Korean Job Discussion Forums

[32Jimbo32]

(Full disclosure: This is a question for my business, which is a recruitment company for trained and qualified teachers from America, because we believe the quality of English teachers abroad can be greatly improved)

So, I really want to drill into the thought process that prevents a lot of trained teachers from American/Canada from going abroad to teach for a year, which is the idea that teaching English abroad is a non-factor resume-wise.

I believe it's because many schools back home won't believe that the teaching standards at schools overseas (especially if "just" teaching English) are good enough for what they want at their schools. Some teachers have ways to make their time abroad more worthwhile, like online masters programs. I'm looking for ideas about the how to do the following:

How to make a teacher's time abroad more worthwhile, resume-/career-wise
How to make schools back home better understand that teaching abroad does indeed build important teaching skills.

If your suggestion requires a technological component, I'm also open to changing our website around if it's a good idea.

Any suggestions you have are greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[OneWayTraffic]

As someone who taught in Korea for 8 years, and now teaches High School Maths in NZ:

Very little of what I learned in South Korea helped me at all. The jobs are just far too different. It may be different for someone looking to teach elementary level back home.

Transferable skills might involve: sensitivity to different cultures and viewpoints and confidence in front of a class.

The really important stuff to me like subject knowledge, curriculum knowledge, organising a years worth of Internal assessments, getting on with coworkers, classroom management in the context of kiwi teenagers and school politics and procedures are unique to my current job.

When it came to looking for work I was neither greatly advantaged or disadvantaged compared to someone of similar age transferring from a different career to teaching.

[Lee Myung Bak]

I do not teach back in the States now, but I leveraged my skills gained living and teaching in Korea (almost three years - break to backpack) in a useful way. Almost everyone I have interviewed and networked with were very impressed.

To echo OneWayTraffic a bit, I talked myself up to prospective employers by stating how teaching abroad helped me respond better to pressure, problem solve, cope and adapt to foreign environments and languages, public speak, think out of the box, etc.

Plenty of people will tell you (in Korea) that you can't go back home and get a "real job"..well I am here to say that it is quite possible. I was able to come back to the States (in early 2011- still not a great time for the job market) and get a job in D.C. in less than two months, and after working there for nearly two years, got an even better job recently. This should work for people looking to return home and teach as well. Things that make your time teaching abroad more of a resume builder and prevents the "non-factor resume-wise" that you mention Jimbo would be:

STUDY KOREAN - I only got a level 1+2 certificate in Korean from Sogang University, but this impressed a lot of people. Make sure its something tangible- stating "Language exchange with a pretty girl" is not gonna impress anyone. Don't listen to the lazy naysayers in Korea who say studying Korean is not worth your time/money.

VOLUNTEER - I was a registered volunteer with the USO and did various fun things like golf/sports outings with kids, and mini English Camps/activities with underprivileged kids.

HYPE (not lie) - what did you do at your job abroad? taught kids, used power point, worked with co-teacher. EHHH WRONG examples - level tested and placed students in appropriate classes; chose new curriculum, conducted quarterly open classes for staff and parents; joined out-of-school activities, etc.

TRAVEL - and tell about it. I have had a middle-aged guy look me square in the eye and say "wish I did all that, what a life experience"

If prospective employers see that you ONLY taught an easy gig abroad it will be a "resume flusher". But if they see that you really did a lot with your time there and made the best of it, it really makes a world of difference.

Note - I partied with the best of em... its more than easy to work, study, volunteer, and get after it

[32Jimbo32]

Mr. President, those are some great, practical topics for people to focus on. Simple, but true. I think as part of our sales pitch to attract qualified teachers from N.America, we will literally show them an example of a poorly written resume and a well written one, for a teacher who has taught abroad. If you have more thoughts on this, would love to hear 'em.

OneWayTraffic, I assume you taught young kids in Korea and then sought a high school job in NZ? Is that why you think your teaching in Korea wasn't great on your resume (in terms of getting a teaching job back home)? If you take a look at what Lee Myung Bak wrote, what do you think? Do you think his points are valid? His points were 1) make sure to have some concrete things to write about your time abroad, and 2) hype the experience (in and out of the classroom) as best you can on your resume? Do you think this is something not enough people do well when trying to go back home to get teaching jobs?

Great responses above; I would love to hear from more people about this!