Korean Job Discussion Forums

[curlygirl]

So I'm interested in finding out other people's experiences. First off, I'm lucky enough to have a job, but I have many friends both in Korea and outside, who are looking for work and are having a very difficult time of it.

1. It seems that many older, male teachers are not able to get their public school contracts renewed.

2. Anybody over 30, particularly male teachers, are simply not getting job offers despite listing themselves with many agencies.

3. Unless an advertisment specifically requests a kyopo teacher, these people are not being hired.

4. People who have years and years of teaching experience are finding that this makes absolutely no difference. It simply counts for naught.

I have a Korean friend who is a recruiter so I asked him for the low down. This is what he said (I'm paraphrasing it).

Every school is looking for a North American, white, female teacher who is under 30 and attractive. The schools are holding out for this and they're getting these teachers. Non-North Americans, particularly men, are not getting hired because schools aren't interested in them. And teachers who state that they will "only work in Seoul" are really limiting their options because almost everybody asks for this.

A case in point. I have a good buddy, North American, 30 years old, slim and attractive and currently in Korea. He has 3 years' teaching experience here. He has listed with something like 30 recruiters over the last 2 months and hasn't had a single interview or job offer.

So...is it really that tough? If you're male, over 30, non-white, not "pretty", and aren't from North America should you give up looking for a job in Korea? What are other peoples' thoughts/experiences?

[reactionary]

There are a lot more people applying now, so a lot of the silly horse and pony show hagwons can get who they want. I think people with more experience need to be applying for jobs that care less about selling a sexy entertainer to their children - be it public school (age does seem to be a factor, but not race or gender), test prep academies, or something along those lines.

Any school (or recruiter) with lame hiring policies like that probably is going to have other problems if you do work for them.

But hey I might be singing a different tune when I hit my 30s. I just know I wasn't hired (and, in fact, offered quite a few jobs) for my gender or my appearance.

[rayray123]

I am a 34yo American male, reasonable attractive. I have an MA, but no ESL teaching experience. I only recently started looking for jobs, so I can't really say much about my experience, except that I'm still waiting to hear from my recruiter about my GEPIK application.

[kinerry]

[PaperTiger]

FLOODED MARKET.

Recruiters are posting an abundance of jobs because the bulk of them feature offers that are THE SAME AS WAGES OFFERED SEVEN YEARS AGO WHEN I FIRST GOT HERE. Also, recruiters lie more than they breathe.

[The Gipkik]

[kinerry]

[Stalin84]

I made a comment but it got deleted. Odd.

Anyway, as I had said...

When I found my public high school there was no foreign teacher and I pretty much just waltzed in. There was an interview but I had the feeling they were going to hire me either way. This was almost two years ago.

Just recently, I interviewed twelve applicants for my job. I'm 25 years old and only have a BA with no TEFL certification. Many of the applicants had TEFL, were a lot older than me and had BEds. It was a tough decision but we ended up choosing someone much older and more qualified than me. They had interviewed at numerous other schools before being offered a job (at our school).

My school isn't located in Seoul but is located in one of the nicer parts of Suwon. Take from this what you will.

[curlygirl]

[Stalin84]

[CapnSamwise]

I'm 22 and white as the fresh driven snow, I had a recruiter able to get me a job almost immediately.

I think I applied to, maybe, 2 other positions, neither of which were in Korea. I am kind of expecting to be dissected and sold for parts since it just feels like I got a job way, way too easily.

However, it's in Pohang.

[Stalin84]

[CapnSamwise]

If I listen to the general consensus in this thread, everything in Korea is terrible and all the people are ignorant racist looking to bilk me out of every penny I have.

So forgive me if I'm a little skeptical at this point.

[Stalin84]

[captain kirk]

Ha, remember the Life In Pohang thread, getting pissed in steeltown. If one had motorbike or car there is great country around there for scenery, coast up and down, nice.