Korean Job Discussion Forums

[shostahoosier]

[coralreefer_1]

PM sent

[deizio]

Coral knows his stuff, although in my experience looking for work on a D2 after 5 years teaching here on an E2 I did struggle to find much that really hit the sweet spot in terms of pay, hours, location etc. to make some extra scratch while studying.

Employers will also go with F series visas when available, and there are plenty of them out there soaking up the better paid P/T stuff. A lot of employers are unfamiliar with the ins and outs of hiring a D2, and are shy to do so as a result.

Opportunities are out there but I wouldn't recommend someone with little or no teaching experience and few / no contacts out here to make financial plans that involve picking up significant amounts of teaching work. Remember also that you can't work legally until you complete a semester (some sources say 6 months but in practice I found a semester will do it.)

On the plus side, you can probably get by on less than you may imagine. It's not impossible to live on a million excluding any tuition fees, especially if you have a chunk you can lay out for key money. The language school and TA / RA options - all self sponsored students at my program were guaranteed 300k as a TA if desired - may put you over the top without hitting the pavement.

[coralreefer_1]

[coralreefer_1]

Again, to help posters who may at a later time be in the same situation, I wil post a portion of the LONG PM reply I sent to the OP.


As far as finding jobs and the kind of hours you want though, that is where the real work comes in. In my case, I select classes around my work schedule as much as possible, rather than scheduling work based on classes. In regards to kindergartens, you may be able to get some part-time work at them, but the sticky point is that another law was passed around the same time as the one I mentioned previously, stating that to redue the burden of English Education on young students, there are to be NO English classes taught before I believe 11:30am. I may not be exactly right on the time, but basically kids are not supposed to be doing English study (regardless of with Korean teachers or foreigners) before lunch. Because of this, finding work at kindergartens may be a bit more difficult because they would need to schedule you after lunch...but many kids start leaving kindergartens and going home around 2pm.

However, the part about this that one needs to know is that this only applied to businesses registered and administered by the city as a "kindergarten" Its kind of a loophole in the system, but many places have kindergarten aged children in the morning/early afternoon hours and do all of the same things kindergartens do basically, but yet their are technically registered as a "hagwon", meaning the rule about English education before lunch does not apply.

In reference to Viciousdinosaur's comment, my guess is that most of the advertisements on Daves concerning part-time workers stipulate wanting an F-class visa person do so because those employers know full well that nearly all E2 folks cannot do part-time work legally UNLESS their base employer/visa holders allows them to do so, (which almost NEVER happens) This, also with the fact that most recruiters do not know that D2 people can legally teach English (this has only changed in the last 2-3 years)

But then again, this is Daves and as I mentioned above, most of the places I have worked for are not large enough, or otherwise do not need teachers badly enough to pay advertising costs to daves or any other site. I do not know this for a fact, but based on my experiences and knowledge of Korea, this is my assumption.

if you are going to be at that university for at least a few years, the best thing you can do is make a reputation for yourself. That is hard to do from the start, but my suggestion to you would be to first, hit the street, introduce yourself to the local hagonws and kindergartens, asking if they have any part-time positions, but more importantly and letting it be known that you are there, available, and legally able to teach on a part-time basis.

Even if every school does not pan out, at the very least they will know about you. I get 2-3 calls a month from either kindergarten or hagwons directors that either I worked for years ago, or otherwise from friends of those directors who have their own schools and are interested in having me teach.(I just dont have the time however) In your case, even if they may not hire you now..they will know about your case (which like mine, being a student is a bit unique) and may call you back later for work (the new semester has already started, so most places who are going to hire a foreigner have likely already done so) or otherwise may tell their friends about you, and that may lead to something as well.

As is said many times, networking is the key when it comes to career opportunities (in both Korea and home) and while you may be able to find job posting on sites like Daves or elsewhere that lead to real work, finding and establishing in your own area will likely lead to much greater networking and success while you are doing your degree.

If I were you, here is how I would get started.


1. Hit the pavement, walk into places cold asking if they have any part-time work available (making sure they know you are on a student visa, can legally work, wont be needing housing, severance, airfare...etc)

2. I see your university has an education department with majors like Early Childhood education, English Education...etc. That may be a great place to begin networking, as surely those majors have connections to kindergartens/hagwons in the immediate area and beyond. I would find the professors of the Early Education and English departments, and either visit their offices personally asking if they may be able to help you (as a student of the university) find some part-time work. Even if the professors dont pan out, many of the students in those departments are doing internship[s/assisting for class credit at real kindergartens or schools for experience, and might be able to turn you on to a few leads. Make some friends~ The fall university festival (i.e. druken parties) are coming in a few weeks, so "accidentally" finding their tent, sitting down and having some drinks with students from that department is a fast way to make connections with them

3. There is another American in my department, and he gets something like 400-500 per month basically just having dinners 1-2 a week with students from the university involved in some sort of school funded program/club (so they can experience hanging out with a foreigner, conversational English...etc) I'm not sure how he got into something like that, but getting familiar with the International student organizations, English clubs, foreign professors at the school can also lead to possible income sources, either from the university itself, or otherwise through contacts and networking.

4. Your own professors may be able to assist as well. These will be the folks closest to you, and subtlety letting it be known that you may be in financial distress, and may possibly have to quit school may push them to assist with more scholarship money, or otherwise may cause them to be more concerned about you and seek out other sources of income. Even if you aren't really bad off, its highly likely that the department will not wan to lose a western student due to financial reasons, and will probably bend over backwards to accommodate you. (department highly covet western students)

[NilesQ]

Get in good with a well respected/liked ajuma and in no time she'll have you doing more classes than you can handle in her apt danji. The one known as the "education mother" in the neighborhood. All the other moms will trust her judgement and an endorsement from her is next to gold.

I had a system with one such lady who got a discounted rate for her kid. In return she ran my schedule for me. She'd even call me with class time/location changes. Technically not legal to do privates, but I did it for 4 years on sucessive tourist visas. As long as you behave in a fair and respectable manner it won't be an issue. Cross an ajuma, and all bets are off. She might have the KCIA on you in short order!