Korean Job Discussion Forums

[happyinhenan]

[Dermot]

Thanks for the replies! I've done a lot of research on korea but not so much on china. On the whole teaching in china seems a bit more confusing but I guess I just need to do a lot more Googling. While I was pretty much set on korea, the cuts to public schools, the longer hours, higher cost of living and especially the hostile work environment has got me rethinking my choice.

Did you guys also use recruiters for china? any good ones I could look at? Also, what position would you recommend to a first time teacher in china? Public or private etc. Public school jobs are seen as better in korea overall, is this the same in china? I guess it comes down to the school and how much research I do on it!

As for the whole pollution thing, I don't think that it would bother me too much and it certainly wouldn't put me off going to China. I'll justhave to look it up. the internet wouldn't be a massive deal breaker either, I'd sort of want to use fb and Skype to keep in touch with friends and family though!

Try to avoid the cheap blows to each country and try to offer nice sound comparisons you guys! :p I still haven't decided on where I will go but I know whichever one I do decide, a nice modern city with a big expat scene is pretty important for me. I plan to work hard but I do want to drink and party at least a few times a month!!

[happyinhenan]

[nicwr2002]

[happyinhenan]

[young_clinton]

Go for China! In China a $700 US monthly salary would cover just about anything you need. After you're no longer a newbie teacher they might start considering raising your salary just a little.

[happyinhenan]

[ippy]

Another thing to consider is the visa processing time.

In Korea you need to get your documents organised, which is not only incredibly time consuming (around 2-3 months), its also a little pricey (those apostilles aint cheap). Throw in that the clock starts ticking the second you complete the CRC (pre apostille and job) as well as the various timing elements for jobs and the potential lack thereof (if you arent in the core demographic), and you have a bit of a race on your hands to make sure youve not just blown however much it cost you on a bunch of invalid documents.

China has its own little cluster**** of course with the Z visa, but were it not for the sheer rigmarole of Chinese immigration being absurd and denying applications for what seems to be random arbitrary reasons based entirely on the day in question, its fairly straightforward. Get your job, get your sponsor, send them some docs. Complete an ABSURDLY pointless online personality/education/Chinese trivia test (dunno if thats every region, but i had to do it for Tianjin). Your employer sends that off to immigration who send them back permission. You get the invitation letter, contract et al that you have to SEND BACK TO YOUR HOME COUNTRY (must be done in your home country - no exceptions - i couriered mine which to be honest is a freaking godsend for reasons that i shall explain), they then send it all to immigration. Immigration then tells you that 'oh, today you need TWO invitation letters - one formal, one informal, please come back tomorrow'... or, 'sorry, today we arent accepting fast track applications, only normal, please come back tomorrow'... or 'sorry, we cant accept an application with a domicile outside the UK, please provide a UK address'...

Basically, your local Chinese embassy can be... difficult. Im so glad i didnt have to keep turning up every day. So courier, worth every penny!

Anyways, once thats done, you have a month to enter the country. Upon arrival you get a house, a proof of residence at the police station, then ANOTHER health check (keep your original medical results for basically a rubber stamp otherwise youre doing the tests again). After that you pop to immigration, get a talking too from the police, and then its off to get your residency permit. One week later, youre legal

Bit of a nonsense. Much more straightforward i imagine than it sounds, but thats the gist of it.

[Chaparrastique]

[metalhead]

I think it still differs from province to province, but these days getting a work visa in China is no picnic, either. For the second visa onwards as far as I recall you need reference letters from your old, with all the correct stamps and so forth on them, but it might not be as enforced depending where in China you are.

And yeah, generally for the good high-paying jobs you have to actually be in China, although I do know of someone who got a 16 000RMB a month, 2-3 classes a day, Mon-Fri free housing job in Suzhou while he was still in Canada, simply because he had a BEd, so while it's possible to find a good job there while abroad it's not the norm.

[EZE]

I've worked in both countries. For a one or two year gig, I'd definitely go with Korea. If you're thinking about doing it for decades, I'd recommend China.