Korean Job Discussion Forums

[chaz47]

My current hagwon is devolving into chaos pretty quickly now. There are lies and accusations bouncing around. I'm on part-time status, I've known this was coming for over three weeks now and they still have yet to tell me what my new salary will be. I thought it was probably time to jump ship so I interviewed at another place and was offered a job.

The new gig would be as an independent contractor. A truly independent contractor. No manager, sales department or advertising. I can set my own schedule and rate of pay. I know a majority of my current students from the sinking hagwon will follow me to the new place and they generally pay 10,000 to 13,000 an hour for my class.

It's common for an academy to skim 50% of the take right?

I was considering having a base rate of 60,000 to 70,000 won per hour of class and have the cost divided between the students. This would encourage them to bring in their friends to lower their individual cost.

My classes are generally for adults (corporate types), university students and middle-school kids with helicopter moms. The only other academy in the area that offers these sorts of classes is SDA and most of my students don't dig the religious overtones of that place.

Does this seem legit? Will that base hourly wage of 30,000 to 35,000 be enough to offset the lack of employer contribution into pension and medical.

[Troglodyte]

It seems like you'd basically be working freelance. The only way that I would consider working for 35k/hr is if the school can guarantee at least 25 classes per week and that they'd be in blocks with no more than 2 hours total of between-classs time. Even then you'd still be making about the same as someone on a regular contract if you consider the extra expenses. What you wouldn't have is job security. When a new school opens and you're students are currios about it then you'll loose business. Even if the other place is terrible, some students will give it a try. When Christmas comes around, you'll have fewer students. Same goes during the summer. The market fluctuates throughout the year. Plus, in this situation you'll have a lot of extra work to do. If it were me, I'd be asking for 40k/hr and some kind of minimum guaranteed hours per week. If the school hired a part time teacher from an agency then they would pay at least 40k/hr and more likely 50k.