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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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Mike410
Joined: 23 Sep 2011
Location: Canada
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 Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2011 5:05 am Post subject: Getting a Job in 2011/12- Hagwons, Uni's, EPIK,Public school |
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After checking the FAQ's and seeing how out of date the info was (2003) I thought it might be good to get some current opinions of the job situation in Korea.
What is the best route to take to get a job in Korea.
Dave's/online job board vs Recruiters?
What is the current EPIK program like?
What is the current view towards, Hagwons, Uni's and Public schools? |
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escarole
Joined: 06 Nov 2009
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| Posted: Fri Sep 30, 2011 10:47 pm Post subject: |
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The rumor of late is that the GEPIK program won't be renewing around 2000 of their current teachers.
If it's true this means that there will potentially be 2000 experienced teachers looking for work from within Korea.
Employers in Korea might tend to avoid hiring from abroad because they will be able to save by not paying for plane tickets.
Regarding hagwons, public schools, and universities. Uni's in general probably continue to be the most coveted, but there seems to be growing consensus that getting any uni job currently requires more than a bachelor's degree, or will soon.
There's talk of public school positions in general degrading in quality in terms of amount of time worked vs. amount of compensation received. I've seen several posters here vocally advocate good hagwons over any public school position.
I think that university positions are definitely the most preferable, but failing a university position, you can find desirable and undesirable positions in both hagwons and public schools. A key difference in my mind is that the profit motive is not directly in play at the public schools.
But, most of that information has probably been true for quite a while now.
My overall take on the current situation for teaching English in Korea is that, for the first time in history, because of the number of teachers available vs. the number of jobs available, the focus of employers is slowly starting to turn to the actual qualitative results of English education.
Meaning that, before, a school was under pressure to have a native English teacher, kind of in a "Keeping up with the Joneses" type way.
But now, rather than just having a native English teacher, there's a nascent trend indicating that the factor for keeping up with the Joneses will be having an effective English program.
I'm guessing it will be at least ten years before schools that are actually serious about teaching functional English have a majority, or even a sizable minority of the market, but during the transition period things are likely to become less and less viable for people who are coming here without plans of teaching as a career.
I think there will be some room for "tourist English teachers" for some time to come, but the point is, that room is shrinking, its barrier to entrance is becoming higher, and it's likely to be continue to become more and more overcrowded and uncomfortable.
Meanwhile serious career teachers might have better times ahead in Korea, but in the meantime they will still have to deal with an education system that has suffered from using English teachers (and English, I guess) primarily as status symbols used to attract the money of those who are hungry for status.
I think, because of this transition, that teaching English in Korea is a bit of a weird no-man's land at the moment. Serious teachers and those just wishing to travel and save money for a bit can both probably still find something akin to what they are looking for, but it will require more effort and it will probably be for less compensation than just recently, compounded by the global economic situation.
Those who are wanting to enter the English industry in Korea to travel and save, are probably best advised to set their sights on China. If Korea is a must, then the way to do it continues to be to find a good position by word of mouth.
As for where the serious teachers might go, I guess they can stick it out in Korea, but I'd be curious myself as to hear other opinions on that. |
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Mike410
Joined: 23 Sep 2011
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2011 1:17 am Post subject: |
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Great post escarole!
Keep the opinions and views coming people:) |
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koreatimes
Joined: 07 Jun 2011
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| Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2011 2:00 am Post subject: |
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| Those who are wanting to enter the English industry in Korea to travel and save, are probably best advised to set their sights on China. If Korea is a must, then the way to do it continues to be to find a good position by word of mouth. |
I have been in China since March 2010. Well before this GEPIK news, and possibly new requirements that have come up (education and visa related), I could see things changing in Korea. I am wondering if 2008-2009 was actually the GEPIK period where they decided to stop funding. It just took some time for the schools to run out of the money. They continued as usual 2009-2010, cut costs, and then rallied to get more and lost. No notice to us the teachers though.
If you decide on coming here to China, I suggest you commit to a region, NE, SE, Beijing, Guangdong, Shenzhen (the popular foreign areas). The concept of a rural job is vastly different. A rural job in Korea means there are few people in the city, but that's not the case in China. Visit first before signing a contract. Otherwise, you are bound to have a terrible experience. The standard of living is not as high in some areas, and you won't realize it until actually walk around.
