Korean Job Discussion Forums

Neozenha · Joined: 08 Mar 2013

I mean I am thinking of working in Korea...
After uni... in 4 years time.

EPIK, GEPIK or ESL in general may not exist or will be very hard to get into by that time.

What alternative root can you take to start this type of path?

War Eagle · Joined: 15 Feb 2009

Not much will change in 4 years.

ttompatz · Joined: 05 Sep 2005 Location: Kwangju, South Korea

mayorhaggar · Joined: 01 Jan 2013

Getting a bachelor's in education is probably the best thing to do if you want to make sure you can get a good ESL job (teaching kids, anyway) in Korea or elsewhere. If EPIK and GEPIK go bye-bye then hagwons will be the only game in town. Other countries in Asia will be hiring though, and people with degrees in education or at least in English or ESL will be the best candidates.

PRagic · Joined: 24 Feb 2006

I'm not an English teacher, but I'll go out on a limb and suggest that you brush up on the proper use of articles. 'a alternative?' Seriously?

ttompatz · Joined: 05 Sep 2005 Location: Kwangju, South Korea

maximmm · Joined: 01 Feb 2008

I think the demand for teachers goes in waves. When attempting to determine what things will be like in Korea in the years to come, one has to look at Japan.

The elementary public school jobs are now rather similar to the ones in Japan (we've been turned into tape recorder machines, as I have discovered last year, much to my disappointment). I now wonder if the university jobs will soon turn into part-time jobs only, as is often the case in Japan.

Then again, one has to question where the parallels begin and where they end. After all, Japan doesn't have the free airplane tickets policy in place, and work visa stipulations are by far more prohibitive in Korea. As such, it seems unlikely that the teaching market in Korea will ever truly resemble that of Japan.

Still, if Korea truly is behind Japan by 10 years or so, I think the public school jobs in Korea will remain (in their human tape recorder capacity). The job market wave theory suggests that the teaching job market here is far from having reached its lowest point - hence we can expect market deterioration to continue for years to come, prior to reversal.

Curiously, it seems likely that the teaching market in Japan is at the reversal point (Japanese currency will continue to tank, thus improving the Japan's economy - and the continual improvement in the USA's economy will drive Japan to hire more TESOL teachers) - in fact, Japanese PM stated last week that Japanese universities will double the number of full-time non-Japanese lecturers. I suspect that he may do the same in the public school system as well - http://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2013/05/18/national/abe-lays-out-next-step-in-his-growth-strategy/

Korean currency, on the other hand, is likely to stay strong, if only because the inflation in Korea is already pretty high, and that should cause the local economy to deteriorate further. For that reason the teaching market here should also continue to tank, as it has been tanking in Japan for the past decade or so.
All of this, of course based on a theory - and the parallels between Korea and Japan can oftentimes be rather dodgy.

Aside from Japan and Korea though, one of the best bets right now is the teaching market in China.

Weigookin74 · Joined: 26 Oct 2009

PRagic · Joined: 24 Feb 2006

You'll always be able to find teaching work if you continue to invest in your qualifications and stay professionally engaged and active. The market matters, but not as much as the individual and the decisions they make.

And a strong currency promotes a reduction in inflation.

Weigookin74 · Joined: 26 Oct 2009

PRagic · Joined: 24 Feb 2006

Me knows that those with great qualifications and experience are making a far sight more than 2.0 teaching English at university here, probably almost double that, actually. Plus they get about 4-5 months of paid vacation a year, ample time to travel or plump up the back account.

I do agree that if you're not going to pursue teaching English as a career, that you're better served by knocking out your MBA or MS and then shifting back into corporateville. I combined the approach and did my MBA and Ph.D., but then went the professor route.

ESL teaching and related peripheral work paid the bills, paid for my degrees, and allowed me to find out that I liked teaching. I just also happened to find out that teaching English wasn't my forte! I've come to know more than a few people with a similar experience.