Korean Job Discussion Forums

[KoreanAmbition]

I posted a topic in another thread asking about how my Chinese girlfriend (future wife) with a Canadian MBA might find work in South Korea, possibly teaching Chinese.

A nice respondent was kind enough to tell me that some Hagwons teach Chinese and she can get a visa that way.

The estimate of salary was 1.2 million won.

Can anyone expand on this??? Any more info about salaries or benefits? Any suggestions for a recruiter I can contact or actual Hagwons?

Also, any ideas of recruiters she could use to find a business job?

Thanks in advance all.
Cheers

[CentralCali]

If she's still a citizen of Taiwan or the People's Republic of China, then she can qualify with a baccalaureate from her home country. It's the same rules for native Chinese teachers as it is for native English teachers: be a citizen of one of the designated countries, have a bachelor's degree from the home country, and be ready to get shafted on pay.

If she has an MBA from a "real country" (meaning a reputable university in a western country), I seriously doubt she'd be interesting in working for a lousy grand a month teaching at a hagweon when you'll be getting double that salary for the same job, essentially.

You'll have to check the Korean Immigration website (the various types of visas available are linked in one of the stickies, IIRC) to see if she qualifies for any of them. Probably her best bet is to get hired by a Canadian firm back in Canada and have them assign her to one of their offices in Korea. If she doesn't speak a lick of Korean, you can probably kiss that idea goodbye, though.

[KoreanAmbition]

CentralCali,

Thanks for the response. She does have an undergrad degree from China, and she has her MBA from Canada so her visa issues shouldn't be a problem them.

However, you hit the nail on the head... she doesn't speak ANY Korean. hehe

She speaks fluent English but obviously that won't help her since she's a PRC citizen.

At this point, we really are okay with her getting shafted on pay since our other option is to put her into a PhD program in which case I'm the only one working and it will cost me an extra $6000 per year to pay her tuition. I'd prefer her make just 1,000,000 won per month and total $12,000 Cdn in profit rather than go into the red for $6000 with her tuition. Even with such a small income, that's still a swing of $18,000 Cdn.

Anyways, thanks for the posts, and if you know of any recruiters that would be able to place someone for a Chinese language job then I'd be very appreciate.

Thanks

[hari seldon]

[KoreanAmbition]

Hari,

Actually we have tried that alternative but it seems that a company dealing between China and Korea will expect both languages of Chinese and Korean.

Our pitfall is that my girlfriend speaks no Korean. Her English is fluent basically and obviously Mandarin is her native tongue.

Companies in Korea tend to be looking for employees that do speak Chinese but also Korean.

Also, we don't want to live apart at this time. I was in Europe for 6 months recently and we really didn't enjoy being at a distance. We've decided to go to Korea together even though she has unlimited options in China.

You mentioned university gigs... did you mean in China or in SK? And what type of uni gigs did you mean? Thanks.

[hari seldon]

[KoreanAmbition]

Hari,

I will keep your suggestion in mind, which it already was on our minds.

Maybe we'll go through our costing estimates again. Right now, we felt that China was not as good an option financially.

You are correct, I could get a job at a university there, but in all honesty, that's good for living IN china... but not to pay debt in Canada.

In China we would go to Shanghai or Beijing. But I just don't think the money is as good as you think it is there.

Or maybe you aren't aware of how good the money is in Korea?

[lastat06513]

There's a whole bunch of Chungkuk-eoh Hakwons in Jungno and in Mokdong...But if she speaks with a dialect (other than the Mandarin spoken in Beijing) or if she speaks Taiwanese, some probably won't hire her because alot of chinese language students (like English language students) tend to be very particular about accents.

As for teaching at a university, some might hire her yet a few might ask for a degree from one of the many teaching universities in China.......

Can she speak English fluently?
If so and if she doesn't mind talking on the telephone, she might be able to do Telephone English.......


Hari is right in that the both of you would be better off in China. I know there are alot of jobs that advertise 5000rmb a month, but there are literally hundreds that offer more, some with pay that is up to 11,000rmb ( 1,538.03CAD) a month with free accomodations....Now if you factor in food, cellphone cost, utilities and internet connection- you can actually save more there than you would in Korea........where the expense for the both of you would pretty much be similar to what you are spending in your country now.