Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Korea Newfie]

I'm currently in the process of looking for a new job, but I'm quite surprised by the jobs I'm seeing listed. This is my third year job hunting, and while I saw a marked increase in average pay from the first to second times, I'm now seeing the opposite. It seems that the pay is dipping below 2.0, back to the 1.9 range. (Of course there are higher ones out there, but I'm talking averages.)

This is happening while I'm hearing that people are afraid to come here, so teachers are more in demand than before.

Is it purely because of the economy, or are owners realizing how overpaid the teachers are, or both? Any opinions?

[The Great Wall of Whiner]

It is because Hagwon owners (Wonjangnims) want to pay as little as possible. If they advertize 1.9, there is always some silly someone who takes it instead of saying "I will take it, but not less than 2."

It's the laws of a free market system.

When selling, your initial asking price should be higher than what you really want. When buying, always underbid.

Likewise, most schools WILL pay 2.3+ if they have to. If they cannot find a teacher, they will pay the high wage or else their school loses students.

But like I said, they JUMP on people who will work for under 2 million Won. There are people from certain nationalities who in fact have been known to say "Hey. Hire me tomorrow. I will work for 1.7"

They underbid, and get the job.

If say say anymore, I will start a big international incident, so I'm keeping my mouth shut.

Suffice to say, people from different countries do have different values according to Korean hagwon bosses.

[Derrek]

I was also told that there are enough desperate teachers from "less-desired" English-speaking countries with bad accents who will work for the lower wages when times get tight.

I'll leave it up to you to figure out what countries they come from.

[IconsFanatic]

[Derrek]

[Len8]

There are a lot of Russians with passable English teaching English here, and there are a lot of Turks doing the same thing. It seems that there are some hogwans that find these foreigners quite entertaining, and reasonably good teachers compared to a lot of native speakers who are here just drifting around trying to find something to fill their time

[Medic]

I work at a part time job apart from my ful time job and the other foreign teacher working with me happens to be from a non English speaking country. When I first met him I picked up on his foreign accent, and so I asked him where he was from. He said "shh don't tell anybody ,but I'm from Turkey". It turns out that the the organization I'm working for are so tired of the troublesome Americans, Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders that the've had that they will take anybody with a good sense of humour and a reasonable command of the English language. He fitted the bill, because he's entertaining, loves children, speaks passable English and isn't afraid to work hard. They love him.

[Derrek]

[jajdude]

I think less than 2 million is unwise. I have been unwise before. But let's realize that a newcomer with no experience and a degree in anything can have up to a hundred job offers in a week. Unless it's a slack or otherwise great gig less than 2.0 is unnecessary these days and I guess does do us others a disservice. Let's try to get the idea across that a University degree + native speaker is worth at least 2.0. We are scarce still and in demand.

[Medic]

The part time job I work at now has a policy of only hiring couples as full timers, because the younger unattached set were always late, or unproductive and their worth ethic wasn't the best. The experience they had previously with a couple (boyfriend and girlfriend) was excellent, and that's what the've now opted for. They took on the worker from Turkey as a stopgap measure, but he turned out to be an excellent teacher so they have kept him on as a fulltimer. In wont take long for him though to contact his friends about the availabilty of work here in Korea, so we should soon see a flood of workers joining our ranks with unusual accdents.
Many of the better established hogwans now are feverishly trying to reqruit couples, because they are a lot more stable, and because they have each other for moral support.

[Derrek]

And there are so many millions of couples for them to "feverishly" recruit too. The Korean ESL teacher population had better watch out -- millions of couples are coming, and are going to take all of our jobs! *laugh*

As for people from Turkey, that's a little far-fetched. Koreans don't want English-speakers from Turkey. It's a supply/demand issue. You said it yourself -- your Turkish friend doesn't want anyone to know his identity.

What more evidence is needed to show that Koreans don't want an English-speaker from this country? He knows this, and that's why he hides it.

[lawyertood]

I wouldn't worry too much about non-natives taking over the job market. There is still the E-2 issue. While some institute owners have been known to bend or break the law, many still find it not worth it. As far as I know, in order to get an E-2 visa to teach English you either have to be a native speaker or have a degree from a country where English is the native language. Please correct me if I am misinformed.

[itaewonguy]

He has no interest in hiring from a country where they speak with an accent.
an Accent huh???
well if you ask me doesnt every country people speak with an Accent???

or are you saying anyone non American or Canadian, you saying they dont have an Accent?
man if you are american you surely havent traveled around the states!
I met a guy from alabamba and another guy from oklahoma
couldnt understand a word they were saying!!!

fact is Korean HAKWON directors and MOTHERS are stupid as COW DUNG!
only North American!! ohh we dont like Aussie or KIWI because they have accent!!! HELLO!!!!
and An american doesnt!! PLEEEAAASSSEEEEE!!!!
like someone from PUSAN doesnt speak KOREAN>>>?!!!!!

[waterbaby]

[crazylemongirl]

ahh,

Or you can just lose accent completly after a few months in the ROK. Still I've got a fair few of my elementary kids running around saying 'sweet as'

CLG