Korean Job Discussion Forums

[aweitzm1]

Is there anyone who has chosen to be an esl teacher as a career. My goal is to be an esl teach and travel teaching english as a second language. Korea is my first choice to live and teach. I have been reading a lot of posts that people come to Korea and stay only a few years. At the end they return to their home country and pursue the career they went to school for.

My situation is a little different. I am already in my mid twenties and want to change careers to become an esl teacher. I have a boring job right now that I am good at but does not make me happy. I cannot just take a few years off and then return. I would be starting all over and having to take an entry level position when I would be in my thirties.

I would love to hear the stories of people who have chosen teaching abroad as a career. I am interested on what made them choose to live abroad and how many countries they have taught in.

The decision to leave my family and friends has been a scary one as I do not know when I will be back to visit.

[climber159]

If you're not trolling, you sure did a bang up job making it appear as though you are.

One of the major reasons not many people stay in Korea past a few years is that there is little opportunity for upward mobility in the industry. Earn yourself some certifications while you're in Korea and then head elsewhere for better money and air.

[CKAB]

Agreed. It seems the optimal plan is to teach in Korea for a few years, pay off your student loans, get some certifications/master in something, and drag a Han princess back to your home country.

[ESL Milk "Everyday]

I suppose it depends on you, really.

There are a lot of jobs out there that demand a lot more of you and offer a lot less in return... just because you're being screwed over by white people instead of Koreans doesn't make it a better job.

If you're looking for a challenging, busy career with lots of opportunities for advancement, then I'd say you shouldn't come... but if work isn't the most important thing in your life and you don't need a lot of lasting, stable friendships in your life (as it's been mentioned, most people move away after a year), then I'd say this is probably a good job for you.

[PatrickGHBusan]

You can have a very good career in TESL in Korea. You can work in Korea long-term and get improving jobs as you move along. This however will not happen by itself nor will it land on your lap.

You will need the proper qualifications to make a career out of it. You can start without these qualifications but getting them along the way is a must if you want to move forward.

Contrary to what others have said here, you can thrive in Korea. I went there in 1997 taking a sabbatical from my full-time teaching job in Canada. I ended up staying 11 years! In that time I moved forward in leaps and bounds and ended up somewhere I did not think I could end up in such a short time.

I started working for a Hakwon because I wanted something simple. I then worked for a PS and moved on to University work. Along the way I started a consulting agency that I still run. I would still be in Korea had fate not intervened in a way that I could never have imagined...


All this took hard work, upgrading my qualifications along the way, networking and other such activities. I also became fluent in Korean. I married a local gal and that did help heaps when it came to getting a stable family life going.

On the issue of friends....if you focus only on fellow westerners, you will tend to have short-term friends...but you can make great Korean friends as well.


Teaching can be rewarding and will be challenging if you really do try to actually teach.....many do not and prefer the minimal standard and cash in your paycheck way of life. Its all a choice really.

[air76]

Hold your horses there, Tex.

Why don't you try teaching for a year or two before you apply for a Master's program and start planning your 10th anniversary of teaching party? There are a lot of people who end up doing this as a career, but you definitely need to get your feet wet before you make any major investments.

You're already in your mid-twenties, hahaha...that's classic. I think that you must have been watching too much Leave it to Beaver and My Three Sons....30 is the new 20 these days. Trust me...your life has only just begun. You have plenty of time do whatever you want with your life, even if that means coming to Korea for a couple of years and then deciding to go back home. Just the fact that you think mid-twenties means you're old is a sure sign that you MUST go overseas and teach, if for nothing else just to change your perspective and see life from a different point of view.

So yes...lots of people make a career out of this...but you need to try it out before making a definite decision...both the job and the idea of living overseas.

Patrick makes a good point that if you want a REAL career out of TEFL you'll need to move around quite a bit...moving up means going to a new school, and not necessarily moving up within one institution. Also, keep in mind that in many countries around the world the pay for EFL teachers is very low, with even the best jobs just paying $30,000/year, so if you want to make a good living (meaning over $50,000/year) then you'll be limited to a few countries or will have to start your own business....so while a career can be had, you can expect that after 10 years your salary will be pretty close to being maxed out. Very few teachers make more than $50,000/year, and certainly 95% of teachers never reach that point.

At any rate...if you're even considering coming to Korea to teach then I recommend that you do...it will be a life changing experience either way, no matter what you decide to do in year 2 and beyond....but my advice would be to give it a trial run before planning on making this your new career....and chill out...30 is the new 20.

[afsjesse]

I'd like to reiterate what the others have said. Before going into an MA program you should go and check out what you'd be really doing. After a few months or a year, consider going to grad school. You could even do one in Korea while working.

I'm like you. I went to Korea at age 22 and did my first hagwon gig. I then went along with EPIK for a year and decided that i enjoyed teaching ESL. I applied to an MA TESL program at Minn. State University and here I am today one year from graduation. I plan on returning to Korea to build up a respectable teaching career and I'll see where that takes me in life.

