Korean Job Discussion Forums

[ayxcho]

To those with iBT test prep hakwon experience:

I'll try to keep this short.

Background: I'm 23 year old gyopo, graduated from a top university, in about 2 months I will have completed my 1 year contract with CDI (Yes, I know, but my branch is actually pretty chill, and they have treated me really well.) I have been teaching iBT for the past 9 months, so I have a little experience. My Korean is conversational, but definitely not fluent.

Here's my situation: I'm thinking about resigning for another year OR try to get a job at a test prep hakwon.

Now, I do like to go out on the weekends and experience Korea to the fullest. I still have many places I want to visit, and family I need to get closer with. I do realize the money is nice, but I have come to realize there is a lot more to life than money (but, again, it is nice :] )

With that said, is working at a test prep hakwon really worth it given all the work hours, stress, and extra prep time? I also heard that a lot of the work is seasonal (some months will have good pay, others will have bad pay), what is your experience on this?

Thanks in advance.

[earthquakez]

A few years ago I had a good talk with somebody who'd done that kind of work - I've never done it, am not a gypo etc.

He made great money but said he had to walk away because he enjoyed living. He also said the students and workplace were the most demanding he'd ever had - and it stands to reason given what the purposes of those places are. Sounds to me like something to do for a year and then leave behind unless you find it really suits you.

[lifeinkorea]

I don't see how you make that much more. It's just test preparation. I use ibt, TOEIC, and TOEFL material in classes. Students will still want a 1:1 correspondence to their native language. Unless you speak their language (Korean in this case) you won't be that much of an asset to them.

[Chokse]

You CAN make some serious money doing this, but as someone else said, it is very seasonal work. I work at a university but did SAT test prep during the summer and winter sessions at a hagwon in Kangnam.

During the 2.5 month summer session and the 1 month winter session, I made about 50 million won. Keep in mind that I was working 10 hours a day (working... not just present at the hagwon), 7 days a week for 10 weeks during the summer and 4 weeks during the winter.

It was brutal, but the money was good. A friend at the hagwon worked there full time. From Sept. - early Dec. and from early Feb. - early June, he only makes about 1.5 to 2.0 million won per month, and most of this money comes from Saturday and Sunday work, or late in the evening work. The only good money is during the vacation periods when you work like a slave.

As a gyopo, you could work only during the vacations and weekends, and bank around 70 million a year. That would leave you weekdays off for about half the year to go out and have some fun.