Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Green Goose]

Hi everyone,

I was hoping to gain a little insight regarding working in Korea. I have read through many of posts on here and at times feel more confused then when I started. I can not find the specific information in regards to my questions. I thought if I presented my situation I might get a more narrowed view. If this is in wrong forum please feel free to move it.

A little background: I have a BA along with a teaching certificate. I have spent the last six years teaching at a school in Northern Canada. It's time for a change. My partner recently got a 2 year position at an international school in Bokjeong-dong. Originally the plan was for her to go and I would finish out my contract and join her for the second year of her contract. Opportunity has presented itself, and I am now in a position to join her. My problem is that I do not want to get out of sync with her contract (ie, sign a contract now and be stuck there while she is on summer vacation). I plan to travel to Korea in the next couple of weeks with a D-10 visa. It is my hope to find and negotiate a contract that will allow me to work until approximately June and provide me with full time work in the 2015-2016 school year. Eventually I will realize I will have switch to an E2 visa.

Has anyone been in this position or have any real life experience they could share? In approaching my travel this way, am I in a good position to negotiate what I have described? Or am I way off point in going at it in this manner? Is there another slant I could come at this? I'm open to suggestions.

I would appreciate any and all input. If I have missed any threads that may relate to this topic please feel free to redirect me. If this is a topic better held in a PM, I will gladly continue communication there.

Thanks in advance and I look forward to hearing from those with time and experience in Korea.

GG

[watergirl]

Hii

I'm not exactly sure what you're trying to do..is it come and work in korea until june with any school, and then do the 1year at the same school with her?
MM, I usually can get jobs, but I have had trouble getting p/t jobs and it is no that easy to get only a 6mth job although, if yu have time,(1 month of looking everyday..headaches..) it might work.

Now, if yu go to an international school, there you can merely give your notice and finish early. Unless, I'm mistaken, if given lots of notice, public or intl' schools will be okay with it. Your contract, you are allowed to quit!. although hakwons, private academies often are not happy, and will often not give you a letter of release to go t another job.

So, I usually do get offers but have had trouble getting shorter contracts. the best chance is to try and get a p/t job that is offering a visa bc they will be more willing to give you a short term contract. Although, I have had serious difficulty getting this bc academies do not want teachers changing all the time, and I feel there must be quite a few teachers right now who are accepting pt positions that are not good or many hours for one year bc Korea is saturated maybe w/ too many teachers right now. I have only been looking for 2 weeks though.

Now, some people work illegally, but this seems more difficult to get by on, many employers want you to have a work visa nowadays, and you can get some tutoring or stuff but it's really not that great...you commute to a job which pays 40/hr and takes travel and prep. These people can also cancel lessons.

One option: there are things called Camps and they are short time, maybe 2 months work you can get, but they're often in the boonies so you won't be near your girlfriend anyways.

You could mass email recruiters now and tell them you're looking for a 6 nth contract and see if they find something (you have real teaching credentials)


Can you live w/ your girlfriend and do you have extra money to get by for maybe a month.
That's my opinion.
PS: I did meet some people doing work here for the summer only (at prep academies catering to students on vacation so they had extra classes).
They worked at the princeton review but it was a horrible place to work.

Also, be careful about signing on with an academy that only gives their 'word' you can quit bc nowadays, teachers need a letter from their job to leave (even if they did a great job and the academy is horrible)