Korean Job Discussion Forums

[mr. positive]

I've heard that there are hagwons where teachers can make a very high hourly rate - 50,000+ or even 100,000 - and that even K-teachers can make such rates or similar if they teach the right subject, etc. I'm just wondering, do these hagwons exist, and if so, where? Do corporations hire experienced, qualified instructors to teach their employees full-time and pay well?

I am currently looking for full-time work and have a B.A. in linguistics, a M.A. in applied linguistics, five years experience (1.5 years TOEFL and GMAT prep), three years of which are in Korea, so I'd like to get a much-better-than-average job. If anyone has some specific direction for me, which I'd appreciate very much (please feel free to PM me if you aren't comfortable posting to a public thread).

[PRagic]

Get a competitive university job in Seoul (I say Seoul, because universities outside of Seoul tend to not pay as well). With your experience and background, you should be able to make around 3 million/month for 12 hours/week. The rest will take care of itself.

[mr. positive]

[bassexpander]

There are a few ways to make big money as a teacher here.

#1: Work a normal E-2 job and work illegal privates on the side (high burn-out rate). Guestimated earnings around 3 million to 4.5 million per month.

#2: What PR said, and do illegal privates on the side. Lower burn-out rate. Guestimated earnings 3.5 to 5.0 per month.

#3: Work part-time jobs in the mornings and evenings through recruiters. This can be done legally (if you know how/get lucky) or illegally (somewhat risky). Not much of a life, but you can make your own schedule and rest some in between classes. Moderate burn-out rate. Guestimated earnings: 4.0 to 5.0+

#4: Come here on a tourist visa (Canadians get 6 months) and just work illegal jobs while racking-up privates on the side. Your schedule is up to you. Guestimated earnings: whatever you can make of it, but between 2.0 and 5.0 million/month.

#5. Get married to a Korean and open up some kind of small school (semi-legally) in your home. Find a way to list it as a business and pay tax. Avoid the local education office, as they will severly restrict your earnings. Work through the tax office as a business. Work FT or PT while you slowly grow your home school. Earnings potential with a job on the side: 3.0 to 6.0+??

[Bryan]

[PRagic]

Or find a univeristy with an attached language institute. You could either work extra classes in the department, or farm out some hours to the institute. SNU, for example, runs an institute, and also runs an editing service that utilizes the services of native speakers on campus.

If you want to make all your money legally, which is admirable, then a situation such as described above is about your only shot. Or as another posted implied, you might get permission from your sponsor to work a second job. Don't hold your breath for that to happen, though, and even if it did, you'd be getting pulled in every direction by more than one employer. Not a good way to spend your time in Korea.

[TBirdMG]

OP is asking the forum for advice on high paying jobs after living and working in Korea for 3 years?? This is odd, ne?

[mr. positive]

TBirdMG,

I would thank you for making a useful contribution, but you didn't...

But if anyone is curious who DOES have something to contribute, I lived here for 2 years 4 months several years ago, then went back to the States, and have been back here for nine months now. I have been living in Bundang doing some school and tutoring work, but haven't been trying to hunt down the lay of the land too much, so I thought I'd ask what others know.

Now that I've told you my life's story, anything useful to share?

[keppiezbt]

where can u find university jobs online? daves? or are there other (better?) websites?

[lastat06513]

My last college job found me.....
(at the time, a good rate) 2.5 million/month for 12 hours/week of main classes (6 hours senior/6 hours freshmen), weekends plus one extra day off a week. All extra classes are paid at a rate of 50,000won an hour and all vacation time (4 months a year) was paid. Once we had to do a summer intensive program where all classes were paid extra on top of what we were getting for our regular salary.
In addition to 150,000 for food/transportation and 150,000 for a housing supplement. So I used to go home with about 3.0 to 3.1M a month for about 22-24 hours of work/week.

Yes, there are jobs out there in Korea that have a high rate of pay.....
I would do a google search of universities/colleges in Korea and start emailing out your CV to them. It sounds like a sh-ot in the dark, but it is better than just sitting around waiting for 'the perfect job' to come to you, and it is better than complaining about it on an anonymous message board .




The secret for getting one of these prime-choice jobs is that they don't search for candidates on sites such as Dave's (if you notice, most of the jobs that post here, sometimes regularly, have a hard time keeping good teachers and need to keep a continuing flow of teachers coming in.

To get one, sometimes people just fill in for people who are leaving. So, networking and getting know people can be very advantious....