Korean Job Discussion Forums

[gmlkoreanna]

[b]A friend who works for a large corporation in Seoul, just got promoted, as the Director of the Human Resources Division. He is also in charge of getting contracts/bids from recruting comapnies to hire English lesson programs/instructors, for the employees working at his corporation. He told me, that the minimum price that they pay, is per class, not per student, starting at 90.000 won per hour plus a 7.500 won vat tax on top of that bringing the total to 97.500 won per hour. (for one hour english lesson) I'm sure his Corp., goes out for bid and gets these recruting companies to submit bids and proposals, so I would imagine, that the price range and incentive deals "vary", but he did say at the LEAST MINIMUM, they pay, 90.000 per teaching hour. These days, all the job ad's are offering anywhere from 30-35K per teaching hour
Me thinks, some other bad puddy tat have they hands in the cookie jar, gettin extras, while handin us the CRUMBS, and not the crumb that has the 1/4 chocolate chip inside!!
The minimum offered even 6 months to year ago, at these same recruitng companies was at the least of 45-50.000 won hourly (advertised on line anyways).Seems like the trend is when the KRW looks good against the greenback, pay lower for the classes, it will all even out when they change them wons to dollars or whatevers.
They forget that cost of living and transportation has gone up in the last year (s) ? And not to mention, that we too, are residents here and most of our money goes back to the Korean economy, I mean, we must pay ourrent, kids education, electricity and food bill, oh, and don't forget the beer in KRW.. Who knows, it's probably going to be the recruiters in the near future, writing threads bragging about how much they are making off the F-2's, F-5's and F-4's and the new apartments they are buying! ( ding dong, anyone here still on key money? I'd like to be a homeowner too!) (I mention the F status visa holders, cause as far as I know, they are the "ones" legally ok'd to work partimes at these Corp., positions)? All these recruiters seem to do is hook up instructors to teach lessons at these looney rates.
I never see them after the contract is signed, oh, maybe an email asking for the attendance sheets, so they can collect pay.
So do yourself a favor, infact, do all of us one, don't be a disservice by accepting these INSANE RATES! IF THEY START GETTING ENOUGH NO'S, AND OR PEOPLE MENTIONING THAT THEY KNOW DAMN STRAIGHT, THE COMPANY IS PAYING MORE THAN THAT 40.000 KRW PER HOUR THAT THEY ARE BSING YOU ABOUT, THEN THEY MIGHT START READING IN BETWEEN THE LINES, AND PAY WHAT YOU SHOULD BE GETTING! If they could find no one to fill these positions, they would have no choice but to let some more of those KRW have free flow!!
[u][b]And keep in mind, as part timers, you get no other benefits other than the hourly pay. No Med, No paid holidays, No airfare, No housing money. Tally it up.... [/b][/u]So if you think 30.000 is good money for an hours work, just think, YOU SHOULD BE GETTING AT LEAST 65.000. You still mo than half behind! Be Greedy and get out of Key Money [/b]

[The_Conservative]

[gmlkoreanna]

if not 65.000 at the very least 50.000-55.000. I heard the the grape vine that it is the recruiter and another party in the Corp., that take cuts. Kind of like the PS gigs? Pay the instructor the 30.000 the recruiter and whoevers make their cut. When they do this for each study hour, not just what "you" are teaching but for all the Instuctors, each month, at all the Corp., gigs they have That's alot of duckies. And any way you look at it, the Instructors are still not getting a fair deal. If you're illegally doing this and you get caught, well, thats the chance you took. But if you are legit, what's wrong with kind of forming a "UNION" and Just Say No! If not, the rates are only going to get less. I actually, had one company tried to offer me 28K per hour. Even the Korean piano teachers get more than that.

[babtangee]

It's amusing how many 35k p/h business jobs there are being offered. Means people are taking them. I find it entertaining that people are traveling to one hour jobs for such low pay.

[OneWayTraffic]

If only I could hook up my own classes. I don't think all companies pay 90k an hour though. Some pay less or more than that. It depends on the agency.

I don't work for less than 40 and much of my work is at 50. That's fair as long as I can't hook up my own work. After all, how much the company pays isn't, strictly speaking, my problem. It's not like I'm paying is it?

[Juregen]

What is he trying to say?

What he says doesn't make much sense up to this point, anyone care to translate?

[gmlkoreanna]

It's amusing how many 35k p/h business jobs there are being offered. Means people are taking them. I find it entertaining that people are traveling to one hour jobs for such low pay.
_

As mentioned above... Not only the travel time, but the class prep time as well. That could work out to like, 8,000 won for that one hour class. Almost every large Corp., Law Firms, Hospitals, Schools, any corner of this country, has these English Speaking programs going. So, it that one recruiting company you are working for does have the rice and kimchi coming in from other areas as well. Believe me, there not scrapping by, by any means.
I still think that if the F series visa holders, could form a union or just unite on the idea and issues, not to work for these low insulting rates, being offered, EVERYONE of us, will come out a winner and be happy! Gots to be greedy sometimes!! When I first came to Korea, back in 98, the subway fare was barely 500 won, damn 10 yars later, it's doubled. The pay at that time for University was 50.000-60.000 per hour. Sometimes 70.000 if you met someone generous. Do the math, it's almost like we, the instructors are the ones having to scrape on....

