Korean Job Discussion Forums

[vertical loser]

I checked through the job boards here, and there seems to be little here about this uni in Busan. Anyone have any inside info?

I have an invitation to attend an interview. Much of the initial vibe is bad. The invitation begins, "Dear Sir.." They couldn't even be bothered to personalise it, which is quite pathetic. It went straight to my junk mail box, which suggests a mass mailing. The email just tells me to get my ass to the campus by 2.30p.m. on "June 11th." Hell, I missed it by a month already! No, wait, that must be a typo, and they mean July 11th. That gives me two days to get there, and I'm in Hong Kong! They won't pay a cent towards the costs. The salary is very low: 1.7-2.0. , about 25% of what I would earn here in HK if I sign on again in a public school.

I knew all that slog and grind for the Phd was worth it.

The positives are that housing is included, and there are twenty weeks of holidays. It's teaching oral so not much work, and no more than 16 50min lessons a week. I would have time to do my own research and work on my projects (which require a lot of time) - and spend a lot of time back n Beijing with my wife (which I can't do from HK).

And yeah, if I fly there I assume they will have lots of other applicants, so I only have, say, no more than a 25% chance of getting the job. Then again, I don't suppose the PhDs are lining up for it.

Whatayathink? If it was a great place to live and work I might consider it.

VL

[KoreanAmbition]

Don't rule out that they could be hiring more than one teacher; unless stated they're only hiring one.

I personally think others on here will agree that the monthly salary you're looking at may as well be paid to you in "kimchi".

But aside from that, money isn't the most important thing to everyone.

You will get 20 weeks of vacation which is GREAT. They are providing housing which they should at that salary.

You require a lot of time for research and extra work, which you will get with only 16 hours of work. Oral classes aren't too difficult if you are capable of letting a class run itself.

Can you stomach making only 2.0 million? Let's be honest, if they want you then you'll get that most likely. However they might find some poor schmuck willing to take 1.7 that has less degrees but wants the 20 weeks vacation as well.

Can you call them and negotiate some form of payment for the flight? Tell them straight up you are confident you are the best person that they have lined up for an interview, and you are willing to come there if they compensate you for it. (at least if you get the job they should reimburse you or something). It's worth a shot.


If you're worried about visiting your wife a lot, then take the job. You get a LOT of vacation and can go earn money in China when you visit her for 2 or 3 months at a time.

[aka Dave]

Teaching at a Uni, if they like you (or need you), you might not get all that vacation. I was supposed to teach 15 hours a week. I instantly got added 2 writing workshops (which require a lot of correcting of essays; they actually don't require me to correct more than 2 essays, then photocopy and go over them in class. However, I feel compelled to correct every essay as the students desperately need it).

It wasn't in my contract to teach English immersion. I said okay to that as long as I taught in the afternoon so that was 4 weeks in June/July. Finally, the writing workshops (for seniors studying for the teacher exam) turned out to be kinda popular so the juniors wanted one over the vacation, and I just found out today I'll be teaching 2 days a week a writing workshop in July and August until the fall semester begins. So literally no vacation for me.

I'm cool with it because they pay for the stuff and to be honest teaching writing classes is most rewarding because it's in those classes that students make substantial, concrete progress.

This is Korea. Things change.

[bassexpander]

[Trevor]

Kyungsung has a good reputation in Busan among foreigners and is considered one of the better Uni's in town. The pay is awful, however the working conditions, accommodations and general treatment is above average. Most of their instructors re-sign. At least that describes the scene from the last few years.

It really depends on what is important to you.

[vertical loser]

[vertical loser]

[KoreanAmbition]

[bodybydada]

[vertical loser]

Well, of course I'm not goig to fly to another country for an interview based on what's not much better than a generic spam message in my junk mail box. Bassexpander took one piece of info out of context, rather than seeing the obvious that it was the totality of all the things I mentioned that was the concern.

And yes, I did write them an email suggesting I was still working, so couldn't make it on that day (and was flexible to arrange another day), and that we could do a phone or internet interview. Never heard back from them. The "vibe" I talked about was certainly not misplaced.

I applied for some other jobs and got two personalised responses telling me to wait while they process the applications. So quite clearly there are HR people in Korea who are capable of getting the basics right.

VL

[Trevor]

At Uni's, corresponding to prospective applicants and setting up interviews is the job of an administrative assistant that makes approximately $12,000 a year and who may or may not have passable English skills. Undoubtedly, your email suggesting a phone interview never made it to the chairman's attention. It is no surprise it did not get answered.

[IamBabo]

I know 2 guys on staff there. They seem to like it. One guy has been there for a long time. They are treated well. That school actually has an American Football team, it's a club team, but hey, it's a start!! I know that is not important, but it's cool!