Good luck!

[VanIslander]

After my first year I started buying and using over a hundred ESL books, a lot of resource materials accummulated and daily attempts at self-improvement.

After my second year I went and got my CELTA and focused on boosting my skills even more.

In my third and fourth years I contemplated getting a Master's in TESOL but decided the only ones that would help are by distance because then one learns as one teaches, allowing for ongoing improvement. I didn't actually decide on which shortlisted program to take and by my fifth year ditched the plan.

Now in my eighth year I'm content with what I do and how I do it, though a boost by attending seminars and networking with other teachers on classroom ideas is still of interest.

Teaching is always interesting and never boring if one changes it up and ongoing attempts at self-improvement help that process. I have fun, am engaged, and my students respond to that.

I was a journalist before I was a teacher and I know the world is full of just-a-job thinkers and career-minded individuals, and the differencve between the two is not the profession itself but the mentality of the people doing the work.

[afsjesse]

[Zulethe]

Every major life decision I make is one based on how I would feel about that decision on my death bed.

If I spent most of my career teaching ESL, my death bed experience would be one of true regret indeed.

If you have motivation to do anything tough, challenging, and rewarding over the course of a career, and ESL meets those needs, then I'm envious of you.

Some people find this in ESL. I personally can't. Out of all of the great experiences in my life, as far as personal growth is concerned, teaching ESL has paid the least dividends.

Unfortunately, for many people, teaching ESL is about as satisfying as pizza without cheese.

I'm not knocking teaching ESL, I'm just saying it doesn't do it for me as far as a career is concerned.

[air76]

[kingplaya4]

I rarely reply to these anymore, because of the dire economic conditions back in the west, but seriously if you have a decent job back home (I'd say anything that pays at least 2 grand a month) I would really think hard before coming to Korea or anywhere else to teach English. For every Patrick Busan, I've seen probably 10 other that are still working in a hagwon or mediocre job for their 2,000,000 to 2,500,000 won.

Can it be done? I have no doubt if you get the qualifications, network, and work your butt off, you can get a good job in Korea. If you have a serious passion for teaching, especially teaching English, then a decent lifestyle here might be in the cards for you.

As a lark, to experience a new culture, etc. I really think it's a mistake except for those who can't get out of mommy's basement or can't do better than unemployment, working at the Gap, Walmart, Starbucks etc. (And I don't mean to offend/crticize those people I had a poor job before coming here as well).

Sorry to go a little ot, but I've seen a few post by newbies lately, hey I've been here two months, where are all the horror stories I heard on Dave's? I think for most people, except for those who get a terrible job, the first six months or so should be good, experiencing a new culture, the work hasn't become that tiring yet etc. Anyway, saying Korea is a horror would definitely be a big exaggeration, even for a mid-termer like myself, but in my opinion besides the pay, the lifestyle is definitely a step down from back home, and after the first year or so it can definitely grate on you.

[CKAB]

kingplaya I understand where you're coming from, and again it has to be stated that it's about getting lucky. You might meet a hot girl, make a ton of friends, and always have someone or something fun to do outside of work. That's what makes any job, or life, worthwhile.

[Solarian]

It always amazes me that people are so impressed by the pay an English teacher gets here. Is it really that bad in the US? 2K a month only works out to about 24k a year. If you really have a degree (legal requirement to teach here), your starting salary back home should be well above that. I don't want to get into what I was making before, but what I get in Korea really feels like peanuts in comparison. The cost of living here, and the fact that I have less expenses smooths it out, but at the end of the day, it's still a lot less money.

[air76]

You don't need to network or work your butt off to have a good job in Korea...after 2 years of teaching you can easily get into a lower tier university, and then after a couple years there you can move up to a mid-level university. Obviously if you have qualifications you can get even better jobs, move up more quickly, and certainly will know more of the jargon for the interview process that will help you get hired.

We were offered jobs by 5 different universities the first time we tried to get on at one, which was every school that we interviewed with...plus we had 3 more interviews that we cancelled because we'd taken a job. We had a few years experience, but no qualifications more than a CELTA and we found all of those jobs on the Dave's ESL job board, none of them were through networking.

In fact...I think that teaching in Korea is quite unique in that all you have to do to move up really is to put your time in and be willing to move around a bit. You don't need to be good at teaching English to advance...although clearly it helps. Obviously the top level jobs require qualifications, but you can move quite a bit up the food chain simply by sticking around and applying for better jobs each year. Merit is only somewhat relevant as there are all sorts of clowns that get university jobs, and then after a couple years of mediocre work they are able to move on to a better university simply on the fact that they've got 2 years of university experience under their belts.

I agree that overall the lifestyle here is a "step-down" from home for most people...we generally live in crappier apartments, tend to drive crappier cars, and so on...but money and other material gains are not the only reasons to travel. My life in America was definitely much "nicer" in terms of where I lived and what possessions I owned, but I worked a lot harder to maintain that lifestyle and had a lot more stress at work.