[Southern Drawl]

I have an f-5 visa and all I do now is company gigs. I have and still do some work through recruiters such as YBM, Pagoda, and others. I find them to be very useful in finding work quickly again after a class finishes. This is the main reason I will continue to use them. My pay has ranged from 40,000 to 50,000 per hour.

But, I also have a couple of classes where I am directly contracted with a company to teach. For this company I receive 90,000 and 100,000 per hour. I think that I was very fortunate to get these classes. I was lucky to know someone on the company's HR team.

Here is basically what I know. Most companies don't know how to get a foreigner so they rely on recruiters. They also don't know anything about visa issues and don't want to be bothered by such things. They basically just want a teacher and the easiest route to take is to look on the internet for a recruiting company or to just give the big names they trust a call, like YBM, Pagoda, BCM, etc.. For experienced F holders we all realize how simple it is for these recruiters to get foreigners, just go to worknplay. That's where 99% of us go for company gigs. It still seems strange to me that companies still don't know about worknplay.

This brings me to the next point. Many companies require a business license in order to pay for English classes. Someone on here has mentioned that this is for tax purposes. This is true. It is also true that some companies have a requirement that the recruiting business must have been in business for a certain number of years and it has to show records and references of other corporate training it has provided if it hopes to win a contract. SOOOOO here is the deal!!!!! Not all companies require a business license. You can be legally "hired" by a company to do part-time classes and receive the same amount of money that the recruiters do. Why don't companies do this more often? First, they don't know that they can. (They don't know anything about visas.) Second, they don't know how to get foreigners directly. (They can just go to worknplay). Third, they might have company rules like the requirement of a business license.

This brings me to my last point. Open your own recruiting business and use your home as the place of business. Then you will have a business license. HEY GUYS!!! This last point is the big but obvious secret that recruiters don't want you to know about. Anyone can open a recruiting business and get these contracts themselves. I have personally met and know of other F visa holders with their wives who are doing this. You yourself might have worked for them and don't even realize it.

So, this is the recruiter's biggest fear. They know that they can't use the E-2's because it is illegal. They can only use F visa holders. But!!! They also know that all F visa holders can easily start a business such as theirs. They don't want this to happen because if every F holder had their own business license they wouldn't be able to compete.

Personnally, I hope that more people get their own business license. It would change the coporate English teaching industry in favor of the people who are doing 90% of the work, i.e. the teachers!

A union? I don't know about that. What about having informal meetings of F visa holders to discuss such issues. Maybe we could all agree that when we use a recruiter we would accept nothing below a certain amount per hour. (I personally never accept anything under 40,000 but I think that if everyone stuck together we could drive the standard pay up to 60,000 very easily.)

Also, a simple thing such as an advertising campaign could help to educate more companies about how simple it is to actually get foreigners themselves.

Southern Drawl

[Mr Crowley]

I have a F2-1 visa. How do I get a business license ? How much does it cost ?

[Ryst Helmut]

[Mr Crowley]

So, instead of getting a job through a recruiter, just get my tutor license and find some work by myself.

[gmlkoreanna]

Southern Drawl, I'm with you on having some of them informal meetings to discuss issues, and trying to get other F visa holders not accept anything under "a certain amount" per hour. I'm in the Northern Seoul area. It might be a good idea, to let this topic run for a few days and maybe, announce a mutual place that any of the F series visa holders can show up and all meet?

[mack the knife]

I've been perusing the job listings lately and I've also noticed the ridiculous job offers for F visa holders. Hopefully, most have enough sense to simply shrug off these pathetic attempts at exploitation and move on, but somehow I doubt it.

In any case, Southern Drawl has the right idea. Get your license and be your own recruiter. Cut out the middle man.

Don't forget, even with the F visa you are still required to report your earnings and pay taxes on them. But seriously, who the f*ck is checking? Short answer: Nobody.

F visa holders who don't know how the game is played are a Korean employer's wet dream.

Employer: "Oh, you live here? So you don't need airfare and housing, right?"

Just Married F holder: "Um, yeah, I guess that's right."



WRONG, MUTHERF*CKER.

[The Hammer]

Phone: Ring Ring

Recruiter: Hello, are you looking for work?

F-Series Hero: Yes, what are you paying?

Recruiter: 40,000.

F-Series Hero: Are you insane? I don't work for less than 70.000.

Recruiter: We don't pay that much.

F-Series Hero: In that case don't call me again and please GET A JOB!




AP Seoul- Another recruiter was arrested for stealing money from unsuspecting F-Series visa holders near Gwanghwamun yesterday. Many F-visa holders fall victim to the shameless scams of these bottom feeders. Fortunately, word is spreading rapidly in the foreign community about how to easily find legal work without the assistance of recruiters. It is widely known that recruiters are notorious liars, schemers, and just plain low-life scumbags.

[Cheonmunka]