Korean Job Discussion Forums

[cfedora]

Are there any teaching jobs, or any other cool jobs, in Itaewon that any body knows of? I am looking at where I want to work, and everyone says Itaewon is the fun place to go. I am looking at jobs in Songpa and Seokgye, with YBM ECC. Anyone have any input on these (either the company itself, or the locations)? I don't wanna be too isolated when I get there, I wanna be able to go out and unwind when I feel like it, without too much hassle.

[fidel]

To be honest you should be more concerned with proximity to subways than actual living location. The subway is dirt cheap, clean and efficient and they have an extensive network in Seoul. Likewise taxis are cheap and at a guess in will cost you a maximum of 20,000 to get home from Itaewon and generally a great deal less.

My advice is rather than look for a job in a particular location make your decision based upon the school and your accommodation (get photos of your prospective apartment).

BTW ECC/YBM generally suck though like all chains it depends somewhat on the individual schools. Make sure you talk to current teachers.

[cfedora]

thanks for the advice, I deffinitely need to get input like this. The YBM ECC school is a company owned one, not one of their franchise schools though, so I am hoping that is better.

[kat2]

I would definitly try to find a good school and not worry too much about the location. Gangnam-gu and Seocho-gu are the ritzy areas of twon. Anywhere in those two Gu's should be pretty nice, but plenty of other areas are nice too. As long as you are close to a subway station and not at the end of a line somewhere, you should be no less than 20 or 30 minutes from Itaewon at any given time. As for Itaewon, its a great place to go, but if you lived nearby, you would probably be tempted to blow your whole salary there on food, drink, etc. Probably best to live a bit away from it!

[mindmetoo]

Close to a subway station. Close to a Lottemart/Emart/Carrefour store. Those are ideal.

[cfedora]

Ok, so for now, I will try and get ahold of any current teachers in those schools I mentioned and try and find out what's nearbye. I had another question come up just a little while ago: When you sign on with a Hagwon, do they usually hold on to your degree and transcripts and stuff while you are there? I saw someone else mention this on here and I was wondering if this is normal.

[Tiger Beer]

[teachmeenglish]

I would say anywhere in Seoul proper would be good and hard to be isolated in. And 90% of Seoul proper is less than 1km to a subway station. As for YBM, 4 years with them and no major complaints. Some ECCs are hell, my wife worked at one (K-Teacher) some are good. All has to do with managment. As for Itaewon, just say no that sheet!

[SPINOZA]

OP,

I understand why you'd want to live in Itaewon. It sounded cool to me too and I was going to ask my recruiter to place me there. In hindsight, I'm very glad that didn't happen. It's really not that great.

[Tiger Beer]