Korean Job Discussion Forums

[iluvkaz]

just wondering if anyone left japan to go to korea for work...what's the difference in teaching (other than language), and the pay and way of life. Both positives and negatives welcomed! thanks a bunch in advance!

[the eye]

i worked around the Tokyo area for a year until a friend coaxed me to come here.
one year in japan is not much to comment on regarding the differences in teaching, but, for what it's worth, the japan job demanded more professionalism as well as rewarded more of the same.
the students were more respectful and motivated.

the pay is a little lower in japan these days. some teachers are taking cuts. some jobs have you travelling to different schools to make up a full workload. that is actually what i was doing. not ideal, but it was my first teaching job ever.

when you work out the cost of living, free airfare, and free apartment, korea wins financially...provided you are wise enough to sign with an upstanding employer.

as for the way of life, i enjoyed japan much more. i found it more cosmopolitan, more refined, more organized and more humane than korea.

[iluvkaz]

any info on how much i could save in korea in US $ a month?thanks!

[the eye]

depends on where you live, how you live, and what you like to do.
how oftem do you like to booze? dine out? see movies?

[Grotto]

I have been saving at least 1200-1500 US a month. Over the last 6 months I have sent back over 8000$ so far and still maintained a comfortable lifestyle.

Your rent is covered, utilities run about 100,000 won a month(averaged out over summer and winter) deductions from your check run about 200,000 give or take a bit. You can easliy survive on 600,000-700,000 won a month and the rest you can bank. If you really want to save you can skimp and eat ramen more often.

[JacktheCat]

I'm no expert on Japan, as I only taught there for 6 months (through Westgate; highly recommended 'em). But these are my observations.

Teaching: More professionalism expected, more respect given. Schools are a lot better run and organised. Quite a few of the jobs these days involve commuting to several different locations. Good jobs drying up.

Pay: No airfare, have to pay for your own tiny box apartment, cost of living way way high. And average pay is falling fast. For the money, Korea beats all other countries out there, apart from the Middle East.

Lifestyle: Depends on the person, mostly. A night out costs a lot more. And domestic travel is prohibitively expensive. On the plus side the women are a lot more "open."

[eamo]

You can spend 10,000 won a day in Korea. It's not much fun but it's possible (not including incidentals like clothes, bills etc....).

Add on other living costs and a reasonable nightlife....You can still save half to 2/3's of your pay.

That's very hard to do in Japan. Although, I found in my short time teaching in Japan (4 months) that Japan can be cheap-ish when you work out the options for food, nightlife etc.

My first 2 months in Japan I found I had about 30% of my paycheck still in the bank at the end of the month. Not bad.

[TECO]

I worked in Tokyo for almost 5 years.

I made about 5,700,000 won per month. I worked every day and had jobs in high schools, corporates, conversation school and a private college.

I worked for several months in Seoul and I had a lot of complaints. I got free housing but it the accommodations were very poor. I also had to get up at 5:30am every morning to be at work for 6:45am classes which ran all way through to 9:10pm. Alos, I got ripped off on the severance pay and airfare.

Overall, Korea is a more harsh experience for most EFL'ers while Tokyo is an 'easier' ride and can be very lucrative for the motivated teacher.

There is absolutely no way the average person could make more or save more money anywhere in Korea if s/he was motivated and living in Tokyo.

[the eye]

just curious, TECO...
if you were making such obscene money, why didn't you go back?
i'm just as motivated here as i was in japan.
i make and save 3times more here.

[TECO]

[the eye]

i guess, as i said, i was not in japan long enough to fully take advantage of the opprtunities.
i just remember the cash leaving my hand as soon as it got there.

here in korea, i bank so much more with much less effort.
i work at a hogwan, 2.2 for 24-45min. classes/week. my flights are paid for, my sparkling new large 3room apartment is furnished beyond my wildest expectations.
i even get bonuses 3 times a year.
then there is the extra work (which i may or may not do). i work a total of 34-42 hours per week.
i can consistently bank at least 3mil... and i'm a metrosexual so my living ain't cheap! (hehe)

however, presently i wonder if it's still possible to make as much as you once did? i heard supply is exceeding demand there now.

do you have a masters?

