Korean Job Discussion Forums

[dulouz]

I've been trying to get a public school job, the legitimate way. I have one now but its backdoor. I like it, I want more but I've seen ads with ages listed 2-30, 20- 35. I'm not perfect but.... the calls aren't being returned with great frequency. I'm 43.

[JacktheCat]

Same here.

I'm only 30. But I keep being told "you are too old" and "you have too much experience, we want someone fresh."

[schwa]

Apply anyway & play up your relevant public school classroom experience. Schools are generally better than hagwons for appreciating someone who has a handle on the system.

February should be a hot month for hiring, seems like a lot of schools are jumping on the bandwagon at the same time to have native speakers by the beginning of march.

The age prejudice may be more the recruiters' slant than the schools themselves. Govt hiring is equal opportunity. I'm 52 & I know others older in public schools.

Rather than relying on ads, you might try being more proactive & approach school district offices or provincial epik administrators directly -- they might well have leads. Good luck.

[dulouz]

Thanks schwa,

To be honest, I've avoided that angle becuase of the amount of work in translation. I avoid my bank if the task I need to have done is too complicated. I have a good reference and I could work her for some info but do you know where the Seoul Public School distric office is or even the administrative breakdown. I assume there is a large district and then smaller ones. How do I find out? I could if I try, but if you told me it would save me time and effort.

TY

[Derrek]

Strange, but my school hired me because they didn't want some young 20-something guy working so closely with the girls. I'm now 35.

Honestly, I think it comes down to your photo.

Not joking or being mean... it's the sad truth of Korea.

[dulouz]

I have a good photo, it looks better than I do. Wanna see it?

[tomato]

I found a site which lists the addresses of the public schools by age group.
You can narrow it down by province or by city.

http://ktdom.com/lifeinfo/life/life_category.html?re1=&life_hcat=02&life_mhcat=04

Derrek, thanks for the encouragement.
I don't have any interviews tomorrow, so I shall spend the day contacting public schools.

[Derrek]

[tomato]

No, it's a list of all the public schools.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[JongnoGuru]

My secretary's 7-year-old niece attends an English hagwon run by a major Korean university. (I don't know why I should be, but I'm a bit alarmed to hear that Korea's top-name universities are horning in the toddler-hagwon racket, but that's not my point.)

I first thought it was a public school rather than a hagwon, but it may be of some relevance to this thread anyway.

The hagwon organised a little Halloween costume party last year for the children, and my secretary was showing me some photos of that. You see the children dressed in their costumes, a few female Korean instructors, a whole gaggle of "mommies" & "grannies"... and then, in a few of the photos, usually way off to the side, were some white women. Now, I never assumed that all ESL teachers were young laddies & lassies fresh from uni with the ink still wet on their diplomas. However, my first nano-second reaction when I saw some of these women was "Mom!???" By God, they looked like they might have children of their own older than their students' mommies.

I don't for a moment doubt their qualifications and qualities as teachers -- indeed, were I a Korean parent, I'd PREFER them to the ayboy-play types and even to fresh-faced young go-getters with less experience and maturity. But I gather from the OP that my views are not those of the Ministry of Education, the schools themselves, or perhaps even the students & parents.

[Canuckophile]

It took me forever to find a public school job, but one thing I will hand to my recruiter, this company never flinched from explaining the problem. "The school wants someone younger." I must have heard this a half dozen times. I just teased them by pointing out that Korea may have its title of "most Confucian culture in Asia" revoked, since they obviously have no respect for the aged! Or at least don't want to hire us...

But it's finally come through. This recruiting firm (does a lot of job placements in public schools and is advertising on ESL Cafe) is worknplay. Maybe you can touch base with them....

CANUCKOPHILE (whose favorite email - now some years back - from one hogwon was that they were sorry that they no longer had a job opening, because "aged Canadians" were their best teachers - I felt like a bottle of fine old wine!)

[inkoreaforgood]

Any school that says they want someone "young and fresh" to teach their students obviously has no idea what they are doing. Those schools who prefer young people are likely ran by people who will take advantage of their new, young, naive teachers in a number of ways. Be warned, you younguns!!!!

[JacktheCat]

[mindmetoo]