Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Snowkr]

Hello all

I left Korea in 2010 (and sadly will likely never return due to health issues), and I now work in the U.S. Several of the teachers I work with here are quite experienced abroad and many more are not... even though they are pretty experienced here.

There was a time when I would have advised a co-worker to look only at university positions in places like EWHA, HUFS, SNU, Yonsei etc... even though I have never personally worked for any of these places. They just always seemed to me to be the best kind of fit for qualified instructors (particularly EAP instructors) from American IEP and university language programs.

However-- I am now thinking that an MA in TESOL or Applied Linguistics is not enough for these types of jobs, regardless of the experience. Is the market now that saturated that they're requiring post-grad qualifications?

How many post-grad instructors actually come to teach English as a Foreign Language in Korea?

[Unigwont]

Not many come here.

My school bragged to us about how it had 300 applicants, and how we shouldn't complain, if they cut OT pay, but I was on the hiring committee.

We had 6 chosen for interviews. If this was the best out of the 300, then I don't think things are as they seem.

First guy chewed gum loudly through the entire interview.
Second guy didn't prepare a lesson demo.
Third didn't show
Fourth was hired. She was a friend of a coworker, and she actually prepared.
Fifth just didn't interview well, and didn't have a strong lesson plan.
Sixth interviewed well, and had a great demo, but showed up in a suit, bare feet, and flip-flops! Yes..., bare feet and flip-flops!

I have heard that Korea keeps recycling the same teachers, and that good ones try to find a good place, and stay put. Maybe so.

[PRagic]

I know a couple of people with Ph.Ds. in TESOL teaching English, but, for the most part, I think they'd prefer to move to a tenure track position if possible.

The MA with a couple of years of university teaching experience usually suffices for most univeristy jobs. But, sure, the best teachers tend to float to the top and stick to the best jobs.

Many of these teachers have 10+ years of university experience (several in more than one country), plus the MA and even the CELTA/DELTA certs. A few I know in pretty good university positions publish and presnt at conferences as well, but they're not thrilled about having to do so with just an MA. The fact is that the MA simply doesn't prepare one to publish research in ranked journals, but the schools want the teachers to do so anyway as it increases their stats.

[mandoo]

[Teacher333]

Don;t worry too much about the "hundreds" of applicants; from the outside, it seems daunting; from the inside, it's not, especially since, as others mentioned, many 'qualified' applicants are really nothing special. Also, it's the same 300 hundred people who apply to all the universities.
If you have a solid resume, present yourself well and interview properly, you will find something very quickly.

[Unigwont]

[JohnML]

[PRagic]

Awesome advice.....20 years ago!

[Snowkr]

Thanks for replies here. I'm not looking to return to Korea (though as a reluctant citizen of Trump's America, it's tempting). A co-worker of mine was considering looking for a position there as an actual professor. He is about to complete his PhD.

He's part Japanese. And last I spoke to him, he's decided against Korea and will return to Japan if he goes back to Asia.

Thanks again for feedback!

[PRagic]

no worries. unless your friend wanted to teach English as a full time instructor, there's no guarantee he'd/she'd be able to get a tenure track job in Korea anyway.