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rambler
Joined: 18 Jun 2011
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Posted: Fri Oct 18, 2013 9:20 am Post subject: EPIK vs GOE? |
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Anyone with experience in both programs? My wife and I have an EPIK interview in a couple days, but a recruiter suggested applying for GOE.
Thoughts? Strengths/weaknesses to either program?
Thanks! |
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young_clinton
Joined: 09 Sep 2009
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Posted: Fri Oct 18, 2013 9:30 pm Post subject: |
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I know what EPIK is, ah..... but what exactly is GOE? |
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mayorhaggar
Joined: 01 Jan 2013
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Posted: Sun Oct 20, 2013 5:54 pm Post subject: |
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Do you mean GEPIK, which is a separate program for Gyeonggi-do province? |
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Ranman
Joined: 18 Aug 2012
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Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 5:07 am Post subject: |
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I know one advantage to EPIK is that they don't reimburse you for plane fights, but rather give you a flat amount. If you find a plane ticket for a cheap price, you get to keep whatever the amount difference is. GEPIK reimburses you for a flight already bought, and they demand to see the amount. |
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rambler
Joined: 18 Jun 2011
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Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 11:47 am Post subject: |
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GOE - Gyeongsangnamdo Office of Education
Hmmm... It seems like no one around here has worked with them. The application was almost identical to the EPIK one. |
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mayorhaggar
Joined: 01 Jan 2013
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Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 3:58 pm Post subject: |
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I'm pretty sure EPIK covers Gyeongnam, I dunno if Gyeongnam hires their own people independently or not.
Gyeonggi-do (the suburban donut-shaped province surrounding Seoul) and Jeollanam-do (SW corner of Korea) are not part of EPIK and have their own hiring programs--Gyeonggi's is GEPIK. I thought Incheon had its own program too but the EPIK website says they are part of EPIK...Koreans don't tend to update English websites very often though.
http://www.epik.go.kr/EPIK/html/application/provincial_positions_incheon.jsp
Anyway I wouldn't really worry too much about whether one province's education office is nicer to you than others. What mainly matters is whether your school and co-workers are nice to you, which is a complete gamble. Also whether you like living in the kind of town or city you get sent to...also a complete gamble in a big province. Also another thing that matters is whether the province is cutting back on NET positions...GEPIK, Seoul and Busan are the main MOE's doing this lately. |
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jvalmer

Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 7:05 pm Post subject: |
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mayorhaggar wrote: |
I'm pretty sure EPIK covers Gyeongnam, I dunno if Gyeongnam hires their own people independently or not. |
EPIK does cover Gyeongnam, but they don't hire many from EPIK. For the 2012-spring intake, they only wanted 5 EPIK teachers. Not sure how many schools have NET's, or if a lot privately hires their own. But I think they aren't going crazy and put people in tons of schools like some of the other provinces. I for one would like to work in one of the larger Gyeongnam cities. |
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b-class rambler
Joined: 25 Mar 2009
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Posted: Mon Oct 21, 2013 8:36 pm Post subject: Re: EPIK vs GOE? |
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rambler wrote: |
My wife and I have an EPIK interview in a couple days, but a recruiter suggested applying for GOE.
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As jvalmer mentioned above.......
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EPIK does cover Gyeongnam, but they don't hire many from EPIK. For the 2012-spring intake, they only wanted 5 EPIK teachers. |
Indeed, I think GOE mostly uses certain private recruiters (or maybe even just one recruiter) to get their new Native Speaker Teachers.
So probably the main reason the recruiter "suggested applying for GOE" is because if you did and were successful, he'd get a substantial fee from GOE for finding you. Even better for him, 2 fees as you're a couple! You probably appeared to him with Won symbols above your head
That's not to say there's no benefit in working for GOE. EPIK salaries vary slightly between some cities/regions. GOE pays more than neighbouring Busan, although many people would rather live in Busan - probably the reason why Busan gets away with paying less!
Gyeongnam has both city locations - Changwon now has about 1 million population and Yangsan is effectively part of the Busan conurbation - and also very rural ones. FWIW, I know a guy who had an interview for a GOE job a few years ago who turned it down because, he said, the boss of the program at GOE head office who interviewed him was "a complete nutjob."
More important would be what kind of people you ended up working with in the individual school and the roll of the dice on that one will offer the same possibilities as it would anywhere else in the country. |
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