Korean Job Discussion Forums

[BroodingSea]

Hi all. Any of you worked at Woosong in Daejeon?
I hear some mixed reports on this place.
Contract hours are a maximum of 20 hours teaching with expected "additional commitment" of 20 hours per week. Seems a heavy ticket.

Anyone comment on the general working conditions here? They seem a well established series of set ups with a large cohort of overseas staff.But 40 hours per week?

[SeoulNate]

There has been like 10 threads on that uni here in the past 2-3 weeks. Not sure if any solid info has been passed along.

40 hours, if its all teaching, at a uni would be insane.

[denverdeath]

I worked there in the late 90s. Ask question about who's hiring you. That is, the university, the technical college, the information college, or that hakwon at a completely different area of the city. Who knows? They may have more places now. If I recall correctly, most teachers at that time were doing between 16 and 26 hours weekly. Those doing 26 were definitely doing either on-site hakwon classes for adults as well as their regular uni/college classes or having to travel to teach kids at that other place. Best/Better positions were had, I think rightly so (qualifications-wise) at the university itself(sadly that was near the top of a mountain). Coordinators were usually the ones with the 16 hours. There were a few disagreements amongst the foreign staff, korean/kyopo staff, coordinators, and the lady who ran the show. Think there were lots of changes planned for the near future regarding housing when I was there, so I left and came back to a better place the following year. Having said that, it could've been a much worse position for me. Ask lots of questions, especially about severance and the like(recent job posting has a strangely late start time). I've had both bad and worse both before and after there. If things haven't changed too much, you may also get unwanted visits from JWs at your place of residence. Remember, this info is quite dated, but still may be relevant in some ways.

[cjm]

Of the many negative (and there are a few positive) comments I have read regarding Woosong U, I have to agree with the former. I was accepted to teach there this year and was set to go when they said they made a mistake on the contract signature (a first for me in a long career) and had to resubmit it. The time cost me plenty as I was booked to fly to Korea. Due to their mistake and delay, I had to go out again on arrival for the visa to Japan and, of course, the school would not reimburse that.
Next, after specifying clearly (this from their American staff at the language institute, not the univ itself) that the job was 'days only' and 'mostly mornings', I was told that it would be a split shift (later this was confirmed that it was four evenings a week-- completely different than the interview). I pulled out and didn't even attend the orientation. No response to my emails, twice, from their American staff who interviewed me to explain this. My general feeling is Woosong tells you what you want to hear, gets you there at your expense, and changes the plan. The old bait and switch. Terrible practice. Several instructors I spoke briefly to while on campus were looking elsewhere. This may explain their continuous need to recruit. Good luck should you decide to go.