Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Ms.G]

Every contract I get seems to have no pension, no sick days, crappy overtime pay, responsible for this, that, etc. I'd like a bigger salary too but at this point I'd be happy with 2.1 and pension in the contract.

Who's got some great Korean negotiation tactics and managed to get everything they wanted? How open are hagwons to negotiating anyway? At what point do you stop being a difficult customer and start settling?

[ttompatz]

[jadarite]

Well, I have a hagwon job out in the country which is pretty good. If the country aspect is your thing, I can give you details about it. Right now, I am looking for a way to move to the Seoul area, so we are looking for a replacement teacher. The job position is NOT bad. It is simply not a match for me for personal reasons.

If interested, email [email protected]

I can tell you the pros and cons of the job here, and if you are serious I will call you up.

[Ms.G]

Thanks for the offer Jadarite, I'm looking for more of a city environment though in Seoul or Busan.

Also thanks for the advice ttompatz... I sent in an amended contract with everything I'm entitled to (pension, sick days, etc) and SURPRISE!! There is no longer a job for me. I was a little surprised that there was no attempt to negotiate but... glad for a bad job to be caught early rather than a few months down the road.

Are attempts at negotiation with Koreans inadvisable though? I thought I had addressed it in a non-attacking way.

[jadarite]

In short, say YES to them now, make changes later.

I lived in Japan for 4 years and here only 6 months so far. I have found that in both countries, their negotiating tactics involved offering you everything that is considered the norm in a contract. Then, they compete to make their position better in order to get you.

I only had one Japanese school owner treat me fairly. What they do then is chip away things, change your schedule, and slowly modify the contract terms to their liking. So, I think it is more beneficial to the teacher to negotiate after you work there a while. If you get along with them first, you are more likely to get what you want in the long run. However, before you start working, they don't know you. So, they won't feel influenced to give you any perks until you "prove" yourself to them. Once you do, they won't want to lose you. That's when you get what you want, and it's better to negotiate at that time than earlier on.

Obviously, say what you want and patiently wait till a school accepts. If you need the move immediately, then take the best offer and at least use it as a stepping stone for a better school.

This school I am at now is good, but things aren't exactly as we agreed to in the contract. The negotiating we have done over the months would have nullified any negotiating we could have done before I came here.

Find out what you really need and want. Since you mentioned you want a city job also, maybe these things are important for you as well. For me, I want easy access to transportation (subway). I had terrible experiences with buses in Japan and America (England wasn't bad, but not really enjoyable), so I was weary last weekend when I wanted to visit Seoul. However, I have found the bus system in Korea to be well established.

Another thing is apartment as well as classroom. You probably want to know where you will be spending most of your time. I don't spend much time where I live, so I have got the worst living arrangement (but I don't pay any of the bills). When you find a school you want, you might prefer seeing pictures of where they want you to live before you move.

I waited until a school sent me adequate pictures of the school so I could see the classroom (many schools skipped me, lol), but one school sent 14 pictures of the classrooms, computer lab, and office. It gave me a clear idea of the environment I would be working in. There were no surprises like my first job in Japan.

As a third thing that I find at the top of the essentials is WHEN CAN YOU HAVE TIME OFF? I am not talking about breaks or contractual days off. Since the school is setting your schedule, what will they be scheduling?

Do you want to teach a block of lessons and be done, or do you want time between double lessons? You can actually negotiate this early on. Make sure there is a base schedule in the contract so you can always return it if they start to take advantage of you. You can then use this as a negotiating tool later on when they want to change something.

After the hours are dealt with, I would try to find out what days you need to work on. A job which has you working Monday through Thursday gives you 3 days off, whereas a similar job (Monday through Wednesday and Friday) limits you to 1 day off and 2 days off. Some might like this, but I prefer having 3 consecutive days off.

You will probably need to work there a while before you can sense the schedule they want and suggest changes which are beneficial for both.