Korean Job Discussion Forums

[as25645]

Hello Everyone would like some advice if possible.

I have received a job offer through ATC for Avalon in Seoul,Pyeongchon,
Bundang, Yongin and Suwon. They say it is better to be flexible about location. As long as i am in seoul i am not too bothered. However i would like to know what avalon is like to work for and if anyone knows these places and what hey are like to live. Just a bit of back ground info would be nice before i sign the contract.

Thanks for any help you can give :0

[War Eagle]

It's the Mc Donalds of Korea.

For most of their employees it's their first job. The massive franchise is easy to get hired into. You will certainly get paid on time and with full benefits. They have a very structured work schedule you must follow, the best advertising in the business, and they know you won't argue when they ask you to clean up the puke in the restroom because you are not qualified to do anything else.

For the consumer, their product is placed neatly into clean, attractive packaging. Although, once the package is open, one starts to notice the product doesn't quite look like the picture on the wall. It is easy to swallow, but in the long run it is discoverd it's probably done more harm than good.

Damn, now I gotta go to Lotteria for some french fries cause Mc D's is closed

[GTG09]

I got an offer from an Avalon school a month or two back. I think I didn't like it because the contract had stuff in it that I didn't like. I could be wrong I have read a lot of contracts and can't keep them straight anymore but I know I didn't like something about Avalon because I didn't take the job.

This probably didn't help at all, but good luck.

[dirving]

Try to score a contract at Mapo Avalon in Seoul City! It's at Daeheung Station, and you could commute from Haebongcheon or I'taewon to the school on the bus. I did some time there. It was great, and the students were top-notch.

If at all possible, schmooze your way into the Upper-Third Level or whatever Avalon calls it nowadays. These kids are usually polite and cool students who studied English in Canada, Aussie, or wherever. They were a pleasure to teach in my writing, listening, and speaking classes.

Over and out.

DI

[highdials5]

[Nexus11]

First of all, none of the locations listed are in Seoul. They are in surburbs outside of Seoul. Just so you know.

As for Avalon, I spent a year working with them. You get a very easy to use curriculum. Most of the time, you can just walk into a classroom and teach with zero prep. The classes are pretty easy to manage because they have a detention system. This made the kids much better behaved than in my previous hagwon.

You will always get paid on time because you get paid by the head office.

On the downside, you will live in a box. My apartment was pretty well a dorm room plus a bathroom. The building wasn't even set up properly for internet. I had to pay the landlord to access his router because none of the internet companies could offer services beyond the ground floor of the building. I lived in the same neighborhood the year before and had an apartment 2.5 times bigger than the one Avalon gave me.

When intensive time comes around, they will not pay you overtime unless the intensives put you over your 30 contracted hours regardless of what they tell you. One to three times a semester, you will have to phone students and ask them some canned questions to "show you care about your students". Some campuses have cameras in the classrooms. Others don't.

It is common practice for curriculum changes to come at the last minute, usually requiring you to do more work without extra pay. Unless you have a head teacher who is willing to stand up to management, the expectations and workload will steadily rise.

Overall, I think it is a slightly above average first year job. Use it to gain experience and then move on to something better.

[Street Magic]

[highdials5]

[Nexus11]

Yeah, I had high utility charges too. I PM'd you my branch.

[Moleface13]

Does anyone know anything about the Avalons Dongbaek Elementary Campus? Or anything about the area it is in (Yongin)? I've been offered a job there. Thanks a lot in advance!

[8 years down]