Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Papy]

After two months of negotiating with schools and recruiters, I've decided to take the plunge and come over. My question is how do I find a good school once I'm here? Should I pick an area and wander from school to school hoping to get lucky? I've read other post on landing without a job but they never really address this issue.

Also, is $1000US enough to hold me over in Seoul until I find something?

What did you do when you came over the first time?


Thanks for any advice

[mindmetoo]

After two months you should be able to turn up something decent at home without having to come here. You don't want to jump at the first offer but what are you looking for that's prevented you from finding a job remotely?

I would give myself a month to find the job and then you're not going to get paid for another month. So you're looking at 2 months without income. The first month you're footing your own rent... 2K might be more realistic.

[Papy]

I think I was a little too picky with one position that I turned down because they wouldn't put aircon in the contract. Other than that I've been getting nothing but new schools and massive split shifts. Im 24/m/US and looking for a block afternoon shift around Seoul. This should'nt be so hard from what I've been reading on here, but so far nothing decent has come up.

So, I think I'm coming over, but how can I find a school once there. Previous post say to set up interviews before you come--but with WHO? Is there some kind of list of good hagwons?

[Qinella]

I think a good way to set up interviews would be to put your resume out on some of the sites that recruit foreign English teachers.

Since you'll be spending your own money on the ticket, see if you can negotiate reimbursement for that.

As far as money, I don't think $1,000 will be enough. Maybe some people can direct you to cheap hotels that aren't sh*tholes, but no matter where you stay, it's gonna cost you. You may be looking at $200/wk or more for rent. Then you must consider transportation, food, and Guiness.

Good luck.
Q~

[deessell]

You need to be as pro active now as you can. Apply to all jobs that seem of interest. Tell them that you will be in town on such and such a date and set up interviews now. Then when you get here check them out. If you have all your paperwork ready then you should be working in two or three weeks.

You can negotiate better when you are here. You will need to be thrrrrrrrrrriiiiiffffty with your money.

[Ya-ta Boy]

First of all, you need a cheap place to stay. PM Mithridates or Tiger Beer for info on 'go-shi-wans'. They are the cheapest places to stay. Both of those posters seem to know about this stuff and are good guys (or at least they present themselves that way here. If they are serial killers, I apologize to you. I'll send flowers.)

You say you want a block shift in the afternoon. That means you want to teach middle school kids, right? With a sprinkling of elementary kids thrown in and maybe a few adult classes in the evening. Get it clear in your head who (what age levels) you do and do not want to teach. Match ads to those interests.

It is a good idea to come here and find a job, but there are a couple of problems with that. If you come here you will be stuck waiting around for a reply to your e-mails. Koreans don't respond to job applications for a long time. You don't even know if they received it, much less if they are interested in you. That time will eat up money.

Another problem: It's one thing to come here already knowing the ropes and being able to read Korean. It's an entirely different ball game if you have never been here, can't read Korean and don't know a soul in Seoul. Plan on spending a lot of time in a PC bahng. You will be offered jobs quicker if you are in country than not.

Last, and I will try to be gentle here. You turned down a job because it didn't offer you a free air conditioner? What are you thinking? Yes, an air con is a delightful thing to have in July and August. Are you sure you are aware of where you are thinking of moving to? What will you do if your money gets low and the offer doesn't include a microwave? Or, god forbid, a toaster? Or maid service? Are you sure you are ready to move away from home? Think very carefully about this. I'm not joking.

[mindmetoo]

Do they offer block afternoon shifts? If you're teaching children you're working night. If you're teaching adults, you're working split shift. A block afternoon shift seems to me a highly coveted position. You have your mornings and nights free. Assuming you have no ESL experience, can you get such a job?

Yeah the a/c thing was a bit foolish. You've given up 2 months of income over a $500 a/c unit? You tripped over a pound (ie 4k) to try and pick up a penny ($500).

