Korean Job Discussion Forums

Ruthdes · Joined: 16 Oct 2008 Location: Seoul

I'm applying for new jobs at the moment to start in September. I need some vacation in November/December (probably a week, but two would be better - my sister is getting married and I'm a bridesmaid).

How would you deal with this situation? I see three or four possibilities:

1) Tell them during the interview stage
2) Tell them after I have an offer and negotiate a deal
3) Accept the job and tell them after I've started
4) Don't go home

Obviously I'd like to avoid 4. My gut says that 2 is the best combination of smart and ethical and that's what I was planning to do until I had a discussion with a non-Korean friend of mine who's worked in HR with a lot of Korean companies. Her opinion was 3. When I expressed discomfort with the ethics of the situation. She told me that I was thinking with a Western viewpoint, and hadn't I been here long enough to know better than that? I then talked to my current Korean co-teacher who seemed to favour 1!

So, what would you do in my situation? I'm just looking for some other perspectives or experiences that maybe I haven't thought of. There's a good chance I'll end up in public school next semester, in which case it hopefully shouldn't be a problem to get some unpaid time off. However, if I end up in a hagwon which generally doesn't give vacation at that time of year, I don't want to find myself up the creek without a paddle.

War Eagle · Joined: 15 Feb 2009

Chances are if you tell them before you sign a contract, they won't hire you. Teachers are a dime a dozen these days and finding an alternative is very easy. Unless, of course, you have a degree from an ivy league school or are a beautiful blonde woman. Laughing

nicwr2002 · Joined: 17 Aug 2011

If you go with number 1 they won't hire you. If you go with number 2 you might have a chance, but they probably won't hire you. If you go with number 3 then they will be annoyed that you are already asking for time off, but you may have a chance. What you will have to do though is sacrifice your summer and winter vacation times. You'll probably have to negotiate to combine your 10 days vacation time into one. So, that means when spring/summer come back around, you won't get any more time off until you finish your contract. I don't see any way you are going to get extra vacation time on top of going home for a wedding.

schwa · Joined: 18 Jan 2003 Location: Yap

PatrickGHBusan · Posted: Sat Jun 15, 2013 5:25 am Post subject:

If you tell them off the bat, chances of you getting hired will diminish greatly.

If you do not tell them and spring it on them after you are hired, chances are you will not get 1-2 weeks off (paid or unpaid) during the school year.

As someone else says, if you do get hired and if they grant the vacation in the fall, you can be sure that means that your regular vacation time will get cut accordingly. Also, asking for a vacation so soon after starting, esp for a wedding is not likely to put you in a good light with your employer.

It is a tough call.

If you want to play it safe: tell them during the interview stage or after you get an offer and see how it pans out. Springing it on them after you are hired might create problems for you. As someone who has management experience I can tell you that you will look pretty bad because that wedding is not some unplanned emergency, it is something they will know you knew about but did not mention before.

Ruthdes · Joined: 16 Oct 2008 Location: Seoul

Ruthdes · Joined: 16 Oct 2008 Location: Seoul

wings · Joined: 09 Nov 2006

Option # 5 (unethical, but saves everyone face)

Say nothing, go ahead and book your ticket, do a really good job, always have all of your classes prepared in advance. Discuss your lessons with your co-teacher and have everything prepped the week before.

Have a "family emergency" and go home for 1 week. When you come back be super apologetic while being vague about what happened. Bring gifts from duty free and do everything you can to make it up to those who helped you out. Visit your principal and tell him your family is so grateful that he "allowed" you to be with them for this difficult time, give him a gift "from your mother". At the next school meeting have your co-teacher thank everyone for helping you and being understanding that you needed to be with your family. Even if the principal etc was originally angry, after thanking them in front of everyone and saying how kind s/he was all will be forgiven.

I've never done this, and I'm not sure if I ever would, but I'm sure that many a 'family emergency' is really a 'family event'. Personally I wouldn't care if one of my coworkers did this if they left everything prepared. In this face-saving culture it might be the only way to have your cake and eat it too!

PatrickGHBusan · Posted: Sun Jun 16, 2013 4:21 am Post subject:

I worked in Korea for 11 years Ruthdes and I was actually looking at your situation from a Korean management point of view. They will not like it, you can be certain of that. Time off is not viewed the same way in Korea.

This (Korea) remains a competitive market and you are likely not alone being considered for a position or will not be. Such a request may mean the school goes with the next applicant who is not making such a request. I am just saying this to play out the options as I see them. It may very well turn out another way and good for you if it does! Smile

The worst possible scenario for me would be for you to get hired and then spring this on your employer once you get to Korea. Thankfully you seem to have decided not to do this.

Discussing it once you get a job offer is a very fair way to go about it and the likeliest result is that they tell you that taking leave at that time is not going to be possible. As long as you ask politely and in a reasonable fashion and are ready to accept that the response may be negative, then you are good to go.

I do hope this works out for you. By the way, if you have any other Korea-related questions, feel free to pm me and if I can help, I will.

Good luck.

Ruthdes · Joined: 16 Oct 2008 Location: Seoul

Thanks for the replies guys. I'll most likely go with option 2 if it comes to that, though option 5 is an interesting one, wings, thanks for another idea. The problem is that I'm a terrible liar. I don't know if I could trust myself not to let something slip.

The only reason I even posted this question is that my friend in HR challenged my assumptions, so I thought I'd hear what others said. Otherwise I would've automatically gone with option 2.

Teechuh · Joined: 15 Jun 2013

I went with option three when I started at my first hagwon here. I was told it was no problem to fly home for my best friends wedding and it was smiles all around until a month before when I was told I'd be fired if I went. The same thing happened to several friends of mine as well. I'd go with option five.