Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Mudd]

It is officially time to get the word out to all prospective applicants.

Yonsei FLI, the once reputable language institute of Yonsei University, has decided to keep with the recent trend of offering less and requiring more of its teachers. The new office staff has taken it upon itself to make the best effort to model itself after Mr. Kim's neighborhood hagwon.

The montly salary, which once averaged roughly close to 3 million for most teachers, has been reduced to 2.5 million (including 400,000 for housing). No longer will teacher be paid on a per class basis, they will instead be paid a fixed monthly salary. Teachers used to work between 22-26 hours a week. Now everyone will be required to work 30 hours a week whether they want to or not.

Previous schedule was Mon, Tues, Thurs, Fri (Wednesdays off) for ten weeks with 2-3 weeks off before a new term for a total of 12 weeks vacation.

New schedule will require teachers work Mon-Fri for ten weeks with now only 10 days off between terms for a total of 8 weeks vacation. Teachers will now be required to spend one week between each term taking part in professional development workshops at the institute (run by whom and about what, who knows?)

There is now a 3 year limit on how long one can be employed at Yonsei FLI.

There have been a number of programs recently cut - a TESOL certificate program, a goverment teacher training program, and a small children's program. In addition, all classes specifically for university students (cheaper and shorter) were cut. We can only speculate as to why these profitable programs have now vanished.

In addition, the Yonsei FLI name is now being prostituted out. In the afternoons this summer, the institute was turned into a kids' camp. However, it was billed as Yonsei FLI Kids' Camp when the only thing Yonsei about it was the building it was housed in - not the teachers, not the curriculum, oh maybe just the fact that they paid Yonsei FLI a cut of their profits.

Hiring standards have now been laxed. No longer is a MA in TESOL / Linguistics or a DELTA required. Get yourself a BA in anything and a few years experience and you can now apply. But be warned though, you might find a few of your students surprised when they find out your qualifications. After all, the students are being told that their teachers all have MAs or DELTAs. The consumer protection bureau is going to have a field day with this one.

Due to all the abovementioned changes, 8-9 teachers will be leaving this month with another 4-5 leaving in December. I'm talking highly-experienced teachers, some of whom have been at FLI for 15+ years who are leaving.

The Head of Studies, who was always in charge of doing the hiring, has now been cut out of the picture. A member of the office staff, who only recently promoted himself, is now in charge of doing the hiring. But don't worry too much. As you read in the job advertisement that he posted on Monday, "The FLI maintains a very professional, friendly work environment and treats all of its teachers with respect." Isn't that a warning in itself?

The worst part of the past number of months has been the unjustified blame that has been placed on the teachers and the utter disdain that we have faced.

There have been comments said by those in charge that I 've had to have repeated because I could not believe my ears.

"It's the teachers' fault that the institute is having problems." (We've been told that the institute is having financial difficulties.)

"It is disgraceful that English teachers make this much money!"

"The teachers here need more training." (Coming from those who have no background in education or experience teaching)

"Teaching listening only requires pushing a button on a tape players!" (An absolute insult to those of us who are trained)

This just may be the dream opportunity for those out there who lack the previous-required qualifications to teach at Yonsei FLI. Apply if you may, but expect the unexpected because previously agreed-upon conditions and contracts are now being ignored and sadly they might be ignored again soon.

As everyone suggests, I would strongly urge all applicants to ask to speak to some teachers at the institute to verify all that I have written.

Signed,

A Yonsei FLI teacher (who's got one foot out the door)

[oldfatfarang]

Thanks mate. I've been watching their job ads for a year now. There had to be a major problem there as they keep advertising.
And your right. Major red flag " We respect our staff etc." That's right up there with a recruiter's "trust me." It looks like the cushy Korean uni. jobs are all but finished. You were lucky to have had one, I suppose.

[PRagic]

Yup, that program is officially off of the 'would be great to work there' list. Heard that the departmental jobs at Yonsei are still good, though.

The big three are taking a big hit. The SNU pay/conditions structure is now a joke, Korea University is even worse, and now the Yonsei FLI. These places were all considered holy grail jobs at one point years back. Things change.

[Mudd]

Teachers have generally been required to work split shifts, starting at 7am and finishing at 9pm. This was true for every teacher no matter the number of years one worked at FLI.

We all endured this schedule because we had Wednesdays off.

Now with Wednesdays being required it seems that working at ELS or Pagoda would be better because at least you gain seniority and are given a better schedule after a few months (7am - 1pm or 3pm -9pm).

The people making the changes lack the intellect to understand the negative impact all of these changes are going to have on the institute.

[Hyeon Een]

Sounds pretty sucky for a "uni" job.

Pretty bad for a University Language Center too now, but still better than some.

Still sounds a lot better than most hagwan jobs.

I expect they won't have a problem filling the places with people looking for a step-up from a hagwan.

They won't be getting many well qualified teachers though.

Sounds like the management would be the main problem if you're happy working 25+ classes a week for 2.1 after housing and 8 weeks vacation. Sounds really sucky if you've been working there with better conditions in the past though. It sucks when your job becomes worse instead of better over time.

Plenty of hagwan-workers probably looked at the schedule you posted and thought it sounded pretty good though haha.

[TECO]

I would caution prospective teachers to avoid Yonsei University teaching positions that are advertised here.

I received an e-mail from a femal native English-speaking head teacher at this institute and it was quite rude. One poster on the Korean forums PM'd me, informining me that she could be quite 'psycho.'

I would post the e-mail that I received from her but have since deleted it, unfortunately.

In fact, Yonsei University issues have surfaced before on this forum.

Be careful with this one.

[steroidmaximus]

regardless of their reputation amoungt Koreans, and their mission statement of being a Christian university that values family, good citizenship and personal sacrifice, the only sacrifice being made is in the salaries and working conditions of their foreign staff.

Make sure you get EVERYTHING in writing, and be prepared to deal with a lot of ineptitude and backpeddling.

[Mudd]

[Beej]

The OP is so upset that he lost his gravy train job that he has to tell people not to work there. Boohoo

The new conditions sound like a usual hogwon job. Why shouldnt someone work there?

Were you paid? On time? If the answer is yes this job is still way ahead of most hogwons here.

[maddog]

[nomaster]

[Ryst Helmut]

Sadly, nothing will change (in the positive for "us"). There will always been someone who finds the gig Xanadu. My old university started off sweet, we were loving it.

Then "It."

Whatever "it" was came crashing through and the university English programme became one huge hakwon-esque farce (redundant?). But suffice it to say those with the most education bolted as hours increased, duties altered (which did not work well with us), and probably the most important thing changed....our numbers increased. This led to an easier "divide and conquer" and so we whining babies didn't get our way....also known as contractual obligations ignored by school. I never realised how important banding together was until then....

I'll admit, gravy train ran out of steam, and I probably wouldn't have complained had I not known the uni at better times...but after riding a Harley it's hard to downsize to a Hyosung!

Alas, there will always be those on foot happy to have a 50cc scooter.

Sure, the current students at Yonsei will complain....but after the first generation passes through nobody will know the difference. Afterall, it's "Yonsei."


!Shoosh,

Ryst

[nomaster]

[Hollywoodaction]

You guys need to get unionized.

[own_king]