Unless you've got some of experience or a pertinent educational background, being a 24 year old American male looking to come to Korea doesn't make you a commodity. It's kind of an "okay next" situation for most schools.

[Papy]

Thanks for all the advice! I'm still planning on coming over, but maybe I should wait a bit until I save up a larger cushion.

I feel like I should explain the aircon thing a bit further because it does sound a little bad. I was offered what I thought was a good position in Bundang, but there were a couple of red flags. I found a thread under the schools former name which gave alot of warnings, but there where a few who defended it as a decent place to work. This position was in a new branch and under a different name but run by the same director. When I asked a current teacher if anyone was unhappy there, he said there were a few "whiners" who "wanted to be catered to." I thought I could look over all this until they demanded my original diploma, not a copy, and THEN wouldn't add in aircon to the contract. After living 8 months in Thailand without aircon, this broke the camels back for me. I realize Seoul can't compare to Bangkok in May, but with all the other things together I decided to turn it down. Maybe this was a mistake, I dont know.

And yes, I do realize they won't roll out the red carpet because I'm an American male. I've lived and traveled a good bit around Asia and I've been an English tutor at an elementary school for two and a half years. While this may be nothing special, I think it gives me a one-up on those fresh-faced undergrads making a loan repayment stop.

Anyway, thanks for the help and if anyone else came over as a newbie your ideas would be great.

[amyjane]

We came over after travelling North from Malaysia via Thai,Cam,Viet and China and by the time we had arrived here we were well into the plastic.

The lonely planet was our only saviour in the first few days/weeks and we spent lots of time in PC bangs (luckily these say PC in huge letters outside the frnt otherwise we wouldnt have found them!
We chose to stay in Insadong there are plenty subways stations (as well as subway sandwich shops) and western food joints BK, KFC Dunkins, Outback TGI's pizza huts and several cinemas which show plenty of films in English for relife from trains, interviews and crowds.
Its good to stay somewhere where there are lots of different resturants as it gets tiring trying to order in Korean places from the pictures or by looking at someone elses table and pointing... then you have to work out what the hell to do with the food you are served, e.g do I cook this? Do I wrap this in that? and what the hell is that?
7elevens are good for sandwiches and cereal so you can eat in the motel room before you trek across seoul to another interview. We found a cheap Motel $30 a night for a double rm with bath, cable, fridge (good to keep milk and cold beers in so you dont have to go to a bar and order food everytime you want a beer) and most importantly a pc , these places vary and we stayed in a few before we found one that seemed clean (aisde from the movies they show) and had some light and enough space for 2 to live. Some places are proper dark sleazy love shacks.
So we ended up stopping there for a month while we emailed recruiters and went to interviews etc We got a tailor made suit when we first arrived , it took a few days but if you can bring one with you it definately gives you the upper hand in the interviews and can help you negotiate contract details as Koreans are easily impressed by a sharp suit.
We made the mistake of going to another town for an interview and wasted time and money as the school wasnt for us. If you are on a tight budget with limited time stay in Seoul and find a job here there is plenty of choice and the subway system is simple to use covers most areas.
Other than that I would say pack camping knife, fork spoon and bowl so you can achieve some level of self catering to save money and as a break from eating out. An emergency credit card is essential for an emergency flight home or if your job search takes longer than you'd hoped you can use it for rent as you can easily pay it off once you start earning. If you can learn a few basic words that will definately help in shops and Motels. Getting laundry done can be a problem so if you can find a good Hostel with laundry facilities stay there, Lonely planet has one or two. We had to wash our stuff in the bath and dry it infront of the aircon which is a right pain in the proverbial.
Most importantly when meeting potential employers and talking to recruiters Trust Noone! Always ask the most obvious questions, meet the current teachers, take the for lunch to get the real low down on the director, the other staff and the financial status of the place do your research and hold on to all your documents until you are 100% happy. One question I wish we had known to ask is ..." will you be selling the school in 3 weeks to a well renowned frachise and dropping us in it ??" Anyway good luck.