Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Typhoon]

I have been out of hagwons for about 5 years now. I totally forgot how much they suck. I needed to go to my two former hagwons to get letters of experience (a letter stating how long I had worked there) for when I return to Canada. Knowing how useless hagwon staff can be I prepared the letters before I went there so I could just add the proper name, position, signature, and get the hell out of there. First hagwon, the supervisor says he can't do that right now. Why? She doesn't want to. I ask when she may feel like taking 5 minutes to do this. She tells me to return in a couple of days, MAYBE she will do it then. Second hagwon, supervisor is there, but can't do anything without the ok of the vice-director who isn't there and he doesn't come into work until after 3pm. 3pm!!! What the hell???? The school opens at 9. What a joke. Anyways, I call the vice director around lunch and he says he can't do anything until he talks to the director. I mean why even have a supervisor or a vice director if they can't even sign a letter confirming the dates someone worked at the school without getting approval from everyone above you?? It would have taken less than 5 minutes to do this.

Now the university. I go in and ask to get the same thing done. I am told I need to see the head of the humanities dept. Being vacation you would think this would be a hard thing to do. No, she is working in her office. I pop my head in. Tell her what I need. She puts her name on the document, her title, prints out the document, signs it and sends me on my way and thanks me for coming to see her with a smile. Took under 5 minutes. Easy. Why do hagwons have to make everything so freaking difficult???? It is just ridicuolous. I am reminded why anyone would have to be out of their damn minds to work at a hagwon. They either go out of their way to be difficult or they are so inefficent and the staff are so useless they can't get anything done. Freaking hagwons.

[Straphanger]

I think maybe you just have a bad eye for employers. FTs still come to my wonjangnim for letters, and all he says is "Do you want it in English, Korean, Japanese, Mandarin, or Cantonese? Cause if it's Cantonese, it's going to take me a few minutes."

Foreign Teachers from when he was Head Teacher still stop by from time to time for one thing or another.

[aka Dave]

Hagwons seem to be very hit and miss. I personally had good luck with my hagwon, my boss was super helpful getting me things like sattelite tv, a computer monitor, etc. He was a great boss.

I love my Uni., but here I'm pretty much on my own. My boss is the chair of the department, and she's great but she can't help me with day to day domestic things; she doesn't even live in the same city.The dept. assistant does that but she's usually so busy I'm hesitant to ask her for help. To give you an example, when I renew my visa, I'll be going alone in a cab to immigration, back at my hagwon my boss would have babysitted me through that.

It's all good, I actually feel more independent. But some hagwon owners (the good ones) try to make their FTs happy.

[kprrok]

So ALL universities are better than ALL hagwons because 2 hagwons you worked at had difficulty in giving you a paper form when you hadn't worked there in a while but the university made you go to a different office where you got if immediately?

Wow, I'm so glad you settled it once and for all in such a scientific way.

[endo]

[offtheoche]

Op (and others)....ALWAYS get your letters of experience/recommendation BEFORE you leave the job to save yourselves such grief in the future!

[robot]

The vacation time at unis is nice, but there's no way you could make half the cash that some hagwons shell out:

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/06_50/b4013056.htm

A special case to be sure, but there are still tons of other hagwons out there that with conditions that would make your eyeballs pop out. In fact, I'd say without a doubt that the best gigs in Korea are hagwon gigs.

[VanIslander]

[Typhoon]

[Scotticus]

[robot]

[uhfotis]

I would just like to echo that not all hogwans suck, and I'm sure not all university jobs are great. I had a great experience at the Hogwan I taught at and I guess I was just lucky. Your big mistake was definately not getting the letters before you left. Your other option of course would just be to fill out the names yourself and the signatures and such. Sure its not the most moral thing in the world but unless you're going to be applying to jobs here that might actually check up on it who cares.

[ChinaBoy]

Letters of experience?

Never heard of those things. Guess it's a Canadian thing.

And why can't you just make your own? I would have done this in a second without even thinking about getting a signature.

[Ukon]

I think he means references

[ChinaBoy]