Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jvalmer]

Wondering where you're from misher? Just saying that some places just don't have the public transport options that Korea has.

[edwardcatflap]

[swashbuckler]

[edwardcatflap]

[Unposter]

Personally, I don't think this is as simple as either Misher is right or wrong? I see both sides of the issue.

I totally understand that people fall in love and marry for reasons that are not just economic. But, I do know that most divorces do happen for economic reasons.

And, I think Misher is doing a pretty good job of explaining that one thing you may want to think about before getting married is not just the short term economic situation of your relationship but the long term economic situation of your relationship.

Captian Corea made a very astute point that people change but finances do as well.

And, this may be particularly important if you find yourself as a lifer as an English teacher because except for a few (hardworking, intelligent, well-educated and even lucky) the long term prospects are not that good.

And, there are expenses you may not be thinking about such as all the sports, music and educational lessons you may want your kids to have and saving for retirement can be difficult as well.

And, you may find that your wife says right now that she has no problem relocating to your home country only to find later that she delays or prefers to stay in Korea. All of these things are potentially real issues.

On the other hand, there are plenty of benefits including spending your life with someone you truly care about and creating a life together that is better than you would otherwise by yourself.

Personally, I am happy to be a lifer but I certainly wouldn't recommend it to everyone. You need the right personality and the right situation. And, if you do not think that is you, please think twice, but if that is you, go for it.

[Captain Corea]

[wooden nickels]

[edwardcatflap]

Your point being? That there are some quite rich people in Korea who don't work in schools?

[swashbuckler]

Edwardcatflap, please check your pm box

[edwardcatflap]

PM sent

[wooden nickels]

[PatrickGHBusan]

To make the higher incomes being mentioned here as an English Teacher in Korea, it will typically mean putting in a significant number of hours. A good university position pays more than 2.3M but tends to have a few more job requisites in term of duties. Someone on a F-visa can certainly do private tutoring and many do so quite legally. However, when calculating tutoring, typically people forget to include the transit time required to get to the students (unless someone has a set up where students come to his or her classes but that requires a room and thus $$$).

Korea has gotten expensive, Canada as well but the expenses tend to come from different places. To accurately compare Canada to Korea (or UK to Korea and so on) you need to compare Apples to Apples. That means how could you live, earn, save as a contractual teacher in either place. Other comparisons do not float much longer than a anvil tossed in a lake.

I read a lot of posts here where people do the following: In Korea I earn X amount as a Teacher, in Canada I could earn Y amount as an engineer, oil worker, full time cert teachers.

That's fine but it is for the most part an irrelevant comparison. You want to compare then use similar jobs in each country and then compare the expenses, savings and other variables. Sure some of us can go home to better paying jobs in non-education fields or think we can. then the comparison may be useful on a personal basis.

I would say that for someone with an unrelated BA teaching English in Korea can mean a far greater chunk of savings potential than what he or she could typically get in Canada, especially with a social science degree.

As for doing well in Korea mid to long term, it can be done but typically (like nearly anywhere else) it will require hard work, upgrading your qualifications and credentials, networking and for some people branching out outside of English teaching. If someone just accumulates Hakwon jobs based on their initial unrelated B.A. they are basically threading water and in the mid term are hurting their career prospects.

Now back to the thread topic: getting married certainly factors into these decisions. If you intend on marrying a Korean national a basic discussion is in order. Any marriage decision requires a discussion of some sort but in a K-centric (or abroad-centric) perspective you need to make sure you two are on the same page when it comes to core issues like:

Where to live (Korea or somewhere else)
Expectations (having kids or not, family involvement, finances)

Clear up these two things or they will comeback and bite you in the rear end.


As an example, my wife was always open to moving abroad at some point but when the time came she was still troubled by the move and the implications. She is happy in Canada but still had a reasonably rough adaptation period initially. The kids were too young to notice much but if we move again in the future (seems rather likely) they will have to be involved in the discussion. Again, this is important and should not be ignored.

If you meet a Korean man or woman you want to get serious about and they tell you they have no interest in moving out of Korea, you need to be damn sure you are willing (free of resentment) to stay in Korea long term and to make moves towards some form of integration. Otherwise, the relationship may be doomed. Of course, like CC said, circumstances change (finances, personal...) and I can sure testify to this as our move to Canada was anything but a long term planned decision.

[DaeguNL]

[robbie_davies]

Got to love all these Poli-Sci graduates with their useless degrees and lack of transferable skills blaming their Korean wives on why they are not millionaires already!

TEFL is getting stronger by the year and there is a good future in the field - if you have relevant postgraduate qualifications.

[mr_thehorse]