Korean Job Discussion Forums

rteazee · Joined: 22 Jul 2006

ok, ive been in korea for 1 year already and i came back and have been working for my new school for 2 months. needless to say there are a lot of issues and things which i dont like and dont wanna get into. what i would like to know is if i decide to quit (or just up and leave) whats the deal for getting a new job. would i be able to work here or would i have to re apply and get a new visa as I would be working with a new company. any and all answers are very much appreciated. thanks!!!

curtiscurtis · Joined: 28 Dec 2007

I'm going through the same situation. I've only been here for 3 months and my job is OK but my director is pissing me off and the hours are too long! I know many people that have quit their jobs here to find new ones. I'm not sure on the EXACT process but I do know that it's doable.

I don't know much but I know one thing is for certain... You will need a release letter from your director and from what I understand he/she most likely won't want to give it to you so it will take some bluffing and some persuasionfor (ie: I will leave tommorow if you don't give me a release letter).

As for the rest I"m not so sure!!! But I am curious as well!

GB · Joined: 14 Jan 2008

You can quit your job, yes...problems are these:

a) You will have to pay back any airfare your director paid to get you here.
b) You will need a release letter to say that your contract is officially terminated. This will have to be taken to Immigration.
c) If you don't get letter from him, then you have to return home until the original time on your contract is up (you been here 2 months, so maybe November '08??) Then you can legally get another job here.
d) If you get the letter and find another job, you will possibly have to go through the new regulations regarding E-2 visas (police check, medical etc)

Could be alot of hassle...hopefully someone wil post details if they have just done it.

Cheers

GaryCooper · Joined: 10 Jun 2006

The talk of quitting sounds premature to me. Mind you, I don't have all the facts except what the two of you posted, but two months or three months are much too early to quit a contract, in my opinion. And quitting because the owner of the school is pissing you off is not enough of a reason to quit any job. You signed a contract and you should follow through with it unless there's something extremely shocking the hogwan owner is doing. There are reasons to legitimately bail on a hogwan, but these reasons have to be very extreme for me to accept as an anonymous Internet lookie-loo.

Take a deep breath and rethink your reasons. Consider the negatives. What hogwan will want to hire someone who's quick to break his previous employer's contract? If I were a hogwan owner, I would not hire you, unless I knew how heinous and intolerable the situation was. You'll quit as soon as you find greener pastures from my place. That's what your desire to leave so freakingly early would say to me as a hypothetical employer.

Look carefully at your contract. How many months' notice do you have to give your employer? If you have to give two months' notice, then give it. If you don't, and the contract requires you to do so, then you are at the mercy of him regarding that all-important release letter. If I were a hogwan owner, and you were jumping ship so early into the experience, would I give you a release letter? Probably not. Why should I, as a theoretical hogwan owner, go through all the hassle, the pay, the airplane tickets, and the rest of those expenses yet again, just to cover for someone who won't even try to take the heat?

Keep in mind what that means: you won't be able to go to the new hogwan because I didn't give you the release letter. That's what the release letter is for: to prevent hogwan X from poaching hogwan Y. Unless you're on very good terms with your hogwan owner, you won't be able to talk yourself out of a to-the-letter reading of the contract. And it sounds like the two of you are on horrible terms. I'd work on that relationship before packing it in.

If you have two or three months into your contract, then you still should work with your employer to resolve as many differences as you can. Why run? Is sexual harrassment involved? Is he threatening you in any way? Have you been locked up inside a building? Is there a brain-eating mold growing in your apartment? THESE are the sorts of things that may warrant such an early release. "I'm pissed off" or "It's too much work" are not.

The hours thing that one of the people on this thread pointed out may be nothing worth leaving over. If by "too many hours" you mean twice the hours your contract says, then I would say that's a management problem. If "too many hours" means four or five more hours above the contract base, then I think you're just crying. For what it's worth, I've taught sometimes at 35 or 40 hours a week. I know people who taught at 50. Of course, that was back in the days of the six-day work week and a base salary that's half of what it is today.

