Korean Job Discussion Forums

[robinsoncrusoe]

hi guys,

maybe i'm just being paranoid, but i was wondering if being korean-american makes me a bad candidate for teaching english in korea? do they prefer the anglo-saxon/caucasian teachers who don't speak a drop of korean?

[carleverson]

If you're a guy, yes.

[Scotticus]

Don't listen to carleverson. Assuming you speak Korean, being a gyopo can help you out a ton. Yes, some jobs state they're looking for whities, but nowadays I'd say the jobs specifically looking for gyopos outnumber them. If you have Korean blood, you get an F-visa, which allows you to do pretty much whatever you want - unlike us pale-faces. You can clean up in the part-time market if you feel like it.

[kyopoopa]

[sparkplug]

Sometimes schools prefer teachers under E-2 status because they think that F-4s can pick up and leave easier than an E-2 (this is mostly in terms of hakwons)

I am a Korean-American under E-2 status. In my case, I'm the only foreigner. Everyone at the school is telling me they like me better than their previous foreigners because it has been easier for me to adjust to the culture and food. Their previous foreigners had spoken negatively of Korean food and culture and took offence to some of the students who asked ignorant questions (of course they're going to ask ignorant questions... they don't know anything else but the life in Korea! That's part of why we're here).

I think the only problem would be with hakwons because they're just trying to impress the parents with the image of an American. The public schools just want to get their students through the exams, so I think they are less picky about your appearance.

[jvalmer]

Public schools will have no issues hiring Korean-Americans.

[Scotticus]

[T-dot]

Privates are still illegal regardless of your VISA status unless you happen to get registered to legally teach privates.

[JDSengir]

There should be a sticky on gyopos...

If you are a female gyopo who is bilingual then you're chances are great. There are quite a few who look for female gyopos.
If you are a guy who can't speak English then you are very low in the sex/race hierarchy of ESL teachers.

- Some schools don't want to deal with foreigners, but they may also EXPECT you to act Korean. For this reason I avoid schools that only hire gyopos, the environment is much too Korean. I have also noticed that many gyopos jobs provide no housing.
- Generally schools that want gyopos will say so during recruiting, I have applied to many many jobs that does not specially state what visas they are looking for and all of them just ignore me. Sometimes the recruiters will say those jobs are for Caucasians only (even though it was not stated as such). I *beep* you not.
- Doesn't matter for public school as stated above.
- Korean law is not like US laws, they tend to enforce whatever they feel like at the time. There is also double standard for private tutoring I believe.
- Gyopos have more rights then E-2 teachers so you do have more freedom (If you get treated like crap, you can theoretically tell the hagwon owner to go F himself). However, there are less opportunities for a teacher with Asian face in Korea. The biggest problem is that often recruiters will just look at your face and not think twice about you.
- After some Korean LA gangs faked some documents, gyopos do get some screening but not as much as the E-2.
- Also some teachers here want to see that you actually lived in the English speaking country as a kid. I use my school records to provide evidence of living in US as a child.
- I also believe that as long as you can speak Korean fluently for many non-teaching jobs F-4 visas is actually superior to Korean citizenship.

[furtakk]

i've been recently looking for new employment (my job wraps up in a couple of months) and there are tons and tons of great jobs aimed only at gypopos. especially jobs at desirable locations in seoul (gangnam/hongdae). that said, nearly all of them require an F-4 and a lot of them also require a higher level of bilingualism.

if you're a gyopo who can't secure an F-4 or who doesn't speak Korean then you may be at a disadvantage, but if you have one of the latter you will be fine.

[misher]

This whole talk of gyopos getting the shaft is kinda puzzling to me. I'm trying to get a job teaching business English/corporates and about 80 percent of the jobs/companies I've looked into want F visa gyopos ONLY. If it has to be a non gyopo then a married foreign national on an F series visa will also be ok.

I know 2 gyopos raking it in at 45/50k an hour doing corporates which is one hell of a lot better than teaching kids at a public school/hagwon for 2.8 million won a month (im including the housing in that).

Gyopos can do quite well here if you're willing to go the adult corporate route. If you want kindy where you have to dance around, the Korean parents prefer the foreign blonde look but do you really want a job like that? I mean some people enjoy the kids and do quite well at their jobs but that would be hell for me.

[JDSengir]

misher - I've tried pming you but I'm a newbie. Could you let me know what those schools are?

I have applied to every adult job imaginable and is being ignored too much and I even have business experiences. Of course my *beep* seems to get in the way half the time.

So why the need of females or female gyopos for many adult teachings? for kids and all girl schools I understand, but for adults? I know I'm Korean by blood only so what am I not seeing here?

[bocceman]

My answer would be: it depends.

I would ask the following two questions:

1.) Is the director of your school is someone with native or near native-level English fluency?

2.) Does the school largely service students who are in US boarding schools or international schools in Korea?


If you can answer "yes" to both questions I would say that being a Korean-American is actually an advantage.

Otherwise, if you can answer "yes" to one question, being K-A is a slight disadvantage.

If answers to both Qs are "no", then being K-A is a more significant disadvantage.

[Bloopity Bloop]

I think the different treatment people of different ethnic groups receive in Korea is often greatly exaggerated on this forum. I really don't think being Korean-American or not matters to any significant degree. I'm non-Korean Asian-American and I have a constant stream of requests to tutor without even marketing myself in any way. I have zero teaching credentials outside of a 100-hour TEFL course I did online in about 5 hours. If you have English knowledge, you will be wanted somewhere. All my gyopo friends had no problems getting jobs and a s***load of private gigs on the side. Some get 60k won per hour to just converse with Koreans and they often cover dinner as well.