Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Sincinnatislink]

I'm leaving a kiddie hagwon for a handful of reasons, and talking to a ton of people about positions.
Obviously, the quickest movers on my massive resume sendout are the chain hagwons. The quickest is Pagoda/Direct English.

I can only find one topic on Direct English browsing by myself (see title), and it just says "Direct English sucks" and says it's the same thing as English Channel.

Could someone give me a real account of why Direct English sucks/doesn't?

I don't care about English Channel. I'm not applying there. I know that English Channel is based on Direct English. I don't care. Tell me, from firsthand experience, why Direct English is horrible. Or why it's awesome. Or anything in between.

[garykasparov]

http://www.jobpagoda.com/

1) Click on FAQ
2) Click on direct
3) Click on benefits


▶ Working Environment

- modern facility, conveniently located with a bright atmosphere
- dealing with mature and well-educated adult students, professional teachers and staff members

▶ Salary

- Monthly salary is between 2.1 Million won - 2.8 Million won/Month depending on the number of classes taught..

▶ Pay Raise

- Up to four times per year, after receiving positive evaluation.

▶ Airfare

- one way trip to Seoul reimbursed 15days after receiving receipt
- airport pick up

▶ Housing

- housing Manager shows apartments and handles all your housing needs
- 5 Mil won key money deposit, furniture and 100,000 won/month housing allowance
- no key money or furniture and 250,000 won/month housing allowance
- temporary housing up to 7 days provided upon arrival

▶ Vacation

- 20 working days in four weekly segments.
- Vacation is not paid; however, a vacation bonus, W30,000/day for "unused" vacation, will be given at the end of the contract period.

▶ Health Insurance

- 50/50 - Participation in a health care insurance is strictly optional.

▶ Severance Pay

- Severance pay will be paid upon the full completion of the contract period and full discharge of the duties as per the Employment Agreement.

▶ Transfer

- a fter completing one year contract, ability to transfer to other Direct English branches.

▶ Korean Classes

provided at an extremely reasonable rate

www.pusanweb.com

1) Click on Job Advice Forum
2) Click on General EFL
3) Click on Pagaoda - No vacation pay!!

[Col.Brandon]

I worked there. It's Nasty - stay away.

Some previous threads:
http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=76593&highlight=Direct

http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=38049&highlight=Direct

http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=30584&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight=Direct&start=15

http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=31372&highlight=Direct

[Col.Brandon]

Looks good on paper, right? Let's break it down...

▶ Working Environment

- modern facility, conveniently located with a bright atmosphere
By "bright", they mean "tense". You are also required to clean your "modern facility" yourself; very professional.

- dealing with mature and well-educated adult students, professional teachers and staff members
No mention of the psychotic, incompetent management"

▶ Salary

- Monthly salary is between 2.1 Million won - 2.8 Million won/Month depending on the number of classes taught..
Also depends on how many cancellations you get, whether there's a big holiday that month (no holiday pay), whether you're in the management's bad books so they assign you the fewest number of students, and make sure that those students are the ones that are most likely to cancel. If they cancel you get maybe 2,000 won but DE keeps all of the student's fee, since they don't do refunds. This means you have to sit around all day on the off chance that somebody might deign to show up. Some days I made 50,000 won or less. Now I make that much an hour.

I'm just looking at some old pay-slips... 2.4 mil, 2.7 mil, 2.45 per month... not bad until you consider you could make the same amount working half the time with one commute somewhere else... To get 8 hours pay you have to be at the office or commuting from 6.30am to 11pm. Hmmm.



▶ Pay Raise

- Up to four times per year, after receiving positive evaluation.
This is true. I managed to get couple of thousand won per hour pay rise after a few months, because despite butting heads with the so-called "management" I always tried to do a professional job for the students.

▶ Airfare

- one way trip to Seoul reimbursed 15days after receiving receipt
However, if you're already in Korea you're S.O.L. They'll pay for your visa run, though. "Run" being the operative word. You better be quick because they want your arse back at work ASAP. However, they don't mind if you work without a visa for a few weeks until they get themselves sorted out. Just don't tell anyone, OK?
- airport pick up

▶ Housing

- housing Manager shows apartments and handles all your housing needs
Nope. I had to do most of it myself. Some poor secretary got delegated to show up and sign the lease once I'd done all the groundwork
- 5 Mil won key money deposit, furniture and 100,000 won/month housing allowance
- no key money or furniture and 250,000 won/month housing allowance

I got 600K (deducted from my first pay), no furniture (my house was bare!), and a small amount of money (that I had to repay) to get a washing machine and a bed. I was on my own for everything else.

I did get 250k a month as an allowance, but in central Seoul this is laughable. I had to live a long way from work to find somewhere I could afford, and that makes for a big hit in your free time and mental well-being when you have to commute twice a day on a split shift. Basically, this penny-pinching simply sets up an employee to be stressed and resentful right off the bat.

- temporary housing up to 7 days provided upon arrival
Not if you're already here. I made the mistake of coming to Korea first and trying to suss out the place beforehand. It looked great, and by the time the wheels started to fall off I was in no position to quit and start looking around again for a new job.

▶ Vacation

- 20 working days in four weekly segments.
- Vacation is not paid; however, a vacation bonus, W30,000/day for "unused" vacation, will be given at the end of the contract period.

Good luck trying to get the holidays you want. You might get some crumbs from time to time. They do pay for un-used leave when you, uh, leave. Ironically, they followed everything to the letter when I resigned; I guess they had a lot of practice. Don't expect the same treatment if you're a Kyopo.

▶ Health Insurance

- 50/50 - Participation in a health care insurance is strictly optional.
No, it's strictly the law. But let's not worry about silly little things like that, OK?

▶ Severance Pay

- Severance pay will be paid upon the full completion of the contract period and full discharge of the duties as per the Employment Agreement.

AFAIK this was done for other employees if they managed to endure a full year.

▶ Transfer

- after completing one year contract, ability to transfer to other Direct English branches.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

▶ Korean Classes

provided at an extremely reasonable rate
Maybe you can study Korean during one of the 4 commutes you'll do every day on your split shift.

[Young FRANKenstein]

[Sincinnatislink]

Thanks for the heads up everyone.
I appreciate it.

[regicide]

[eliross]

I currently work at Pagoda.

I agree the pay isn't excellent but that's because I usually work six or less hours per day. You get paid for what you work and you have little control over that. At least you have a minimum wage to fall back on. You work more and get paid the same or less then you would at a public school. Still, you teach adults, class goes by quickly and is interesting, and you actually have real conversations.

My work environment is great. The offices are really nice. I have to dress and act professionally but I have no problems with management. My co-workers are EXCELLENT. I enjoy the company of both the foreign and native teachers. I actually wish I had more time at work to get to know them better.

Can't remember all the other complaints, but take everything you read here with a grain of salt. It seems there are many bitter teachers in Seoul. Living abroad is extrememly challenging and obviously not for everyone.