Korean Job Discussion Forums

[natalia930]

So at the beginning of this week I sent out all my stuff to a bunch of recruiters. Several of them are pushing me to apply for the public school intake.

My first question is - why are they pushing for this? (I am wondering that its because I don't look western enough to be desired by a hagwon, are there other reasons?)

My second question is - most of the reading I've done is about the hagwon process. If I do decide to go for EPIK - one, how much control over location do I have? I don't understand if you are applying to a specific school or to the program generally. Two - could someone confirm that I can only use one recruiter for applying to public school? Can I apply for public school while still looking for placements at private schools (with other recruiters maybe?) Three - from reading the EPIK thread, it seems like you can't get placed until all your documents are in. (While it seemed that it was possible to get placed in a hagwon ahead of time) I *just* began gathering mine, so I'm not expecting them to be ready to go for at least a couple weeks (and the stupid FBI check thing, who knows), so is this time frame still reasonable? My god all this is incredibly complicated.

Thanks for the help.

[Xylox]

Hogwan:

More control over location
More cash
Longer hours
Less vacation


Public:

Less control over location
Less cash
Shorter hours
More vacation

[mimi belle]

If you are interested in a public school, and the timing works for you, then you should apply to one of these programs. They are large and supply a good number of the English teachers in Korea. And while there may be a bias issue going on, I don't know if that's the only thing. A lot of people start in public schools.

The class sizes are bigger in pubic school. In hagwons, you might have to deal with moms as well as your bosses. In public schools, there's a co-teacher for every class.

For more info, you should look into some of the other threads and read this one: http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=188112

Some basic info:
SMOE public schools in Seoul
GEPIK public schools in Gyeonggi-do, the province outside Seoul. Can vary from small cities within a commuting distance to Seoul, to more rural areas.
EPIK elsewhere in Korea (It doesn't necessarily mean rural as there are other cities.)

You can use more than one recruiter, especially if you're interested in hagwons but you can only apply to each program once. So if you apply to EPIK, only apply to it once otherwise you could disqualify yourself. I believe the application is shared for SMOE and EPIK, while GEPIK is separate but again, check into this. Your recruiter can probably help you. I think you can specify some preferences, but you have better chances the earlier you apply and also the more open you are. For example, the schools in Seoul probably get filled first.

[meagan8477]

It could be the recruiters you're choosing. Some tend to work more with the public school programs.

[oldtactics]

You can apply for both at the same time BUT (!!!) if you decide to apply to EPIK, only do so through ONE recruiter or your application will be rejected.