Korean Job Discussion Forums

[breninmass]

I'm still pretty early in my research, but the following looks pretty attractive to me:

1) Working at a Hogwan
2) Living in a medium-sized city (like Busan or Gwangju)
3) Teaching adults (though this pretty much means working a split shift no matter what, correct?)

I'd appreciate any input on what I should consider about these decisions; what questions should I ask myself about them?

Also, I have a question: how long should i expect the application process to take (from the start of the job-search to the first day of work)? I'm planning on applying to a graduate program starting Fall 2013, so it would be best if I can move to Korea sometime in mid to late summer of this year. I need to know when to get the ball rolling!

I appreciate your help!
--brenden

[YTMND]

[breninmass]

Thanks so much for the reply!

[zoeksk]

It depends on when you apply for what, if you have apply for the CRC check only when you have started being interviewed then its gonna take longer. I have sent off for that over a week ago and then I applied to recruiters as its the longest part of the process as far as I can tell.

Next step is to have your documents notarized and then apostilled (hint go to a solicitor and not a notary as they charge considerably less)

Finally sign the contract with a school of your choice. If you are dedicated and on top of the process I don't see why it should take more than a month, however you could obviously make it take longer or even gather all the documents and then apply for jobs that doesn't start for a while if you wanted to start at a specific time or wanted to wait for a particular age to teach or a location to be in.

[ttompatz]

[Luciddreamer]

[quote]and one of my main motivations for working in Korea is to save money.[quote]

Working at a hagwon will not necessarily help you earn [/i]a lot more money as opposed to working at a public school, especially if this is your first year teaching EFL in Korea - maybe 100,000 - 200/000 extra a month.

In my opinion, it's more important how you save the money you earn than how much money you make.

Just out of curiosity, how old are you Brendan? If you are pretty young and your primary reason of coming here is to save money, I would choose the job that gives you comfortable working conditions/hours and work a few a years.

[edwardcatflap]

[MetaFitX]

[Luciddreamer]

[breninmass]

[Skippy]

Good for starting ahead of time on the research. Lurke and read some more threads here. Go back a while. Also check out searcheslcafe.com when searching. The search here is a little buggy.

First not all cities are created equal. Comparing Gwangju versus Busan is like comparing Chicago versus Boise. Careful of places that say in such and such city. A city of 300,000 in Korea would be like a small town in the US.

I think for many teaching adults would the a high demand. Getting adults is difficult. Company and University are the plum jobs to many. If you want adult and go the hagwon route it will be difficult. Some people can do it but many can not. Look at some previous threads to get the idea of how it works.

My advice is since your a newbie. Go with afternoon schools hagwons - your students will be Elementary/Middle school. Unless you can handle kindy/young children avoid Kindergarten schools. They will also be split shift too. Just not as crumby as adult split.

Try for the public school but it is getting a little bit harder to land. Plus public schools take good timing.

Until you have your paperwork done, things will be slow and you will get little response.

As to the saving money it is really on how you handle money. If you want to eat nicely and go out often, you will take home more. You have to find a balance. You can live nicely here but it may take some sacrifice and common sense. Do you really want that trip to Thailand or can you live with out the big TV.

Use the search and try some words like budget, adult hagwon, saving money. Some good threads and advice out there.

[northway]

[ttompatz]

[Luciddreamer]

I'm in the same boat in terms of wanting to take a break from academia. I also traveled to Korea right out of college and have been living and working here for a few years and am having the time of my life - I'm learning more about myself and my interests, what I don't like, etc.

No matter what your plans are for the future, traveling to teach here isn't going to hurt your long-term goals - you'll only have new experiences to gain, especially at 24.

[jurassic82]