Korean Job Discussion Forums

[cubanlord]

Hi all,

Today was the first day of the conference and let me tell you that it is worth the time, effort, and money! I've had the distinct honor of meeting and speaking to some people (Gary Rector, Jeremy Kritt, Jeremy Harmer, and Joshua Davies to name a few). They are wonderful and can really provide some insite into teaching/life in Korea.

If you were contemplating on whether or not to attend, stop. Go. It's worth it. The vendors are out and even recruiters are interviewing on-the-spot (Yeungnam University to name one). Needless to say, I got my load of samples from which to weed through and choose a good textbook for my school to use next year.

Anyways, everyone is really friendly and personable. Don't be shy.

Me.

[nomad-ish]

[spliff]

[cubanlord]

[spliff]

^

[makemischief]

Spliff: with a skinny figure like that you could TOTALLY sneak in^^

[huffdaddy]

Today was great. Unfortunately, I have other plans for tomorrow. For those going, one of DESL's own will be a featured speaker on Sunday afternoon.

[shaunew]

[cubanlord]

[cubanlord]

hey, anyone see Tzuk anywhere? I was keeping an eye out for her. I am dying to meet her in person....Damn girl....stop hob nobbing and come out!

[huffdaddy]

[Ethan Allen Hawley]

Thanks for the positive information. I have seen the schedule, and I believe you that the conference is good, and would love to be there myself. I'm glad you are enjoying it. I look forward to both hearing more, and being able to go to future events;

however,

the fact that some universities are desperate enough to want to try and recruit people at the conference there does not mean that those are the university jobs worth taking up on offers for work, even for those inexperienced at working in universities in Korea.

There is a saying where I am from that goes:
If the rock won't come to the shell-fish, then the shell-fish must go to the rock.
In other words, in this case, the university which has a problem - it needs to look so hard for fresh meat to throw in the classrooms - has to travel like the shellfish, looking for shelter or whatever, to the rock.

I presume that anyone going to the KOTESOL conference is already working in Korea and so will have a full year's experience in the country by the end of their current contract; and also is motivated and serious about doing a teaching job including a bit of professional pride in what they're doing. If so, that same person would probably have skills to convey this ethos or work ethic within the context of a job application sent from home, and a regular interview be it on the phone or in person on site. A university job is achievable with this experience and attitude, especially if one has a Masters degree as requested by the school the OP cited.

If a university needs to travel to recruit people, it's probably significant of issues within that university which you need to be careful to know about before agreeing to work there, but which they don't want you to get the time to discover for yourself.

[SuperHero]

I enjoyed the conference so far and it was great to catch up with people. I was asked again why I'm not presenting. Will probably present next year as it seems that one of the KOTESOL people really enjoyed my presentation from 2 years back.

[wylies99]

What issues are being discussed?

[Unposter]

Hanyang, Sookmyung Women's University (where the conference is located) and Busan University of Foreign Studies are all advertising at the conference. Samsung too. Seoul National has advertised in the past.

Personally, I think it is a great place to enquire about universities, make contacts and drop off a few resume's. Just my personal opinion, but those who are interested in such positions who decide to blow these things off will regret it later.

My guess is the reason they advertise at KOTESOL is it is free and the candidates tend to be better than advertising on Dave's.