Korean Job Discussion Forums

[sojourner1]

Can you tell me your experiences in month 12 of a your hagwon jobs? Did your director have a different attitude towards you in the last month?

When should you expect your director to purchase your air ticket? How were your airfare and final pays handled? When should you expect your director to pay severance and final month salary?

Do directors typically challenge you and make life more difficult once they know your shelf life is short and about to expire? Any of you had directors that respected you at the end?

Please tell me about your final experiences at your past or current hagwon jobs be it positive or negative? No need to mention school names, just the situations and experiences.

I just want to better understand what I am going through in knowing what is normal and abnormal director behavior. How to detect red flags and swiftly, but successfully stop a problem before it can be a problem, since they do function in a discreet manner.

Thanks for your insightful posts people.

[renzobenzo1]

Didn't you post this just a few days before?

[sojourner1]

No, I ranted about a hagwon directors foul behavior, but didn't ask for your experiences positive or negative. I didn't ask these questions I asked above. I only asked for your input on a specific situation.


It's about time that we need to write a guide on how your contract is be followed through in the end. We need to be more organized in knowing what is right and wrong and how to best deal with wrong. Being that we don't have a teachers union, we have to collaborate together to lay it out on how a teaching contract is to be done and what is acceptable and unacceptable. I do know one thing, once you follow through with a contract, you have to renegotiate what you already negotiated and you will be challenged to the end which is corrupt.

[Young FRANKenstein]

My last three schools treated me well at the beginning, then switched to douchebag mode when I told them I was moving on. Two of them were schools I had had a great working relationship with for three years (each). Means nothing once you give you notice. Screwed out of money aplenty. Assbags.

[Roch]

I was subjected to an attempted home invasion by the people who ran Mapo Ewha after I finished my contract with them in 2002. My witnesses include a guy who does television stuff for E.B.S.

Yes, they told everybody there that they were going to kill me, steal all of my money, and make me an example for all foreigners that we should never defy a Korean.

The U.S. Embassy got involved and the Yongsan-gu police did as well. The latter treated me like crap even though I had the backing of my embassy and three other foreign teachers who saw the whole thing.

[OiGirl]

I have always had good experiences at the end of a hogwon contract. Even the hogwon that fired me at 10.5 months treated me really well. The only thing that concerned me was that flight arrangements were very last minute...once I had to fly to Gimpo and meet a travel agent there to get my ticket home. (Yeah, this happened a long time ago...)

[bassexpander]

First school didn't renew me. I don't blame them. Took me a while to learn the ropes.

Second school wanted me to renew, but almost doubled my hours for the same pay (was only working 10-2 every day, and it was sweet). I went elsewhere.

Third school renewed me for my second year, but I had to threaten to leave and work 2 more hours/week to get a 100,000 per month raise.

Fourth school has renewed me a 2nd year, and said they'd offer a contract for a 3rd year. I got a 100,000 won raise after the first year, and now a 300,000 won raise this year so far (they raised everyone). I won't push them for another 100,000 next year, as I feel it would be looking a gift horse in the mouth.

[yingwenlaoshi]

[jadarite]

yingwenlaoshi's idea is good if you feel tension with school. I would first try doing it as normal. Try to get the flight arrangements squared away.

[Young FRANKenstein]

[MarionG]

Good Lord Roch!

[Whistleblower]

Roch is a troll.

[Summer Wine]

My experience of getting money from bosses in the last month is its like getting blood from a stone, only stones give it up more easily.

[Roch]

[Roch]