Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Saxiif]

I thought I'd write this up for the benefit of newbies who're looking at a hundred job listings and are having a difficult time sifting the wheat from the chaff (I certainly know that I felt like that when I first came over here). Of course, everything here is based very very much on my personal experiences and is ment to be read in that light, I'm sure others will disagree with much of the below:

-The school is big: good sign (the bigger the more financially secure, in most cases. Nothing is more annoying than working for a hagwon that's losing money, its very very easy for hagwon bosses to blame everything going wrong on the teachers in those cases)
-The owner of your school owns a number of other schools: good sign (good for the same reason as base)
-Your school is part of X franchise: makes no fucking difference (unless its Wonderland, they all suck. It is known)
-The school is looking for people who're already in Korea: good sign (schools that are good enough to be pickyabout who they hire have no reason to have to hire people sight unseen)
-The school is looking for some kind of skill/qualification that you have that sets you apart from the average hagwon monkey, for example a BEd, a MA, teaching experience in an English-speaking country or a diploma from a big name school, especially if that school is American: good sign (its good to have bargaining power, and these places usually pay well. I've heard of people with education degrees working for 2 million, which means they suck horrifically at job-hunting or negotiation. Also if you have something that sets you apart from the average hagwon monkey, pimp it shamelessly in your cover less don't bury it in the middle of your resume)
-The contract is long: bad sign (In my experience, very long contracts mean that the school has had bad relations with employees in the past and wants to write in lots of terms and conditions to cover their asses. Short contracts tend to mean that the school never had much reason to care about that the contract says since they've gotten along well enough with their employees that the exact content of the contract doesn't really matter all that much)
-The school has kindergarten students: bad sign (Chances are they'll make you teach the little bastards, which means you get split shifts and fingers stuck up your ass. These are bad things)
-The school offers you a job before interviewing you: bad sign (duh)
-The school has an established system for screening candidates or a multiple-stage interview stage: good sign (generally means that a lot of people want to work at that school, they might know something)
-The school offers you 30,000 won to compensate you for your time if you show up for an interview: good sign (if they've got that much money to burn...)
-The school has a lot of older kids, especially HS kids: good sign (Not only are they much easier to teach, but hagwons that have older kids generally charge more which hopefully gives your boss more money and thus fewer reasons to bother you)
-The school has high turnover: bad sign (You should try to research this, if at all possible. There are some places that have high turnover since they have a very seasonal business, they're OK)
-The school needs you RIGHT NOW: bad sign (this either means that the hagwon sucks at planning or just had some people pull a runner, and if people pull a runner at a school they might have had good reason to do so)
-Your boss's English sucks: bad sign (It may be tempting to accept a job where you can pretend to not understand your boss when he tells you to do something that you don't want to do, but having bad workplace communication sucks)
-Your boss's English sucks despite his having worked as a public school English teacher for ten years: bad sign (ugh)
-The schools pays you on an hourly basis: good sign (yes, schools that do this do exist)
-A good number of the students have spent some time in schools outside of Korea: good sign (not only do you get kids with better English, but it generally means that they have rich parents, and if rich parents think that your hagwon is good enough to send their kid to it bodes well for your school's financial security)
-Your school hires a lot of kiwis: bad sign (no offence to Kiwis, but for some surreal reason kiwis seem to get paid about 10% less than Americans. Do you really want a boss who's trying to minimize his wage expenses?)
-You'll have long hours: bad sign (good hours are almost always better than higher pay, if you want $ go get some privates. Unless you get paid by the hour of course, then life be good)
-Your boss is more Christian than you (Korean Christians scare me deeply)

[Homer]

Good list Saxiif.

-The contract is long: bad sign (In my experience, very long contracts mean that the school has had bad relations with employees in the past and wants to write in lots of terms and conditions to cover their asses. Short contracts tend to mean that the school never had much reason to care about that the contract says since they've gotten along well enough with their employees that the exact content of the contract doesn't really matter all that much)

Perhaps but a long contract can also protect both parties if it is clear and well written. It can take into account past experiences of the school with foreign teachers (there are bad teachers out there). The key is to read the thing carefully.

-The school has kindergarten students: bad sign (Chances are they'll make you teach the little bastards, which means you get split shifts and fingers stuck up your ass. These are bad things)

I agree Kindie can be horrible. However it is not a bad sign about a school. Also, some teachers seem to enjoy teaching the littlest ones....

-The school needs you RIGHT NOW: bad sign (this either means that the hagwon sucks at planning or just had some people pull a runner, and if people pull a runner at a school they might have had good reason to do so)

I agree but this could simply be because of a bad teacher running away. It takes research to find out why.

-Your boss's English sucks: bad sign (It may be tempting to accept a job where you can pretend to not understand your boss when he tells you to do something that you don't want to do, but having bad workplace communication sucks)

True!
This can be remedied if your academic supervisor speaks English.



Overall I agree with your common sense list.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

From everyone I've talked to it sounds like you're 100% accurate. I especially liked:

"Your school hires a lot of kiwis: bad sign (no offence to Kiwis..."

That was my hogwan's history, to be sure.

[hellofaniceguy]

School wants to hire those already in korea..."good sign?"
Not really. The school just does not want to pay for your flight ticket from where ever when they can save money instead by sending you to Japan for a visa run for one day.
Sure...can't blame the school owner...afterall...it's a business..right...not an education center.
NEVER EVER agree to teaching "X" amount of hours a month. ONLY agree to teach "X" amount of classes a MONTH...NOT "X" amount of hours per week or "X" amount of classes per week.
YBM wants "teachers" to teach 130/140/150 40 minute classes a month! They call it instead...teach 120 hours a month. Yeah...each class is 40 minutes! How many classes to reach 120 hours! Many!
Same with the chain hakwon called OSS. They rip teachers by having the contract read 30 hours a WEEK. Why? No extra class pay. Take the month of May for example....4 weeks plus two days. So, while you teach 30 hours for each week ...the extra two days are not "extra classes pay" because you did not teach over 30 hours for that week! It's a scam.
Only agree to teach at any school..."X" amount of classes a month.
What is fair? Who knows...each person is different. But...I think no more than 4/5 50 minute classes a day for a hakwon is fair for 120 classes a MONTH...that means payday to payday. Another trick idiot hakwon owners do is this...you start on let's say the 7th...by rights...your payday should end the following 6th of the month. Some hakwons go the 7th to the 7th. You are being cheated.
You need to spell out exactly what you want....most hakwon owners will cheat you.
If you agree to 120 hours a month...make sure it's ONLY 120 classes a month!! Over 120 is extra pay...and it should be your choice.

[Saxiif]

[bosintang]

[Saxiif]