Korean Job Discussion Forums

[trashgarden]

I'm a 25 year old white male college graduate with a Bachelor's degree in English, no formal teaching experience (except for a semester spent as a TA my senior year) and no TEFL certification. I'm currently applying to as many recruiters as possible in hopes of landing a hagwon teaching position in or near Seoul for August, that provides airfare and single housing. I know I'm not a very competitive candidate and the job market for ESL teachers in South Korea has contracted in recent years. Am I completely wasting my time? I'm going to keep trying until literally every recruiter I apply to turns me down. I was just wondering how hopeless this looks to outsiders and experienced ESL teachers. Tried searching for similar threads but couldn't turn anything up. Thank you.

[pmwhittier]

Are you wasting your time? Depends on how much you value your time.

It does take some effort to get a job. That's true in Korea or anywhere else in the world. Have you been trying for a week? A month? 6 months? Or have you given up before you tried?

Hagwons only care that you are eligible for the E2 visa and you don't ask too many questions. If you're good looking, you'll get a job almost immediately. Doesn't matter if you have experience or a specific degree or TEFLOSCELTABSWTFMFR certifications.

Well crap. Now I've wasted my time.

[FastForward]

[trashgarden]

I initially was going to apply directly to EPIK in March, I started gathering my documents at the beginning of the year. I hit a roadblock when EPIK announced applicants had to be TEFL certified to be considered and sort of dropped the ball on the whole process. Just recently (1-2 weeks ago) I started applying scattershot to recruiters in hopes of getting a job for August or earlier.

Thank you for these replies, I made this post out of anxiety and I realize now it was kind of needless. I spoke with David from KorJobsCanada last night and already have a decent lead on a hagwon job at Maple Bear in Incheon for mid-July. They prefer teachers with experience but hopefully I can get an interview and land a position.

You're right, being conventionally attractive does seem to help this process a lot. Which is sort of sad but whatever. David said I "looked good" referring to my photo (lmao) and that I interview well and it's a shame I don't have any experience teaching with kids but it's worth a try. Here's to hoping it works out, seems like a good first position at a seemingly reputable school.

[SeoulNate]

Just apply for every job that you see that fits your criteria, here and craigslist should give you a few good places to start. Do not limit yourself to just one job or recruiter, INSIST to speak with a current member of the staff at any potential school.

[ttompatz]

August is coming....

Apply to everything and see what comes your way.

Don't limit yourself to just Korea.
Taiwan, China, Vietnam, etc., all offer jobs with comparable SAVINGS potential and similar work loads.

AFTER you get that 1st contract done then things will look different.

.

[PRagic]

Might as well knock out a decent on-line cert. Heck, you'll be doing this for at least a year, so anything that'll make it easier can't be bad. Might also help you get a better job.

[Chaparrastique]

They're not looking for experience or qualifications, in fact they'd rather you had none.

If you're good-looking, young, white, American then you'll be fine.

[trashgarden]

Yeah, at the recommendation of my recruiter I enrolled in a 120-hour online TEFL course (this one). Definitely seems like it couldn't hurt, it's good knowledge to have anyway for someone like me who wants to do this for the next couple years or so.

I had an interview last night with the Maple Bear in Songdo, Incheon. I think it went okay, just waiting to hear back. At first I was psyched about it because the salary is a little higher than normal (2.3-2.5) but I'm having second thoughts about it now. The hours sound awful (9-6 M-F) and I've read some posts on here saying they work you like a dog and you have to deal directly with demanding parents. Though I'm getting the sense this is pretty much standard at hagwons? Idk. I have no problem working but I don't want to be so exhausted all the time that I don't have energy to explore and do things. I'm definitely going to speak to another foreign teacher at the school if they offer me a job. If anyone has any thoughts feel free to share. Thanks for the replies.

[trashgarden]

[World Traveler]

Are you female? That's more important than anything else.