Korean Job Discussion Forums

[tranquilotus]

Greetings everyone! This is my first post.

I'm going to be finishing two honours undergraduate degrees in a year and a half, and I'm considering pursuing postgraduate studies either in HR or in TESL/TEFL. I'm of course going to be asking about the latter.

My mother's cousin traveled to Hong Kong at a significantly young age, around 25 or so. He is now about 55. He went there to teach English, and found that he adored the culture so much and stayed for the rest of his life. I have never even visited South Korea, so naturally I don't know what it is truly like to live there. However, the possibility of potentially staying there beyond the simply one-year contract and making a living there sounds appealing.

Is it possible to have longer-term work in Korea after one year of success? If so, will I need more than my two honours undergraduate degrees to keep me competitive?

[Adios_Corea]

There are plenty of long-term opportunities in ESL if that's what floats your boat, but the level of education you need to take advantage of those opportunities depends greatly on you and also what your expectations are.

I would say, however, that you'd be quite foolish to do an MA in TEFL, with the plan to live overseas indefinitely (especially in South Korea), without having worked a year or two (minimum) in the field. You'll never know if teaching is right for you until you try it out....and you'll ABSOLUTELY never know how long you'll last in South Korea until you've spent a bare minimum of 2 years here. Some people love it here and stay 'forever', but most people leave after 1 or 2 years, and it's very common to love it for a year or two and then to totally turn and find it unbearable.

My advice would be to graduate, teach for a couple of years (whilst saving up cash), and then decide if you want to go to graduate school and what you would study there.

[ttompatz]

[Troglodyte]

I have made a career out of ELT so I'll chip in my 2 cents worth.

I think that an MA would be valuable to you, bu there are other credentials that are easier to get and would get you more jobs. The CELTA and DELTA come to mind. I think that the problems faced by long-term teachers in Korea are not the same as those you may face in other countries. Every country has it's pros and cons. In Korea, your career will largely be capped by a glass ceiling. In Korea, positions of responsibility and authorities are often handed out based on seniority. Since you won't be working any particular place for more than a couple years, right off the bat you're going to find yourself at the bottom of the ladder. There are also many employers here who just don't care about your qualifications, experience, credentials, etc. Many will just consider you a marketing tool and disregard any possibility that you know something important about your job. So for both these reasons you may find that you're expected to take orders from someone that you find incompetent as a teacher or as a manager. It can be frustrating. Another thing about Korea is that you will not likely get much on the job training, or sent to workshops or training events. Again, you're just here to make the school some money, or to fill a position required by the education board. So you're more likely to stagnate here.

Unless you really want to live in one particular country (other than your own) marrying a local will close off opportunities for you. It will limit you to working in that one country (or having a dependent follow you around as you change countries). So... it's not the great solution that some people may make it out to be.

As far as job security goes, you will have very little at most jobs. If you have some experience and training you might get a long term job at a private school or a state school (or university if you later pursue your PhD as well). On the up side, there is plenty of employment security. So, although you might not know how long you can stay at one particular company, you can rest assured that until you decide to retire or change careers, there will always be plenty of work available in some country. For the most part, it pays well enough to live off of comfortably and save up some money. Whether it will remain that way in Korea is hard to say. I'd say that the ELT market here will be around for quite some time to come but that's just my guess.

If you spend about 5 years in the profession and get a DELTA, you can start looking for some more senior positions such as head teacher, director of studies, etc. It's not so common in Korea though.

Korea is a good place to make a good salary in a short time. It's also a good place to get a job quickly. Although, I'd never consider permanently moving here.

[bobbybigfoot]

My advice: get your teaching certificate and get an MA in a different field that TESOL. Get one that can be transferred to another discipline in teaching. Don't pigeon hole yourself. You may tire of ESL.