Korean Job Discussion Forums

[margaret]

I'm wondering now that it seems that English camps no longer offer airfare--who can they get to teach in them?
It seems that teachers who are already in Korea would most likely go there looking for a longterm job or have one, and teachers out of Korea wouldn't pay airfare to work short-term.
That leaves university teachers on break.
Anyone have ideas on this?
Margaret

[pecan]

M,

Not sure what the big surprise is here.

There are several universities in Korea that will legally allow their foreign staff to work at these camps during school breaks. Moreover, university students in the U.S. that are taking a break from their studies after finishing their B.A. and starting their M.A. are sometimes interested.

There are too many "teachers" and not enough positions, so supply and demand rule this one.

Nut

[Len8]

The well paying camps get 4 times as many applicants as there are positions. There are many repeats at these camps, and they also keep a waiting list in case some accepted applicants bail out.

The word gets around about these camps, so they never lack for applicants. last one I was at had applicants coming from Europe, Canada and Australia, and they all payed for there own transportation.

The camp was well organized, had many students, had many resources, had many helpers, and had the funds to paye us all an advance half way through the camp.

Many applicants were turned away, and I heard that they got their required number of students within two days of the camps posting on the internet.

[Derrek]

I had a summer camp job at a local University near Bundang, and I ran, ran, ran before it even started.

First off, they went through the whole interview process and almost had me hired when they said I would have to work Mondays-Saturdays for a total of 2 million (the recruiter was "misinformed" and posted M-F hours).

I told them no, and they eventually agreed to a fee of 3 million for the month including Saturday time.

The camp was a MESS from before I even began. Had to show up 3 times and pull teeth just to get my permit to work there (wanted to do it legally). What really irked me is that the last two times I showed up to go to immigration with them, then were "too busy" and/or "forgot" and didn't show up.

Then on the "orientation" night, they made us stuff packets, then unstuff, then re-stuff them again because the director spelled the name of the University wrong. Parents were upset that they didn't get their packets. One of the Korean employees told me that 20 of the parents encircled them after the presentation, and chewed on them (the parents had already paid money).

The "please show up for orientation so the parents can meet you" turned into, "You must stuff these packets and do a level-test for 300 students in an hour." Then after the test, the director had the nerve to chew on us for not doing it faster and all but blaming the angry parent situation on US.

All total -- about 3 or 4 hours of "orientation." This time was unpaid, but expected.

And we were told they weren't ready for the camp, so they needed us to put in another 3 or 4 unpaid days before it even started.

I basically told them to pay me daily or I'd bail. They disagreed, so I told them bye-bye just two days after I signed and got the permit to work there. They really got angry with me, but my experience has been that this sort of disorganization in Korea only leads to bigger problems and costs me time/money. Been there done that. Never again, if I can help it.

Some guy named Joe was another foreigner there, and I wonder how it worked out for him. Wish I knew. I hated to bail for one reason -- just because I knew it would stress him -- but I figured they had him stressed as much as he could be already.

The director had the nerve to whine to me that she wasn't going to be able to hire anyone since the camp started next week. I told her to offer more than a measly 2 million for six 8-hour days, and maybe she'd have better luck. Not sure if they ever found anyone.

[margaret]

Thanks, folks, I had no idea there were so many applicants. A friend of mine had an experience somewhat similar to yours, Derrek. She lasted as long as the camp, though, and had to fight for her money, which she eventually got. The camp closed down due to lack of students, I believe.
Margaret