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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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jinju
Joined: 22 Jan 2006
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 Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 7:44 pm Post subject: Re: ... |
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| Nowhere Man wrote: |
Ignore people who tell you you shouldn't go to X country because it's too expensive or the wages are too low. Mind you, I'm not telling to take off for Papua New Guinea, but the beaten path theory holds true for the mainstream Asian countries: Taiwan, China, Japan. I did fine in Thailand.
Again again, someone will be on soon to cantradict this notion.
Where there's a teaching market, someone with competitive skills/ability/credentials can carve out their own niche and live comfortably.
Most of all, good luck! |
Ill disagree with that;) It sort of depens on his goal. if he wants to see a lot and then go back home, then this is good advice. However if he ever wants to get a REALLY high paying job I think this would be a mistake. Choose a place and stick to it. Get a few years under your belt, extra qualifications if needed and try to score a high paying job. Moving around all the time will pretty much keep you at the bare minimum in terms of wages. Japan and Korea are still tops for this. Korea for the ernings and low costs, Japan for being able to do private tutoring legally. China is mostly low paying crap work, though I guess people have had some luck scoring high paying jobs there. Hong Kong is a great place to go and work if you get in their public school system. If you do though, would you give it up just to "bop around"? Thailand? Great place to visit, I would never want to work there. |
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jinju
Joined: 22 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Wed Mar 29, 2006 7:50 pm Post subject: Re: Oxymoron, ho! |
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| Also, be it hagwons, EPIK, GEPIK or the universities, one will ALWAYS read horror stories about them. Nothing is fool proof. EPIK would seem to me to be a step up from the hagwon system. Better pay if you get in the better level, a more respectable job. It can be hard teaching 30 kids though, so prepare yourself for that. |
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Nowhere Man
Joined: 08 Feb 2004
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| Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 5:38 am Post subject: ... |
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| Quote: |
| Ill disagree with that;) It sort of depens on his goal. if he wants to see a lot and then go back home, then this is good advice. However if he ever wants to get a REALLY high paying job I think this would be a mistake. Choose a place and stick to it. Get a few years under your belt, extra qualifications if needed and try to score a high paying job. Moving around all the time will pretty much keep you at the bare minimum in terms of wages. |
I spent a year and a half in Korea. Then I spent a year and a half in Taiwan. Then I spent 3.5 years in Thailand. Then I returned to Korea and got what I would describe as one of the best teaching jobs Korea has to offer. I'm not vain enough to say it's the best, but it's definitely in the upper echelon, meaning I work with people who've taught Korean uni jobs and people who've taught Samsung corporate jobs. There are certainly jobs in a further upper cream, but I think it's a mistake to say you have to stay in one country to get them.
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| Japan and Korea are still tops for this. Korea for the ernings and low costs, Japan for being able to do private tutoring legally. |
Japan has a lot more to offer than just privates.
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| China is mostly low paying crap work, though I guess people have had some luck scoring high paying jobs there. |
Yes, there are.
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| Hong Kong is a great place to go and work if you get in their public school system. |
NET is indeed one of the best deals outside of the Middle East. Of course, it's not just lucking into NET. It's about skills/ability/credentials. There are few jobs for newbs in Hong Kong.
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| f you do though, would you give it up just to "bop around"? |
As I stated above, I know of nobody who moved into a NET job simply by starting as a noob in HK. Rather, it's people who've bopped aroubd who end up in NET.
To suggest you just move to HK and get a high-paying NEt job is plain wrong. Not to mention you're throwing out net as a job someone with a year's experience is going to get. They aren't.
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| Thailand? Great place to visit, I would never want to work there. |
By the time I left Thailand, I was making US$21 an hour and lived in a 3 bedroom house in the Bangkok suburbs.
I could be cocky about that, but I'm not. Properly qualified teachers in the international schools there make western wages and live in an interesting, cosmospolitan city that is extremely multicultural, has newspapers where foreigners can make their opinions freely known and events that urinate on Seoul's cultural offerings.
Did you see Oasis here?
In Bangkok, Oasis shared the bill with Franz Ferdinand and Placebo.
But the teachers I met in Bangkok couldn't understand how you could make money in Seoul. Teachers in Taiwan couldn't understand moving to Thailand.
Didn't everyone question why you were moving to Asia?
You didn't listen, did you?
Why would you get here and then decide, "Oh no, I can't move. I have to stay here." That is the very apotheosis of the reason you came here.
Life grows or shrinks in proportion to courage.-Anais Nin
In order to gain sight of new land, you must abandon sight of your home shores. That's not quite how the quote goes, but it's the best for now.
Rule #3: ESL teachers will not be punished for the breadth of their experience |
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Cohiba
Joined: 01 Feb 2005
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| Posted: Thu Mar 30, 2006 6:29 pm Post subject: Cohiba's Rule |
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"Cohiba's Rule"
Think twice before you live outside of Seoul. "In Seoul" and
"outside of Seoul" are like two different countries. Seoul
is an interesting place with variety and venues for most
tastes. Outside of Seoul you will find a homogenous Korean
culture. I don't mean this in a bad way, but you will never
find things like: brown bread, good beer, bars with good
tunes, English book stores etc.
Remember the FFF RULE. FFF=Fun For Foreigners.
If FFF in Seoul = 100, then FFF decreases at
1/distance. So 2km from Seoul FFF=1/2(100)=50;
10km from Seoul FFF=1/10(100)=10. This rule is
a rule for nightlife, food and foreign products only.
Nature etc. is on a different scale altogether.
This means you will be wasting a lot of time commuting
to Seoul. This is especially a drag if you have been
boozing on a Friday night and there are no buses or
trains.
I, unfortunately, live in Inchon where the FFF factor
is almost in the negative range. I know! |
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Homer
Guest
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| Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 6:32 am Post subject: |
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Cohiba...you need to get out of Seoul more.  |
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Porter_Goss
Joined: 26 Mar 2006
Location: The Wrong Side of Right
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| Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 7:50 am Post subject: Re: Cohiba's Rule |
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| Cohiba wrote: |
"Cohiba's Rule"
Think twice before you live outside of Seoul. "In Seoul" and
"outside of Seoul" are like two different countries. Seoul
is an interesting place with variety and venues for most
tastes. Outside of Seoul you will find a homogenous Korean
culture. I don't mean this in a bad way, but you will never
find things like: brown bread, good beer, bars with good
tunes, English book stores etc.
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Did you post using the wrong account? This is the least abrasive comment I've ever read from you. |
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Cohiba
Joined: 01 Feb 2005
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| Posted: Fri Mar 31, 2006 8:41 am Post subject: Wrong Account |
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| Must have been an off-day. |
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