[Kenny Kimchee]

For the record, I'm in Japan now and I've never ever met anyone who was making this kind of money teaching over here.

Most JETs net about 260,000yen a month after taxes and deductions, plus another 20,000 a month that's withheld for the pension (you get the first three years of this refunded when you leave, but any money you pay into the pension plan after the third year is nonrefundable). Most JETs get subsidized housing and pay only about 100,000 won rent each month (some pay more, some pay less - every situation is different).

Language school workers (e.g. Geos, Aeon, Nova) fare far worse. These guys are getting 250,000 a month gross; factor out deductions, pension
(which is refundable for the first 3 years), insurance and taxes and you��re looking at about 210,000 a month. These guys have to pay rent; usually the school offers an apartment (almost always shared) to the tune of
about 50,000 or 60,000. After rent, you��re netting around 150,000yen; even if you factor in the pension refund you��ll eventually be getting, you��re still only making around 170,000 a month – big money, huh? You can forget about a contract completion bonus or return airfare.

The highest earner I know is a JET who��s knocking down about 430,000 a month. Dude works 9 to 5 and then does another 11 hours of privates each week (plus about another 12 hours of travel time), and it��s taken him
about a year and a half of networking to get to this point. I��ve never heard of anyone making the kind of money TECO is talking about.

The language school guys don��t have any time to teach privates. A lot of them work split shifts, and virtually all of them work at night – your prime private teaching time. They might be able to pick up
one here or there, but I doubt any of them could do more than a few hours a week.

As the eye pointed out, the market is pretty glutted here. Unlike Korea, you get a lot of Japanophiles who will take any job they can get just to be in Japan. A lot of JETs stick around and get private jobs after their JET contracts finish. Many municipalities are phasing out JET and going with private ALTs provided by companies like Interac; these jobs offer terms similar to what the language schools offer. There's a guy in my town who is a former JET and is now an ALT contracted ("pimped") out to my city. Dude was a JET for three years, netting 260,000yen a month with a free apartment; now he's netting 220,000 a month and has to pay 60,000 in rent on top of that.

If you want to get a real idea of the kind of money you could earn in Japan, have a look at the cold, stark reality over on http://www.ohayosensei.com/ and see if you could make 540,000 a month.

I��d say that the market for teaching privates in the cities is worse than in the country. Supply and demand; there��s a lot of foreigners chasing relatively few privates in the city. Next time you��re in Fukuoka, stop by the Rainbow Plaza on the 8th floor of the IMS building; they��ve got a bulletin board where foreigners *beep* themselves out to the tune of 1500yen – that��s not even worth leaving the house for!

Don��t forget about the cost of living, either. 330ml can of beer at the shop: 220yen. Travel one stop on the subway: 200 yen. Basic cable: 3500yen. Bullet train from Fukuoka to Kobe, 12,000 yen, one way. Bowl
of ramen in a cheap restaurant: 600yen. Admission to a dance club on a Saturday, one drink included: 2000yen. Ticket to the movies: 1800yen.

This ��Japan is a Land of Boundless Money and Easy Pu ssy��
myth is just one of those old saws that get floated around on bbs boards. Sure, it��s a nice place to live (a lot easier to live here than in Korea) and the money can be pretty good, but it��s not all that people make it out to be. I read all that stuff about how great and easy it is over here when I was living in Korea and I bought into it. It��s not true - it��s a lie
perpetuated by guys who wish they were living that
life, that��s all.

[eamo]

[TECO]

Before I came to Taiwan, I was making a little under Y620,000 per month in Tokyo (5,700,000 Won).

I don't even think I was doing a 40 hour work week.

I aslo met plenty of girls in Japan.

I also had time to ride my motocross bike on Sunday and go to Thailand twice a year or so.

Everyone has a different experience, don't they.

Remember, JET's aren't as well paid as a NOVA or BERLITZ teacher, at least not the ones I met because I asked them how much they were making .

As well, most JETs live in rural areas where the wages are lower and there are fewer teaching opportunities.

[Kenny Kimchee]