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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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 Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 2:45 am Post subject: |
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| ghostrider wrote: |
| Are you only applying for jobs in Seoul? That could make it really difficult to find employment. |
Seoul is the biggest city in Korea and thus the city with the most jobs. |
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Troglodyte
Joined: 06 Dec 2009
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| Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 4:05 am Post subject: |
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| World Traveler wrote: |
| ghostrider wrote: |
| Are you only applying for jobs in Seoul? That could make it really difficult to find employment. |
Seoul is the biggest city in Korea and thus the city with the most jobs. |
This is true, particularly if you include all of the satellite cities surrounding Seoul. I would recommend to anyone who is in Korea and looking for jobs to start looking in either Seoul or Busan. You'll be able to attend a lot more interviews in person, which will raise your chances of getting a job much faster. |
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Troglodyte
Joined: 06 Dec 2009
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| Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 4:22 am Post subject: Re: I am strugglig to find work. I am in Seoul. Australian. |
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| nick2124 wrote: |
Hey there,
I am 28 and have just recently arrived in Korea (With the apostilled documents and so on).
I have BA in Psychology from a university in Melbourne (Australia). I also have 12 months teaching experience working with Chinese students preparing for their IELTS exam.
I also attended a class-room based TESOL course.
Why is it so hard for me to land a job? My accent is very light as my parent are British.
1) I have a Korean fiance. Should I include or exclude this during the interview process?
2) Should I include a casual and/or professional photo when applying for jobs?
3) Any other tips/advice?
Thanks a lot,
Nick |
1. Don't mention it. It won't help you much to find a job until you are married and have an F visa. Until then, let the potential employers believe that you will be under their control in terms of visas.
2. Both but more professional. A nice professional looking photo portrait photo in which you are smiling, as well as something that looks candid in which you are teaching or working with a group of happy kids. In these photos you should look happy, handsome and professionally dressed and groomed. You don't necessarily need a jacket and tie for the "candid" photo but you should still have on a dress shirt or a polo shirt and something other than blue jeans or khakis. The portrait photo should have you at least wearing a tie. If you have no photos of you working with kids, ask a friend to let you visit his or her classroom so that you can make some photos. Give the kids candy in exchange for smiling and looking interested.
If you are not naturally photogenic, get a professional photographer to do at least the portrait photo for you and have it touched (Photoshop) if necessary. Retouched portrait photos are cheap and it's VERY common for Koreans to do this for job applications. Most studios will have plenty of experience doing this.
3. Prepare a form letter that you can send to every recruiter and school that has made a job announcement. Just change the "dear ______" line. Prepare also a short (1 or 2 page resume). Whenever you see a job announcement, send them a copy of your cover letter (pasted into the email) along with your resume (attachment) and a few of your photo (attachments). The cover letter should clearly state that you are Australian, graduated from an Australian university, and that you have all of your documents ready to go. Don't state your job requirements in your cover letter. Discuss those later when you get an interview.
If you intend to go around door-to-door looking for work, prepare copies of your resume (on a single piece of paper) and a business card. The business card should contain your phone number and email address. It should also contain a link to a web page where they can download a copy of your resume. Try to also include some of your credentials (you have a BA, a TESOL certificate, you're Australian, you've taught English for 3 years, you have IELTS exam prep experience). Some of that can be on the back of the card. You might also consider putting your portrait photo on the card. The business card is important because it's much more likely for people to keep it than your resume.
4. As to why it's hard for you to land a job, it's hard to say without knowing more about how you're looking. Let us know what you've tried so far and we might be able to give you some advice on it. |
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FastForward
Joined: 04 Jul 2011
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| Posted: Sun Jun 14, 2015 7:54 am Post subject: Re: I am strugglig to find work. I am in Seoul. Australian. |
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| nick2124 wrote: |
Hey there,
I am 28 and have just recently arrived in Korea (With the apostilled documents and so on).
I have BA in Psychology from a university in Melbourne (Australia). I also have 12 months teaching experience working with Chinese students preparing for their IELTS exam.
I also attended a class-room based TESOL course.
Why is it so hard for me to land a job? My accent is very light as my parent are British.
1) I have a Korean fiance. Should I include or exclude this during the interview process?
2) Should I include a casual and/or professional photo when applying for jobs?
3) Any other tips/advice?
Thanks a lot,
Nick |
What have you been doing to find a job? Have you contacted all the recruiters on Dave's? How long have you been looking for a job?
I would think it wouldn't be too hard to find a job. I know the market isn't what it once was, but there are still jobs to be had. Maybe widen your search to areas in Gyeonggi-do. |
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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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| Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 4:48 am Post subject: |
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| creeper1 wrote: |
| Look around you. There are English teachers everywhere. |
Certainly less than before. Why? Decreased demand.
Want some hard numbers?
The K-government issued 47,405 E-2s in 2010.
Now, there are not only less NETs in public schools, but in hagwons as well.
| Quote: |
| According to the Ministry of Education, the number of native instructors working at academies all over the country was 13,294 as of July 2014. |
http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2015/06/113_180705.html |
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Chaparrastique
Joined: 01 Jan 2014
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| Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 7:29 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
bringing 59 native English speakers from six countries — the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Ireland, Australia and New Zealand — to Korea as the first official native English teachers and holders of the E-2 teaching visa. The government budget for the new program was about 2.36 billion won — less than 1 percent of what it is today, according to government estimates. The number of teachers inched up to 60 the next year and exploded to 856 teachers in 1997.
http://groovekorea.com/article/koreas-efl-education-failing
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| World Traveler wrote: |
The K-government issued 47,405 E-2s in 2010.
