Korean Job Discussion Forums

[zappadelta]

man, there are some bad jobs out there.

[lastat06513]

It just comes to show you that the crackdown doesn't serve us, it is trying to serve the companies/ schools by limiting the opportunities out there for us.

Anyone care to rebuke this claim?

[TheUrbanMyth]

[plattwaz]

Personally I think that the institutes who were willing to hire illegal teaches before the "crackdown" are going to continue to hire illegal teachers now.

If they were stupid enough to hire them in the first place -- this is after all not the first "crackdown" in the recent 4 years -- then they will continue to be stupid enough to hire them now.

Same goes for the teachers -- the kind of people who take risks and work illegally on the other side of the world may be reduced, but it won't disappear.

[Ya-ta Boy]

[Homer]

Sure lastat,

Urban pointed out some valid counter points.

I will add that the bad jobs you see where there in 1997 and have been there since then. Also, define bad job. Do you mean poorly worded ads or jobs you, as someone with experience would not find interesting? There is a lot of room for interpretation there.

As for the crackdown and it helping teachers overall. I think it is much too early in the game to pass judgement on the effects of the crackdown. To be able to get a fair picture of what the impact is or will be you need to give it time.

Will they stick to their guns on this issue? If so, then it will have one beneficial effect: the basic standard of hire will be enforced and thats a good thing.

What effect will it have on the teaching industry? Hard to say but schools running shoddy programs will find it harder and harder to find people if illegals are kept out. Fines are also levied at schools who get caught. This might not hurt the bigger schools but the smaller hakwons feel the bite hard. This might change things if immigration and the government continues with this crackdown. This week they have announced that teachers in Busan need to verify their credentials. A friend of mine at PNU was told this by his supervisor. The crackdown seems to be continuing with a larger credential check for E-2 visa holders.

If this keeps up, the effect will be beneficial for legal teachers and as an extension for the teaching market as well.

My two cents anyway.

[denverdeath]

Good points by everyone, but...it'll always be an ongoing issue for immi. Legal degree holders doing privates. "Tourists," from Canada or wherever, working illegally for hakwons or doing privates. Yes, it's good that some people were caught and deported. It may improve legal teachers' situations slightly in the long-run, but the problem will never be totally eradicated until there is no longer any kind of demand for English teachers(of whatever kind/background/credentials) in Korea. "Global-Hub" Korea still relies on some revenue from tourism. There's nothing stopping many countries' drop-outs from entering the country legally...what they choose to do after entering can be anyone's guess. I'll wager that there are still quite a few "smart" individuals who have been here for awhile doing privates, with or without a degree, flying under the radar, and maybe living quite comfortably.

[Red]

[jacl]

[lastat06513]

Here is one issue I would like to tackle in regards to the ads posted;

Salaries

The standard now is 1.9 to 2.2 (maybe 2.3 if we're lucky)
Unless the economy gets better or if the currency inflates more, that won't change much. When I came to Korea to teach back in 2000, the going salary was about 1.7 to 1.9, so it hasn't gone up much except for a few hundred thousand.
And with current ads in the paper complaining about the cost of private education (yes, English institutes ARE considered private institutes), no institute would dare to raise tuition thus raise salaries.
And for those that support to move English education from the institutes to the public schools will know that the starting salary is about 1.7million and go as high as 2.3 million (not to count the housing allowance they gave)~~~so that is not a bad move. But the requirements would still be so strict that it might discourage people from teaching in Korea.
Sure, that means more jobs for you because you, but this might start a JET-style 2-year limit on working at the public school system (which is already seen with the 3-year limit with most universities).
If the job market dry up, hakwons will close and where will you go from there if there is no job for you?

I worked at this one tourism institute for 2 and half years. It had a reputation as one of the best tourism institutes in Korea. Then all of a sudden, I was served a "1 month" notice slip because the school was starting to suffer some serious financial problems. The pay there was the highest I've seen (2.9 million a month) and it had a reputation as a very stable place to work.
I left the job 2 years ago.
I went back there recently to see how things were going for them and I found the school to be boarded up.
Nothing lasts forever.

[some waygug-in]

The legality issues will never be resolved because Koreans don't respect or follow their own laws.

There are still lots of places that will hire illegal teachers ....if they can.
There are still places that tell teachers to work at 2 or more locations without proper visas.

The reasons this will continue are:

A) When immigration catches someone, it's usually the teacher who pays, not the school. So why should the schools care?

B) There is a constant influx of newbies here who don't know the law and are easily manipulated into working without proper visas etc.

C) The demand for private teachers is still there. I've been offered lots of privates, but I just walk away. It's not worth the hassle.


One thing this crackdown has done is that it is making the schools who do try to work legally a lot more aware of what they are doing.

This is the first year I've actually had the visa process done before starting work. A good sign in my view.

[Homer]