Korean Job Discussion Forums

[wonkavite62]

This year, I completed a contract at a technical high school in a very quiet part of Korea's south coast. I got a reference from my co-teacher and also from someone at the BoE. I have a TESOL certificate and have taught EFL before coming to Korea.
I found people in the small city I taught in quite reserved. The western people were mostly very distant and cliquey and unusually young (a stark contrast to my previous visit to Korea). However, I discovered that there were friends I'd previously met, in Daegu, and I had a great time there and in Seoul. Certain pubs in Itaewon became like a second home to me.
I decided I wanted to stay in Korea a second year. I wasn't prepared to work on an island or the east coast of Gangwon Do. I had just finished a job several hours from a real city. I had done my time. So I wanted to focus on provinces near Seoul, or in Daegu or Daejon.
I got only 2-3 replies for 70 resumes. That's unusual, I think. It is not specifically about me-in 2009 I would have received many offers. An English Village was about to hire me, but then the Sewol ferry disaster happened, lots of students cancelled and the English Village did not hire.
Have I any hope of getting back to Korea? Financially it was comfortable. I LOVE the nightlife in Korea's cities and teaching was not difficult. And I miss the friends I made. I feel I should be in Seoul or Gyeong-gi Do.
In fact I am in the U.K. I decided I needed to keep some of my savings. Summer school jobs were offered, and a middle school job in Beijing, no surprise there.
But is it too late to apply for GEPIK? I want to go back to Korea.
Do you think the job market in Korea will improve next year, especially as US unemployment falls?

[Chaparrastique]

[trueblue]

Well, there are different parts to the problem.

1. Recruiters
2. Recruiters representing openly representing schools that do not
provide legal benefits in their contracts.
3. Private schools starting to no longer provide R/T airfare, only
offering one way. Worse yet, some are only offering a cash incentive
at the end of the contract that probably would not even cover half
of the ticket.
4. Recruiters....once you start getting wise to their little scams and asking
the tough questions about things missing in a contract, vague clauses,
what have you...it will be tough because once you turn down their some
offers, they will drop you.
5. Recruiters...posting as if they have plenty of jobs but when you say "I
would like this one" or "These are the ones I prefer"...you receive a
different answer that contradicts what they had available.
6. Recruiters...still using bait and switch tactics while schools are in
cahoots with them.
7. Salaries have plateaued...it is a shame, still seeing offers for 2.0
million won per month.
8. Schools that hand out contracts that no longer offer the standards
that once defined a good, honest agreement.
when you ask for that, 'see ya".


There are many reasons...perhaps more teachers versus jobs (theoretically..who really knows) is one factor.


However, this is not blanket scenario. There are still some good offers out there. But, the more you know what to look for, the harder it may be to get a job.

OH...did I say, recruiters?

[ghostrider]

All in all you're just another brick in the wall.

[andrewchon]

In Korea,
1. economy is slack
2. business confidence is down
3. consumer confidence is down
4. there hasn't any cheerful news for a while
i. Sewol disaster and the subsequent gusher of incompetance, corruption, and the downright WTFs
ii. nominee for prime ministership and education minister Moon Chang Gk and Kim Min Soo turns to be doddering fools
iii South Korea umm... underachieved at the World Cup
5. The Summer is boiling hot and the monsoon has been a major disappointment
6. ...

Well, the government has announced a $4billion stimulous package to jump start the economy but people are suspicious that it'll be just swallowed by chaebul and cronies. People are just apathetic at the moment.

[Chaparrastique]

[Weigookin74]

[OBwannabe]

Times are certainly tough.
I currently live in Korea, but the city I'm in is too small and doesn't suit me. I too enjoy all that Seoul has to offer.
My contract is coming to an end and have posted my resume on several esl websites and have been contacted by loads of recruiters. Problem is, they ask for pics and age....then I either never hear from them again or am offered to interview for shitty jobs that are nowhere near Seoul. Age is certainly working against me (late 30's). Weird thing is, I look a little younger than my age and I'm in great shape and am fairly fashionable/trendy. But I guess when they see that DOB they just toss the resume aside. I thought being in the country and not needing a flight would work in my favor. Guess not.

I have friends in Seoul telling me to just move there after I finish my contract and apply for jobs that are looking for someone asap. I guess that's what it takes nowadays. Unless you are 20-something, blond, and female.

OP, may I ask your age? It could be the problem.

[lithium]

[andrewchon]

More bad news: now we have an out break of foot-and-mouth disease, (two places) in GyungBuk. Now those poor animals will have to be slaughtered.

[PatrickGHBusan]

[GENO123]

An MA will not protect anyone anymore.

At universities after deductions you end up with not much more than what a taxi driver earns. They are a trick. And often they will punish teachers who do outside work . Visa or no visa. The big famous schools are absolutely full of themselves and are sanctimonious as hell. Indeed the administration at many of the biggest Korean Universities would put Nurse Ratched to shame . The truth is that they just are not good jobs at all. People would do well to come to terms with the fact that at in South Korea ESL is more or less broken.

[EZE]

[tob55]

A number of things come to mind regarding the employment situation in Korea. Having been here for the past 10 years and actually working on the same equivalent salary as I had 10 years ago, when adding in inflationary costs, I would say it will worsen in some ways, but get getter in others.

Unless people are willing to make certain commitments regarding their stay in Korea then it is unlikely that they will see any meaningful rewards for their efforts. Now, not everyone is going to seek citizenship like I did, nor will they decide to finish an advanced degree, but those two things made life considerably easier for me. The best I would advise is to have a plan and make it work for you, regardless of what the plan is. Most people come to Korea with short term plans in mind, and that is okay. Others find that after 4 ~ 5 ~ 10 contracts that they have somehow stayed much longer than they initially thought they would.

Now they have to decide if Korea IS their career goal or attempt to go back home and make a go of it again. For me, after 25+ years of my teaching career in the USA, coming to Korea was an option at first, but I quickly came to appreciate most of the things I experienced here, and the rest is history. I will most likely finish my working career here in Korea, with the best case scenario being that I will have a full professor or administrator position for the last 5 - 10 years of work, then live off of my teacher retirement from the States and my Korean Pension. The amount per month will be more than enough to support my family, so things will be fine in the long run. I do hope people can make sense of what they want to do though. I think it would be tough to be on the wrong side of the world and not know what you are going to do. Cheers!

[Yaya]

I'm thinking Korea's glory days are behind it. It's an employer's market and there are loads of native speakers who are struggling to find work, either in ESL or other fields that used to hire anyone from the West with a pulse. Lots of advanced degree holders are out of work, and of course, the Korean reverence for education means master's holders will get preference over those with bachelors.

If I were the OP and still interested in teaching in Asia, I'd go to China. You don't have to go to the bigger cities like Beijing or Shanghai. Heck, go to Yanbian prefecture and teach ethnic Koreans there.