Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Bibbitybop]

After reading countless forums, I am ready to post a few questions about making the journey to teach in Korea. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Here are my questions:
Given the fact that I have a BA and will have an MA, should I obtain a CELTA to find a good (preferably university) job in South Korea? What about other, less expensive TEFL certificates? (I��ve read posts saying it doesn��t matter if it��s a CELTA or anything else)

Are there any times of the year when finding a good job are difficult? If I arrive in South Korea in June or in August, will I have a chance at finding a university job? (I do not want to arrive in August if hiring is done at another time. I fear I would have to take a hogwan job and leave it before the contract ends in order to take a better position later in the year. I don��t want to do this at all.)

Thanks again to anyone providing insight!

[J.B. Clamence]

Unfortunately, the CELTA and other TEFL certificates count for very little here in Korea. If you've never taught before, doing a course would be very helpful to youfor preparing you for teaching, but I'm afraid it wouldn't do much for you in terms of getting a job.

Having an MA will make you a decent candidate for a university job, but with no teaching experience you might have a hard time. I'm sure there are teachers who manage to get uni jobs with no experience, but I've never met one. I wouldn't imagine that it's common.

And the summer hiring for university jobs starts around June or earlier. By August you usually get the last minute advertisements, which may or may not be good.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Yeah, the above is very true. You'll have a hard time landing a uni gig from abroad. Try doing a year at a high school (if you don't mind teaching in a more regimented environment) and you'll have all the time in the world to search for a uni gig for the following year.

[denverdeath]

The better universities will know who's leaving when, so they'll put up adds earlier than others. As JBC said, June or July if they have people leaving at the end of August. Here, the first semester usu begins in March and the second is in September. Most unis want you here for an in-person interview, and some require teaching demonstrations. Having a CELTA may help you a bit as a school would probably choose you over another inexperienced MA applicant, but it probably won't result in any extra income for you. Having no classroom EFL experience will probably be your biggest problem for uni positions, but that doesn't mean that you shouldn't try...HR people should consider your (somewhat unrelated) teaching experience and your MA if they have a little sense. Even with public (grade) schools(EPIK/WhateverIK), it wouldn't make a difference because having your MA would already put you into the same pay scale(Level 2 versus Level 3). The certificate would pad your resume and might give you some teaching and classroom management skills that you might not have, depending on your degree and experience.

Internet connection for your I-Book won't be an issue, of course. Finding software and service here could be a bit of an issue if you find yourself in a smaller city as Korea is still pretty much Microsoftville, although the gov't is supposed to be in the midst(maybe planning stages) of a big changeover to Linux. If you come across any hwp files that you need to review, this link should solve your problem:

http://www.rjkoehler.com/?p=1628