Korean Job Discussion Forums

[PRagic]

Alas, the hiring season is virtually over. With the new semester just a couple of weeks away, there will be a lot of new people settling into new university positions, and quite a few old hands being swept to the wayside by the newly imposed term limits.

Get it out here. How is your university job? Major problems? Best reasons to work there? Contact hours? Overtime pay? Mandatory camps? Vacation time? Any issue, just get it out and in the open. If the conditions are really crap, then name the schools so that others can beware. Your call.

[PRagic]

Oh, and most importantly, if your school does indeed have some major problems, how could they be resolved? I'm not a big fan of complaining without some possible solution being offered.

[Real Reality]

From one of the "best" universities in Korea
Working Conditions
a. Working Hours: 30hrs per week through Mon to Fri (incentives for overtime work).
b. Overtime payment: 30,000 won per hour
Salary and Housing
a. Basic Payment: 2.1 Million Won Per month
b. Housing Fee: 400,000 Won(Per month)
Date: 28 August 2006
http://www.eslcafe.com/jobs/korea

And here is another unversity job
-Teaching hours: 30 hours per week
-Teaching Level: mid-adult
-Monthly Payment: 2.1M-2.2M
Date: 28 August 2006
http://www.eslcafe.com/jobs/korea

[PRagic]

Unreal. 2.5, including housing, for that? I was getting 2.5 PLUS housing for a 15 hour sched more than 5 years ago. Things have spiraled out of control.

Taiwan and Shanghi are coming on strong. Their institutes are already on par in terms of pay with Korea, so maybe the university jobs will open up, too, in the near future. We can only hope.

[vox]

Hey the OP said the hiring season for uni jobs is over. What about December - February? Is this not a big season for hiring at universities? Is it only August-ish?

[The Chewbacca Defense]

In my experience if you are looking for a job starting March next year, the best time to start looking is the tail end of September, October and November. Mid January is also a good time. I got my University job secured at the beginning of October, but I still had offers coming to me towards the end of January. That was a couple of years ago now. Please feel free to correct me anyone if I am wrong. Good luck to all those searching.

[PRagic]

Sorry for any confusion. What I meant was that the hiring season for this coming semester is pretty much over. They'll be hiring/searching again for the SP 07 semester probably around Oct-Nov, but, as another poster suggested, they'll be hiring right up until the end of Feb.

Why the insane amount of recruiting? Because the universities are cheap and getting cheaper, and because the employment conditions are nothing to sing about. People are always looking to move on to a better deal, or, for some, to a different country.

Throw your hat into the ring if you must.

[justin moffatt]

Again, clarification is needed on the 16 weeks holidays. Paid or unpaid? If unpaid, definetly the gig sucks. If not, other than the isolaton of not being in a large city, its not so bad. Remember most universities in Seoul now only offer 1,800,000 to 2,000,000won monthly for university (language institutes and even english departments) positions. The hogwanization of universities is on the move. . . . .

[simpleminds]

I lucked out on the Sept hiring season because I took off for a family wedding. Here's hoping for a decent offering for next semester. I don't care about pay so much, but I do want a decent vacation so I can see my family. As for kiddie camps, am I supposed to be a professional, or a clown?

[JZer]

Does anyone feel that sometimes the Koreans in charge of the English programs don't want to hire a very qualified person because they are worried about being embarrassed? By that I mean the Korean directors are afraid that some foreigner will come and tell them what to do!

[PRagic]

Not really. At most universities, the Korean directors have Ph.D.s, and they are not threatened by anyone with lesser credentials. Perhaps they may worry about being able to manage foreign teachers, but that is primarily due to cultural differences.

The real reason is pure economics. More of the universities are offering jobs to BA holders because they are more pliable. They want to have any non-hakwon job, and they want any resemblance of a vacation, no matter how scant it may be. In return, they will work more hours for less pay and pretty much stay out of the bosses hair. Many of them are younger, as well, so they are not looking for job security.

On the other hand, most well qualified, certified, and experienced MA holders know that excesive contact hours detract from the quality of instruction. They also tend to be less complacent about text and course design issues, and number of students per class, in addition to scheduling. A good many of these professionals are longer term as well, so they are more sensative to employment conditions. Multiply most of these factors for Ph.D.s.

How can all this be so? Because for all the lip service paid to the importance of ESL education in Korea, one fact remains: Rather than attempting to attain knowledge through formal institutions, percieved to be beneficial to the country or not, the attainment of competence in this country is still primarily an individual responsibility undertaken in the private sector. Very, very few universities in Korea actually create programs that develop competency in English, and they are not willing to do so. If you are going to do something half-arsed, why pay qualified teachers top buck to do it when anyone with a BA and a desire for a couple of weeks of vacation will do? This is an institutional failure, and largely explains why no Korean universities stack up in the international playing field. Oh, sure, some professors do, but, then again, they studied abroad!

[JZer]

[PRagic]

1) More apt to work additional hours for same pay once on staff (e.g. summer camps)
2) Less apt to complain. Flying under the radar and keeping out of the bosses' hair are jobs one and two.
3) No need to integrate them into the program outside of teaching basic classes. They do what they are told to do and keep quiet about it. Why jeopardize the vacation?
4) More apt to stay at the same university job without pay increases. MAs and Ph.D.s start looking for new jobs as soon as they get into their first lower paying job.
5) More easily suckered into doing non-teaching related jobs for free or on the cheap (e.g. test writing/editing).

Just of the top of my head, and just from experience...

[TECO]

[JZer]