pay severance or offer airfare until the departing teacher finds his/her own replacement, teach the family for free on the weekends, work OT for a lesser rate than the regular salary, simply refuse to pay the flight home or severance pay in part or in whole, demand payment of the previous teacher's unpaid utility bills and demand a deposit for yours, ...

That last paragraph is just the short list of things that happened to me or to someone that I met while working in Korea.

Koreans will try anything. If you let them get away with it then it's pretty much your fault. Not to say you shouldn't ask for or get help if any of these things happen to you but just learn to say 'no'. Life in Korea is so much simpler then. They have far too much invested to risk losing a teacher over some petty cash item like a prepaid ticket. If it isn't petty cash then refer to argument number 1.

As for recruiters painting a pretty picture on this board. It wouldn't be the first time.

If you truly believe that teachers should pay their own ticket then do it, tell us all about it but don't tell us that everyone is doing it. Don't tell us that we have to make that mistake too. I've never met anyone that has paid their own way to Korea since I began working in EFL 13 years ago. I've read posts claiming it happens but as of last Friday I've never met a single person who has paid their own way to Korea. Just say no. Clearly that is the consensus in this debate so far. Hold a poll.

Most likely paying your own way is a an inducement by recruiters to sign up schools.

[PatrickGHBusan]

If you have never met anyone who paid for their own airfare to come work in Korea thats great.

Some employers simply do not pay airfare (ex: some Universities if hiring teachers from abroad). Some offer a clear reimbursement policy. I have met people in both situations.

I would say a Teacher is better off taking the pre-paid airfare as that saves an up front cost, no debate there. Saying it does not happen or will not happen is however untrue and unlikely. It depends on the market and on what applicants are ready to do. It is hard to measure the proportion of pre-paid vs reimbursed airfare out there.

As for your 2nd point while it has merit and while you make good points, you present just one side. A school can indeed be responsible for a teacher burning it and running. However, do not be blind and assume that the school is ALWAYS in the wrong or responsible. There are some real idiots out there who do burn schools for no reason. This may be far less about pre-conceived notions about foreigners and far more about protecting your investment and money for a school.

[Dalton]

[wanderkind]

A recruiter recently told me that after July 1st, schools in Korea (E-2 employers, is how I construed that slightly vague term) will no longer be covering return airfare as a standard of compensation for 1 year contracts of employment.

Can anyone comment on this? True, false, somewhere in between?

I'm sorry if this has been hashed and rehashed elsewhere, but as usual, I've been unsuccessful at employing the eslcafe search function in this.

[nicwr2002]

Just think about it. Who is taking the bigger risk/lose by paying the airfare, you or the hagwon? Without a doubt you would be taking larger risk by paying the airfare. If they screw you over, then it's up to you to buy another plane ticket out of there.

[big_fella1]

[PatrickGHBusan]

[ontheway]