Korean Job Discussion Forums

[jyoo24]

So, I have an interview with a hagwon next Monday but it isn't for a teaching position. Instead, it's for a research & development position..Does anyone have any experience with this type of job? What exactly can/should I expect?

Thanks in advance for your help.


-John

[DCJames]

R&D at a hogwon?

[jyoo24]

I guess no one really knows about this?

[bixlerscott]

Sounds like curriculum writing? Do you want to compose school books? Sounds like a good job to me as long as it's legit, but if it is legit, they'll probably want to see some examples of your work. Someone needs to write some good material as I found so many mistakes in both hagwon and public school books. Not only grammer mistakes, but incorrect info and totally goofed up incompetently written school books.

[Skippy]

Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to build the world's super championship/Level A/ Top student. How you say with the R&D department of ___________ Hagwon/ Academy.

He will remember more vocabulary! Spell quicker, Write faster. His name is
.........

In the end I think the R & D department is simply put writing more books and text books, and teaching materials.

[fustiancorduroy]

[jyoo24]

If you don't mind, fustiancorduroy, could you tell me anything/everything you know about a R&D job?



I know I could just wait until my interview on Monday to learn the specifics, but I would like to gather as much information as possible before then.

Thanks for your help!

[dreemwhrld]

I met someone this week who does R&D for a big hogwon company in Seoul. He works on lesson plans and powerpoints for other teachers during the week, and then if someone needs a substitute teacher, he's sent out around the city to sub for them.

I've been doing a smaller version of R&D in the afternoon for the same company. I don't have afternoon classes, unlike most of my co-workers, so I've been asked to create and design lesson plans and supplementary materials (including finding youtube videos, pictures, making PowerPoints, etc.) for lessons that I will never teach.

I'm sure different companies have different definitions of R&D, so yours could be completely different...

[CA-NA-DA-ABC]

The proper job title is photocopy person

[fustiancorduroy]

There are all sorts of R&D jobs out there. At a hagwon, I'd suspect you'd be doing one of the following:

1. Essentially plagiarizing other books, and maybe changing just a few small things to make "your" material "unique."

2. Writing your own material in order to contribute to a larger, established group project.

3. Planning, designing, and creating all the material yourself.


My first R&D job was essentially job number 3. I created a series of textbooks from scratch, planning a 6-month curriculum, designing the layout, and producing everything by myself. I wrote about 300 pages per month on top of teaching about 8-10 hours per week. It was very stressful, but, boy, did I learn a lot about writing and teaching. And considering it was during my first year, the 3.2 million a month salary was not too bad (though, given the amount of work I had to do, it wasn't enough).

If this job you're interviewing for is like number 1, it shouldn't be too hard. If anything, it'll probably be mind-numbingly boring. If it's like number 2 or 3, be prepared to work. But I guarantee it'll be more intellectually stimulating than teaching young'uns. You'll do a lot of reading, hone your writing skills and grammar knowledge, and develop your critical thinking skills while producing something tangible that you can show future employees to illustrate your intellectual prowess and work ethic.

Note that I would only take such a job provided that:

- you don't have any classes to regularly teach (preferably none at all).
- it pays AT LEAST 2.7 (plus housing) per month.
- you aren't responsible for producing more than 100 pages per month (ideally you should produce about 50-80 pages per month).
- you're able to take time off.

If all these things are true, you might have a good opportunity to develop yourself both personally and professionally.

[jyoo24]

Thank you all for your input...It is greatly appreciated and helpful!

[NYCESOL11211]

POLY?

[Goon-Yang]