With that said, by walking around and looking first, you can find a suitable job. I went to 6 in person interviews and met in person more recruiters than in Korea (things were simply handled only by phone and computer in Korea). You'll be expected to give demo lessons even for lesser quality jobs, so prepare and be ready. Class sizes will be bigger, so you'll need to drink something while teaching. If not, you will lose your voice after 3 days of teaching. |
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jrwhite82
Joined: 22 May 2010
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| Posted: Sat Oct 01, 2011 4:40 am Post subject: |
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| escarole wrote: |
The rumor of late is that the GEPIK program won't be renewing around 2000 of their current teachers.
If it's true this means that there will potentially be 2000 experienced teachers looking for work from within Korea.
Employers in Korea might tend to avoid hiring from abroad because they will be able to save by not paying for plane tickets.
Regarding hagwons, public schools, and universities. Uni's in general probably continue to be the most coveted, but there seems to be growing consensus that getting any uni job currently requires more than a bachelor's degree, or will soon.
There's talk of public school positions in general degrading in quality in terms of amount of time worked vs. amount of compensation received. I've seen several posters here vocally advocate good hagwons over any public school position.
I think that university positions are definitely the most preferable, but failing a university position, you can find desirable and undesirable positions in both hagwons and public schools. A key difference in my mind is that the profit motive is not directly in play at the public schools.
But, most of that information has probably been true for quite a while now.
My overall take on the current situation for teaching English in Korea is that, for the first time in history, because of the number of teachers available vs. the number of jobs available, the focus of employers is slowly starting to turn to the actual qualitative results of English education.
Meaning that, before, a school was under pressure to have a native English teacher, kind of in a "Keeping up with the Joneses" type way.
But now, rather than just having a native English teacher, there's a nascent trend indicating that the factor for keeping up with the Joneses will be having an effective English program.
I'm guessing it will be at least ten years before schools that are actually serious about teaching functional English have a majority, or even a sizable minority of the market, but during the transition period things are likely to become less and less viable for people who are coming here without plans of teaching as a career.
I think there will be some room for "tourist English teachers" for some time to come, but the point is, that room is shrinking, its barrier to entrance is becoming higher, and it's likely to be continue to become more and more overcrowded and uncomfortable.
Meanwhile serious career teachers might have better times ahead in Korea, but in the meantime they will still have to deal with an education system that has suffered from using English teachers (and English, I guess) primarily as status symbols used to attract the money of those who are hungry for status.
I think, because of this transition, that teaching English in Korea is a bit of a weird no-man's land at the moment. Serious teachers and those just wishing to travel and save money for a bit can both probably still find something akin to what they are looking for, but it will require more effort and it will probably be for less compensation than just recently, compounded by the global economic situation.
Those who are wanting to enter the English industry in Korea to travel and save, are probably best advised to set their sights on China. If Korea is a must, then the way to do it continues to be to find a good position by word of mouth.
As for where the serious teachers might go, I guess they can stick it out in Korea, but I'd be curious myself as to hear other opinions on that. |
I agree with all of this except the numbers you stated about GEPIK.
Yes there are over 2000 GEPIK English teachers. Well now I think it is more like 1800+ since the hiring freeze back in the spring which elimanted 300 jobs. Of those 1800, 800+ were not renewed due to the Fall hiring freeze. That leaves about 1000 left. Of those 1000 many are funded by their local cities and those jobs aren't going any where unless the city cuts funding. The ones that are GPOE funded that snuck through right before the first hiring freeze will expire and it remains to be seen if they will be renewed or not.
The original message from GEPIK was they were working to "realign" the hiring dates. Which turned out to probably be an utter crock of BS. So I think the worst case scenario is 1500 GEPIK teachers will be reintroduced into the hiring pool. Quite a few of them will move back home due to normal turn over.
Not all these teachers will be losing their jobs at the same time. It is spread out over a year. There are still over 20,000 (maybe 30,000) E2 visas issued in 2010. So we are looking at, at worst, maybe a 10% reduction in available jobs. And there is still the chance that SMOE and EPIK are expanding (as they originally announced) and that GEPIK may surprise us and resume hiring in the spring.
There is still a lot out there. Just lower your expectations on location and salary a little to reflect the market shift. |
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