Korean Job Discussion Forums

[inexhile]

Its true!!! I have been trying online for 2 months. Yes, I have posted my resume on 20 sites, sometimes weekly or more in forums like Daves. I have 1 years experience and have the look that Koreans like.
My stipulations are not fussy or unrealistic (single housing, no kindy). Location is important however and I'm looking for a big city, preferably Pusan.
There are many recruiters in pusan and they keep offering me jobs in Ulsan or other nearby cities, the jobs they offer in Pusan are always not quite right i.e. low pay, ambiguous hours. I'm guessing there is just a huge backlog of teachers wanting to go there or the ones there don't want to leave.
Its getting frustrating though as I am living off savings, and just can't work it out. I thought I'd be snapped up in a week. A recruiter told me that there is a recession there now so schools are looking to employ from inside korea to cut costs etc. 1 job said they would employ me if I paid my airfare.
Its a shame Dave has introduced the pay for viewing resumes. Although completely understandable, it is now only the big recruiters who do so. When I started looking for my 1st contract almost 2 years ago, I got lots of offers from quirky independent hogwons that would throw in gym membership, tae kwon do lessons, cooking and language lessons, a free motobike or car. 1 job back then even stated that there was a tequila bar in the same building as a job perk.
Sorry for the rant, but life sucks when you are living day to day and everyone is incessantly asking when you are leaving.

[Tiger Beer]

Have you tried www English Spectrum dot com?

[wylde]

sometimes schools will place their own ad.. look for those.. i wanna go on a murder spree and kill all recruiters

[Mr. Pink]

I'll tell you some things that made me NOT email people back when I was head hunting for my school:

Guys who ask about the dress code and say they don't wanna wear a tie. That says something right there.

People who say, well I am worth XXX amount of money...offer me this and I'll consider applying to your school. - Bascially this attitude is the person thinks they are God's gift to ESL or that cause they have a year or two they are worth more money than I make.

People who try to play job against job. I know my school is better than 90% of the jobs out there. If someone doesn't want to be serious, I'll let a serious candidate take their place.


I am not sure if you have done any of the following. Single housing and no kindy aren't really big demands IMO. If you are flexible on your schedule and pay/vacation it shouldn't be too hard to find a job.

If Pusan is where you want to be, how about go down there and hit the pavement?

[inexhile]

Yeah I've tried english spectrum. some email me back a position and i say "yeah that sounds like a fair deal" and I never hear from them or they don't answer questions related to the job, precise location and housing etc.
I'm in New zealand at the moment so hitting the pavements of Busan isn't an option, but, if it really comes to that I've got places to stay in Pohang.
I think I'm pretty flexible, and have no aversion to wearing a tie, although I've never heard of it in korea.
I haven't played schools off. I did tentatively accept a position in busan for 1.9. Then I found out that the other franchises in Busan were paying 2 million for 1st years doing less hours. They said i had to be in the hogwon for almost 9 hours and not leave. They also would not tell me exactly how many classes I had to teach per day. So I canned it.
I'm wondering if the curse of the kiwis is true, there were plenty of us kiwis in Pohang and surrounding cities. Someone told me we are far and few between in central Seoul.

[wylde]

i did 10 hours a day in my hogwan last year.. ya can't be too fussy.. if ya want a job.. take what you can get and maybe change once you're here.. or, do you first year and get a good reference and pick and choose for your second...

a job is a job.. a couple or hours a week extra, a bit less cash.. whatever.. you are still here, the money is still good, etc, etc, etc, etc....

[sadsac]

It can be tough. Try Jeff or Ben at Footprints Recruiting, I am always one to espouse their professional attitude and approach to recruiting. You can find them at www.footprintsrecruiting.com. Best of luck. Also Ulsan is only an by bus from Busan, worth a look if all else fails.

[Kwangjuchicken]

[Scott in HK]

[tomato]

Hello, Inexhile!

I don't know why, but they say that it is hard to find single housing in Pusan.
I don't know about other large cities, because I prefer the smaller cities.

[peppermint]

Jobs involving adults tend to have more strict dress codes. Most of my students at the current job are university students, so it's not a big deal, but if I know I'll be teaching businessmen, then I dress appropriately.
The key seems to be to dress at least as well as the students you'll be teaching.

[Joe Thanks]

I had more experience than what you list and was in the states looking for work. I had a minimum I'd accept in monthly salary and I think the only real demand was that I had Saturdays and Sundays off. Not too much to ask. Tons of lattitude in ages. I preferred Ulsan (a mistake), Pusan and Daegu but looked at prospects in Pohang and Kwangju. It took two months to get responses. Kwangju needed me earlier than I could go. Pohang contacted me after I found a nice gig in Ulsan.

The other thing is to keep on them and get an answer. That's how Pohang lost out. The boss waited too long. They lost the chance to hire a good teacher.

I don't mind Kindy. Kids like Joe, so that wasn't an issue.

It's going to take time.

Good luck,

Joe


has spoken

[Joe Thanks]

[Mr. Pink]

Scott:


If the only thing you care about is wearing a tie, you will find if any non Korean is doing the hiring or looking through applicants, you won't get very far. I said if the FIRST question you ask is if you have to wear a tie...

Joe:

Yeah asking about the dress code AFTER a few of what I consider important questions would show what your priorities are. It shows you will either prepare to dress the way the school wants, OR pass on the job.


Oh the 2nd most popular question people asked me FIRST was:
"How many holidays do I get?"


If you asked that question at a job interview back home right off the bat, do you think you would get the job?

[caniff]

I'm sorry, but if you can't get a fair-to-middlin' job as an ESL teacher in Korea then something has gone very wrong somewhere down the line. Not trying to be nasty, but PLEEEAASSSSEEE!!