Korean Job Discussion Forums

[dastractionwolf]

So I was using the search function a lot tonight. It is part of an ongoing secret mission of mine to not get called out here and hazed like I've seen many "newbies" on here do. As I've been watching the forum for a couple of years, its hard thinking of myself as a newbie, but I digress...

I had some questions about what makes people want to avoid kindergarten, a few specific locations and franchises, information of that nature. I got answers to my questions but also a recurring theme. I found, as I've seen before, a lot of people saying one of two things 1) they were putting out resumes and not getting enough responses back. 2) they were getting responses back, but due to the contract or confirmations found here on Dave's, they have been turning down positions. The common string of advice there being "wait for something better."

I haven't put anything out to recruiters yet. The reason for this is I want to go a good deal later in the year. In April I'll officially have been a teacher in pre-K here in the states for a full year and I'd like that under my belt. I'm living several states away from my family and I'd like to see them at least once if not two more times before I go to Korea. I also feel a bit under prepared still and would like to go in with just a bit more knowledge of Korean. I wouldn't want to go before may for certain, and July or August would be better, although I dislike the idea that if I only end up doing a year, summer ends up being my last couple of months.

But if people are having trouble finding stuff, and are turning down usually the first things they find, should I just already be applying? Is the likelihood that the process will take me into those months anyhow so strong that I should just start putting resumes out now?

I'd appreciate your advice. Obviously this depends on my priorities a great deal, but I'm curious to hear your perspectives. On the one hand I don't want to wait till May to apply and then still be hunting in October, but I also don't want to apply now, get a good offer next week, and not be confident about taking it for personal reasons.

[tanklor1]

You're going to have an interesting year...

[Hokie21]

If you're going to go the recruiter route most won't consider you until you have all your paperwork completed. Considering you're coming from America this will take you several months to complete. No one is going to offer you a job which you won't be able to take a few months down the road. Also take into account that once you get your FBI CBC it is only good for 6 months. So you need to figure out when you want to get over here and get your paperwork in order. Then you can start thinking about applying.

[dastractionwolf]

Interesting. That answers a question I was just about to do searches for. I wasn't' sure if I was allowed to do a CBC until I had an offer. See I thought that perhaps it worked like some places that want your transcripts do, where they don't want it touching your hands you need it sent directly to the school or recruiter. So I should just get the CBC? Good to know.

[tanklor1]

[Chaparrastique]

[dastractionwolf]

I am north American. But I'm male and I'm not 21 either. Nor am I 30 yet. And they will have to get over it cause I'm coming anyway. =P

[tanklor1]

[furtakk]

The biggest turn-off for most is probably the hours.

Unless it's part-time, most kindergarten positions have long hours and require you to spend a lot of time with the kids (snack, lunchtime, etc.). I worked at a big franchise one when I first came to Korea. I genuinely liked the kids and the job, but the hours had me burnt out by the end of the contract. At most places, you have 7-8 classroom hours a day. That doesn't take into account the extra prep time (and kindergarten usually requires a lot of extra prep) and breaks. It's not uncommon to have a 830-7 working day.

Even if afternoon jobs or PS jobs have similar working hours, you generally have much fewer classroom hours, e.g. a 230-10PM shift, but only 5 classroom hours.

[Aine1979]

I love teaching kindy. My homeroom class this year are babies, none of them are western 4 years old yet, so while they're a handful, it's amazing to see just how fast they learn. I think a Kindy job depends a lot on the school itself.

We get a lot of input into the whole program, books, field trips, parties, field days etc, and it makes it a lot more enjoyable, for me at least. I can break out the finger paints or play sand if I need a bit of time to do something last minute.

I start at 9:30, get between 1hr and 1hr 50 mins lunch break every day, have a 15 minute break between Kindy ending and Elementary starting, the odd 30 or 40 minute free class here and there, and am out the door at 6 on the button at least 3 days per week. It's less hours than some and more than others, but it isn't a gruelling schedule.

That said, there have been times (usually before major event days like Halloween or Christmas) that we've worked really late preparing for the next day, but even that is only a few times a year and our boss orders us food etc, so it's not all bad!

[dastractionwolf]

Honestly when I first saw Kindy complaints I thought "I'm going to be the guy who has the credentials to just go in and rock Kindy. It isn't even an issue for me." So far in my current job I've worked with 5's all the way down to 1's and then some volunteer and part time work with elementary age through early middle school. But my class sizes are small, my co teacher ratio is 4 to 1. I am currently working with 2s. My hang up is when people are telling me about their Kindy schedule it actually is more grueling than I have it here in the US.

I guess the way to look at it is I'm considering EPIK too. About to send my initial application this week in fact. While I'm not very keen on the possibility of having to go to a bunch of different schools and my commute being irregular, the fact is my day according to the raw data begins the same time my day does here, but ends an hour earlier. The pay is substantially better than it is here when you consider the fact that I won't have a car (I don't now, actually) and I won't have to pay rent myself on an apartment. Knowing the kind of experiences I can have in EPIK and comparing them to a kindy program, it hardly seems a contest, and this is coming from someone for whom the actual work of dealing with those age groups is not an issue. I still feel like in general there is more I am willing to deal with than the average newbie to Korea simply because I have worked in schools, seen the good and the bad that an industry like that can offer, so while Korean specific issues in the field may or may not bother me (I still feel like some common complaints would not, but who knows) I know that education specific complaints will not.

Of course the original post was about trying to come over here with a friend, which is what makes EPIK a difficult decision. If I were to know with decent enough advanced warning where I would be placed, finding him a good Hogwon position nearby would be substantially easier. That being said, I figure it's better to put in for EPIK and see what I get than to just pass it off outright. I'm curious how many EPIK applicants actually received placement in the area they requested on the application?

[ttompatz]

[newchamp]

[dastractionwolf]

That would be naive of me, but luckily it is not the case. I know there will be things I don't encounter here that I will have to learn to work with there. However, when I look over threads on Dave's and I see people complaining and being very detailed in what they are complaining about, I frequently see them blaming Korea for things I have to do as a teacher here in the west. Some of them are even things I enjoy doing as a teacher here in the west. Those are the things that I mean.

[tanklor1]