Now, there are not only less NETs in public schools, but in hagwons as well.
| Quote: |
| According to the Ministry of Education, the number of native instructors working at academies all over the country was 13,294 as of July 2014. |
http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2015/06/113_180705.html |
| Quote: |
Native English teacher head count continues decline
As regional programs continue phaseouts, competence of Korean teachers called into question
Published: 2013-05-01 20:48
the total number of native English teachers (in public schools) decreased by some 583 from last year to 7,011.
http://m.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20130501000556 |
Quick look at the math:
1. Number of E2's issued:
1995: 59
1996: 60
1997: 856
1998: 274
2007: 17,826
2010: 47,405
1. Number of native instructors in hogwons:
2012: 15,400
2014: 13,294
2. Number of native instructors in public schools:
2005: 1178
2008: 5553
2012: 7094
2013: 7011 |
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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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| Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 8:37 pm Post subject: |
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| How about the number of public school teachers now? They really took a hit this year in 2015. I'd say it's down to something approaching 5,000 (from a peak of almost 10,000 in 2011). |
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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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| Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 8:50 pm Post subject: |
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Maybe the 2010 E-2 visa number I gave earlier is incorrect.
I got it from wikipedia...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_South_Korean_visas
...but this says some thing else:
http://populargusts.blogspot.kr/2011/07/fluctuating-e-2-numbers.html
1999 - 5,009
2000 - 6,414
2001 - 8,388
2002 - 10,864
2003 - 11,344
2004 - 11,296
2005 - 12,439
2006 - 15,001
2007 - 17,721
2008 - 19,771
2009 - 22,642
2010 - 23,317
_________________
At any rate, speaking from the demand side, the number of hagwon jobs peaked in 2009 and the number of public school jobs peaked in 2011 and have been on the decline ever since. Meanwhile, the number of applicants has continually increased (due more to increased awareness than anything else). The job market is becoming more and more competitive as time goes by. More applicants for less jobs. (Kind of like Japan.) There were less Western applicants than jobs for a while (demand exceeded supply), but that line was finally crossed five years ago with things tipping the other way and there's no going back. |
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Chaparrastique
Joined: 01 Jan 2014
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| Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 10:28 pm Post subject: |
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| World Traveler wrote: |
At any rate, speaking from the demand side, the number of hagwon jobs peaked in 2009 and the number of public school jobs peaked in 2011 and have been on the decline ever since. Meanwhile, the number of applicants has continually increased (due more to increased awareness than anything else). The job market is becoming more and more competitive as time goes by. More applicants for less jobs. (Kind of like Japan.) There were less Western applicants than jobs for a while (demand exceeded supply), but that line was finally crossed five years ago with things tipping the other way and there's no going back. |
yeah those figures make more sense.
The number of applicants exceeded the number of jobs for the first time in August 2009.
Pay and conditions and overall number of jobs have been falling steadily since about 2010.
Encouraging trend- finally- is that (outside of hogwons), jobs are actually becoming more interested in experience and qualifications. |
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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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| Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 10:36 pm Post subject: |
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| The problem is, most jobs are at hagwons, not public schools or universities, which also are hiring less and less native English teachers. |
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DaeguNL
Joined: 08 Sep 2009
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| Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 10:43 pm Post subject: |
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| World Traveler wrote: |
| F-visas still have a strong advantage...but the market is going downhill for English teaching Westerners on all levels, from privates teachers to kindy workers to university instructors to freelancing corporates workers...so just realize that the opportunities available now may not be there in the near future. There is a continued deterioration going on. Things are less and less of a good deal as time goes on. |
Been hearing this for years. Personally, I never have to worry about finding work. There are literally hundreds of pt opportunities posted on craigslist.
work is available for anyone with an F-6 that wants it |
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World Traveler
Joined: 29 May 2009
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| Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 11:21 pm Post subject: |
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| Yeah, there's still work for F-visa holders, it's just that it pays less than before (and this is especially true when accounting for inflation). |
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Weigookin74
Joined: 26 Oct 2009
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| Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2015 3:59 am Post subject: |
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Well, I'll tell you one thing that's really effin stupid here is requiring a 120 hour in class or partial in class tesol and then having no one actually offer it here in Korea. Bunch of sh!t for brains!!!
Replying to those GEPIK posts.... |
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northway
Joined: 05 Jul 2010
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| Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2015 5:27 am Post subject: |
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| Weigookin74 wrote: |
Well, I'll tell you one thing that's really effin stupid here is requiring a 120 hour in class or partial in class tesol and then having no one actually offer it here in Korea. Bunch of sh!t for brains!!!
Replying to those GEPIK posts.... |
Shouldn't this represent an excellent business opportunity to some enterprising individual? |
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candy bar
Joined: 03 Dec 2012
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| Posted: Sun Jun 21, 2015 5:33 am Post subject: |
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| Weigookin74 wrote: |
Well, I'll tell you one thing that's really effin stupid here is requiring a 120 hour in class or partial in class tesol and then having no one actually offer it here in Korea. Bunch of sh!t for brains!!!
Replying to those GEPIK posts.... |
That's why they are hiring foreigners and paying them big money. They are expecting the foreigners to bring this to the table. It's the same as having the degree from the foreign country. |
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