Add to this mix the new visa laws and I'd say you're thinking of jumping ship at precisely the wrong time. How long will it take to get the necessary paperwork to get your new Korean job ready? It could be too late, from the employer's point of view, to fill the vacancy. And why wait for someone who wouldn't wait for matters with his previous employer to improve?

And let's say you don't want to work in Korea again. I would still stay and get a letter of recommendation from these people. Otherwise you'll have a gap in your resume/CV. "You taught at Kim's Institute? May we contract your former employer in Korea? What's his e-mail?" And if you don't put it on your resume, you'll still have to explain the gap. And that's ridiculous that you'd put yourself in that position. Work overseas can be a pretty cool thing to put on a resume to impress future employers about your flexibility in new situations or uncharted waters. Three months abroad says you're just plain cowards when new challenges and new experiences present themselves.

Unless you know something I don't, I'd say both of you are dealing with these problems poorly. Run already? Sheesh! Don't be a glass-is-half-empty sort so soon. You know if you're 30 or older and have worked in yours home country that things are tough all over, not just in Korea. Think very carefully about the benefits of staying, and yes, there are some. Putting up with nonsense is a fact of life, and the two of you may need practice at dealing with it. Well, here's your opportunity. Wait out your contract, roll with the punches, get your letter of recommendation, and search for a better place once you've done your year here. You're just shooting yourself in the foot to split after two months.

huck · Joined: 19 Jan 2003

If you quit your job, and you are on an E-2 visa, then you will have to apply for a criminal background check before another school can hire you, which means you'll have 15 days to leave the country.

I got some information today - it takes 30 days or so to get one from Australia, and 2-4 months to get one from the USA/Canada.

yingwenlaoshi · Joined: 12 Feb 2007 Location: ... location, location!

huck · Joined: 19 Jan 2003

yingwenlaoshi · Joined: 12 Feb 2007 Location: ... location, location!

Julius · Joined: 27 Jul 2006

yingwenlaoshi · Joined: 12 Feb 2007 Location: ... location, location!

Corky · Joined: 06 Jan 2004

There's a simple fact that all these folks who say a contract is a contract neglect: if you were back home and you broke a contract, you could break it, as per the regulations in it. Over here, they'll take that money, and your last month's pay. So, with that in mind, who cares, really? Gary Cooper, you say three months isn't long enough? Well, I say that's plenty. If you wanna go girl, you go.

yingwenlaoshi · Joined: 12 Feb 2007 Location: ... location, location!

rteazee · Joined: 22 Jul 2006

Gary Cooper,

I appreciate your response, you have a lot of valid points and I pretty much totally agree with you. The only thing though is that I have worked for a year in Korea already and just started this new job. So I certainly am aware of everything that goes on in korea, trust me. the reasons for me wanting to leave are numerous and complicated, and the reason for my post is not to discuss why I want to leave, but rather is it feasible. And judging from the previous posts it seems that it is a significant amount of hassle to jump ship (which I assumed). In the end Im sure I will stay, but I was very curious to see if there was a simple way of changing jobs. And Gary, I agree that those coming to Korea need time to really appreciate it and not just up and leave the minute something troubles them. That is not my situation. Luckily for me I am experienced enough to know about Korea. Anyways thanks everyone for helping me out. I would love to hear from someone who actually has done this if there is anyone out there.

cheers

Ut videam · Joined: 07 Dec 2007 Location: Pocheon-si, Gyeonggi-do

Ut videam · Joined: 07 Dec 2007 Location: Pocheon-si, Gyeonggi-do

To the OP, perhaps this information will be helpful to you.

You said that you're only two months into your current contract. That being the case, a letter of release will not be enough for you to change jobs. According to the new regs, you must be at your current position 10 months before you can transfer your visa to a new employer with a letter of release from your current employer.

So, if you were to quit, you'd have to obtain a new visa for the new job. That would entail obtaining a background check as others here have stated. Since you previously taught in Korea for a year on an E-2, you might be able to forego the consular interview in your home country and obtain your visa in a third country (i.e., make a visa run to Japan).