Korean Job Discussion Forums

[GENO123]

[ippy]

No they dont. And believe me, i dont want to help them. But... i dont want people thinking that 2.2 is some hellscape of poverty and misery. Its very true that the noobs need a reality check, particularly if theyre being blinded by bullshit promises that 2.0 or below for anything other than part time hours is a fair wage. These recruiters and the hagwons they serve deliberately target and prey on the naivety and lack of knowledge from the fresh off the boat ESLer who hasnt got a clue how far their pay cheque stretches, nor the burden of 30 plus kindy classes (with "breaks" where youre expected to play and eat with the kids) places on you. So lots still to attack the industry on. But its not an awful life if you get a fair gig. And they arent too rare. They may take a bit of networking or a bit of luck and experience, but its not impossible.

[JohnML]

[GENO123]

Big picture more often than not most places wont pay you much. You get less than a Korean working for a small mid sized company , nor are you likely to be well treated by your employeer.

Maybe it is sort of comparable to a working holiday.

You get conditions comparable to what unskilled koreans who work in factories in industrial zones earn.

A few schools are nice to their teachers but the majority are not.

[Fallacy]

[GENO123]

[JohnML]

Well they are paid much less than skilled local workers for sure, I've noticed this but what you posted isn't really the norm. There are tons of Koreans below min wage which is like in the 1-1.5 mil region. So ESL is not quite there yet. 2-3 million for unskilled work is a lot and I don't doubt these opportunities exist but not quite common yet.

[Fallacy]

Yes, conditions for EFL teaching jobs in the ROK have fallen, but a statement of comparison to unskilled labor jobs in factories in industrial zones is not accurate.

[denverdeath]

[World Traveler]

[Fallacy]

From the "Why the market is flooded" thread: http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?p=2994685#2994685

[JohnML]

Wow this thread went fast over a single weekend. Okay I'm going to throw in some personal experience (like everyone is doing, yay!). Let me show you what other industries get. Deep sea Sonar technician (South Korea). Salary/yearly: 130,000,000. Job rota, 3 weeks on 2 weeks off. Annual leave: 40 days. Bonus 10%. All travel expenses paid. Free lunch/dinner (shit though). Huge career progression.

Native job. Senior software engineer samsung. 75,000,000 base salary. 20% bonus. Annual leave 20 days+ you can contribute days off with salary sacrifice. Travel expenses paid, frequent business trips - often abroad paid on expenses (every 2 months). Training costs worth $10k USD+. Huge career progression.

These are people I know. Do a web search for more of the same, tons of BP employees in South Korea earning as much as 5+ ESL teachers. Please don't take my word, do your own investigation because people talk lies here so I expect to be treated the same. There are a LOT of senior managers in Korea on 70-100 million won a year, without bonuses.

I normally don't do this but I noticed that the only people actually sharing citations are the people who are saying ESL is poorly paid (wonder why);

http://www.salaryexplorer.com/salary-survey.php?loc=114&loctype=1.

First link I found, I don't know how reputable it is but I bet I can find another 5 like it (just checked and I can). So we are getting the average education wage in SK as 2 mil (seems right), ESL being slightly above this (again right), then we have people (natives included) in science, technical and business/finance fields (6-9 million) earning -average- 3-4 times what you all are. Again seems right. Please find me such a link that shows ESL salaries being 6 mil+ on average.

You are saying it's possible to get 5 million, yeah maybe one in 50 people putting in more hours than a 9-5... Of the same accord I can tell you that 1 in 50 people, someone is going to be making 15 million/month, so what? I don't go around telling everyone you can make 15+ million a month. You're almost cert not going to. You are going to be making 8 million though, for sure (10+ an expat). In TEFL I'll say you're going to be on 2.0-2.5 (with years of experience).

ESL is poorly paid and you are earning a truckload less than the professional native, not to mention he is looking down upon you. You can deny it all you want, those who do so though are just liars in my book. Even if you are clearing 5 million don't say it's normal, you are majorly lucky and even then you are still making 3-4 times less of someone who lucked out in a more prestigious field.

To put a downer on TEFL, other expats are almost all on at least 10 million. It's really a standard wage and we get treated like royalty, teaching is fun/if you are under qualified and want to work in a different country it can be the best decision. However it is not and will never be a good "career" other than if you really hate everything else and it's your only passion...

[PRagic]

I’m sure this argument will be immensely inspirational to teachers of anything everywhere. You could say the same thing to K-12 teachers in N. America.

Take note, teachers! Newsflash! You will not make as much money as a senior software engineer or a deep sea sonar technician! Run away! Run away!

[Adam Carolla]

[Fallacy]