Korean Job Discussion Forums

[alistaircandlin]

Hi,

I was wondering what people think about the best kind of job to go for in my circumstances. I taught in Korea for two years a while back and am now working as an English teacher in the UK secondary school. I came back to the UK to do an MA in English Lit and my teaching qualification in 2005.

My wife and I are thinking we might return to live in Seoul for one year so that we can save some money for a deposit on a house over here and also because we miss being in Korea.

The last job I had in Seoul was an after-school program, which I liked because it gave me quite a lot of free time. I would kind of like something that left me enough free time to work on my writing, but I'm prepared to spent some time on planning decent lessons.

I'd really appreciate any advice on what you think would be the best kind of job to look for. I'm thinking: after-school program plus a few privates.

[edwardcatflap]

Interesting that you can't save up enough money for a deposit on a house working full time in the UK state school system. What kind of whack are you on after tax if you don't mind me asking?

Anyway my suggestion, if you can interview here, would be 9-15 hour university job + extra corporate classes from the Uni if you can get them set up + Cambridge examining, if you can get qualified + privates to ensure a lot of potential saving power. Mind you all this would probably take a good while to get set up so I'd say 1 year wouldn't be enough

[alistaircandlin]

Thanks Edward.

My takehome pay in the UK is �1500 a month. That's equal to about 3 million won. The difference is that I pay a third of that on rent and the rest just meets expenses - council tax, petrol, heat, light and water and so on.

Also my wife is Korean so she will find it easier to find work in Seoul, where she has experience. It's difficult to find jobs here at the moment - similar to the states I think. We've got 2.5 million unemployed now, which is quite high, and there is lots of competition for every job.

I will certainly try for University positions but I've been told that my lack of University experience might be a bit of a setback. I'm thinking about going for an afterschool or public school position just so that I have something - although in career development terms this would be a bit of a step backwards.

I'm interested in Cambridge examining - any idea how you can get into that? I'm surprised that it's even available in Korea actually - thought they preferred the American exams.

I know what you mean that your suggestion would take over a year and will see how it goes when we move back - we intend to stay just for a year but if things go well we'll consider staying.

Thanks again for your advice.