Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Cherbear]

I'm looking into this one job, but there are a few things about the contract that I don't like and I'm not sure if I'm must being picky and unreasonable or if it's normal. This would be my second time in Korea, but my first job's contract was not nearly as in depth so an opinion on what is normal from someone who has more experience would be helpful.

One thing is the hours. It's 9-4:30 Tues. and Thur. and 9-6:50 Mon., Wed., and Fri. I'm not crazy about the hours since the 9-6:50 seems a little long for an ESL job. And it still needs to be determined how many of those hours would be actual teaching time, because that would be a big factor.

It also states in the contract that they could expect you to do 100 40-min. classroom contact blocks per session, which seems like a huge amount on top of the normal hours. I'm assuming per session is one month, since it says the contract is for 12 session, so that's a lot of overtime per month. Even if they don't normally do overtime, I don't really like that it's in the contract so they could if they wanted to.

It also says that they will deduct and hold 250,000 for the first 3 months as a security deposit. I'm unclear as to when you would get it back, I'm assuming at the end of your contract because it says that it will also be used to pay any outstanding bills. Is this usual?

It also mandates in the contract that the teacher shall devote no less than 2 hours per day at school for preparation and administrative duties. Is this usual or long or shorter than normal? To me 2 hours seems a little long for every single day.

The last thing is orientation and training. The contract states that for the period of orientation and training, which is approximately one week, you will be paid half the normal salary. I have to say I don't really like that.

Like I said before, none of these things were included in my last contract, but it was a little bare bones, although the job itself was very good. I just would like to know if all of those inclusions are normal and standard for a contract or if I could do better.

Thanks for the help!