Korean Job Discussion Forums

[sdoll]

I've read that many of you suggest finding your own job as opposed to going through a recruitment agency. This might seem nearly impossible for those of us that are overseas and not in korea. However, if I were to go to Korea prior to finding a job, how would I go about looking for jobs in hagwons, public schools etc? And would I be able to obtain a work visa before I actually find employment in Korea? Thanks in advance!!

[andrewchon]

Assuming you are from E-7 nations;
Don't speak/read Korean;
Never been to Korea before;
Have all the documents;

I think you will need someone (other than a recruiter) to help you, quite a bit.
If you're by yourself, you'll have to hang out where ESL-industry types are. Otherwise it's a steep learning curve.

You must have a contract before getting a work visa. (E-2)

You sound like you can't resist a challenge, I'd say go try it. A steep learning curve is a good thing.

[lifeinkorea]

[D.D.]

Come get a job and then go back to your country to do your interview at your home consulate= return airfare plus another one way ticket which could be very expensive.

[gartonator]

I've been weighing this question a lot in my mind for the last couple weeks, so here's my 2 cents and details from my own experience in searching for a 'better-than-average-job' - hope this gives someone some piece of mind

I'm in NYC, went to Korea to teach in 06/07 at an 'elite hagwon', have an ivy league english degree, and have experience teaching elite classes and non-English classes (like SAT, SAT II, AP Tests). After much searching and maybe 100's of applications on the internet I've been offered some of the highest-paying work in Gangnam and Bundang (3.5 to 5 million/month), but these higher paying jobs come with different initial conditions...

so far no school wants to pay my airfare or apartment... their explanation for this is that they've had many teachers where it was pretty clear pretty quick that neither the teacher nor students were happy, so they are tired of losing lots of money on teachers who don't work out - AND/OR the school also hires many career F2/F4 teachers so the teachers aren't usually in need of housing to begin with (whether foreign or not, they've been in Korea and will be in Korea for a while)

1 of the schools will pay key money for an apartment, another will not, but the one that will not, will reimburse my airfare if they haven't fired me in 3 months

All promise even BETTER pay (up to 5 million) if I'm still around and everyone's happy after 3 or 4 months (and the one that doesnt' pay key money might then offer to)

all pay very well, but it's either LONG hours (like you have to be in the school for 54 hours a week m-sat) but very small classes (like less than 5 kids in some classes), or others have normal hagwon hours (4-10 m-f) but larger classes (probably meaning a bit or a lot of at-home grading)

and then I have to fly to Seoul to interview (teach a 15 minute mock class, write an essay in 20 minutes) to 'seal the deal' with one school, so... kind of a gamble, but I'm pretty sure I'm what they're looking for

And originally I was pitching myself as a great-teacher-who-will-also-make-amazing-videos-for-recruiting-teaching-and-advertising-AND-teach-kids-to-make-any-type-of-movie and even found Busan Global Village which claims to have a partnership with Korean News Network and have tons of production equipment for kids to use and a 400 seat movie theater, and even though I have credits as a producer, shooter and editor for television shows for almost every American network you can name, the fookers would NOT offer me more than 2.3 to share my expertise with the school, so I guess they're going to let all the equipment fall to random teachers who have no production background... so that's a cool school if anyone's looking for a cool first year job, just not the place for me to pay off debt from making my last feature documentary... I might try this pitch a couple more times in person if I fly to Seoul next week (tickets are still $800 one-way from nyc to Seoul next monday) I'll let you guys know if I find the big media-teacher job in the sky

what i love is that so many hagwon owners are only thinking about making it a business and not a 'real school', but the same owners will NOT listen to a thing you have to say about anything outside of 'real school teaching', alas the monotony of sameness in every school in Korea will reign forever, and we'll still have kids who've been crammed into every English hagwon class possible from age 3 to 23 and still can't put a sentence together in normal conversation upon graduating college... these kids need some confidence and being on camera and working as a creator can do that... argh... i'm not saying I'll teach them english any better, but at least they'd grasp the fundamentals of audio-visual storytelling at a young age which could give the school identity and excitement and MIGHT even help a kid develop a talent for filmmaking in the midst of their TOEFL-cramming marathon

sorry, i'm trying to stay positive... anyway, hope someone learned something here, I might have

[gartonator]

oh and btw - you don't have to return to your original country if you already have had an E2 visa in recent years (as far as I understand) but if you've never had an E2, do NOT come to Korea looking, as you'll have to waste mad time and money flying back for the interview (stupid but how it is as far as I understand)

[Carla]

[andrewchon]

gartonator:
tell us about the doco. Is that watchable on youtube or what?

[dedalus2]

I've been thinking about doing this myself since my luck with recruiters has been minimal. I see a lot of part time positions being listed online, and I was wondering if it would be easier to line up two part-time jobs, hopefully get some privates, etc. I have an F4 visa, btw.

I was thinking about going to Korea, getting a goshitel for a month, looking for work, etc. Is it easier to get part-time than full?

And yeah, where exactly would you go to look for work in Korea? It seems like recruiters are more likely to talk with me if I'm in Korea (speaking from experience, when I was in Korea, I got more responses and several unexpected phone calls) versus in the states. Would you just go knocking door to door at the various hagwons?

[sdoll]

thanks for all the input guys. personally i havent had any experience in teaching so teachng a mock class would scare the crap out of me I would want to go to korea to lok for a job but if i ahve to return to my home country and fly back... that seems way too muhc of a hassle and waste of $$. I guess i'll need to try my luck at recruitment agencies. if I want to work in feb/march, when should I start applying?

[iggyb]

[gregoriomills]

[skimatic13]

dedalus2, did you use recruiters while in south korea? i'm in the same boat as you (insert sigh).