Korean Job Discussion Forums

[freebeerandchicken]

So I have three jobs lined up and all of them would like to hear a final decision in the next 24 hours. This will be my first time in Korea, and first time teaching. The two things I have insisted on are: 1) that i be in Seoul or nearby; 2) that i have single accomodation. Any advice on this would be like a little slice of heaven for me at this point. Heres the juice:

Job #1
- school is located in Suwon
- M-F, 120 hours/month, 6 hours a day
- work schedule is not specified.. "Daily teaching hours are 6 hours per day. However, working hours is flexible in accordance with the institution's schedule and in this case both parties must mutually agree."
- 2.0 million Won/month
- single studio apartment (basic, standard furnishings)
- apartment is 5 min. walk from school
- 12 vacation days
- 60 days notice required to terminate contract
- branch of a chain of schools with a good reputation, no bad reviews found
- I will be the onlyforeign teacher at this school - and their 1st ever
- It will be me, and 2 or 3 Korean female teachers on hand
- The contract is detailed, thorough and seems very fair for the most part (except for the 60 days thing, I know..)
- The recruiter who i have gone through for this job was suggested to me by a member of this board. I went to him, with said board member as my reference. This seems a little more solid than being in touch completely randomly.
- I have not been in contact with the director or the teachers at this school

Job #2
- YBM.ECC Seokgye (I have no qualms mentioning ECC specifically, they can handle it)
- Closest subway stop: Dolgoji Station, line 6
- 1.8 million Won/month
- 200,000 Won relocation allowance
- 50,000 Won to subsidize visa application expenses
- Schedule:
12:00 pm to 2:00 pm Kinder classes (Mon to Fri)
3:00 pm to 7:30 pm (Elementary classes) pm M,W,F
3:00 pm to 6:30 pm Tues, Thurs
1:30 pm to 4:30 pm Saturdays (Maximum of 6 months straight)
- bonus pay for (mandatory) Saturday classes
- 142 40 min. classes a month - equivalent of 95 teaching hours/month
- Single studio apartment (basic, standard furnishings)
- Apartment is located in Nowon ("It takes about 15 minutes to get to the academy from the apartment by bus")
- Staff: 7 foreign teachers; 12 Korean teachers
- It is a franchise - not owned by ECC
- Theres a gym and swimming pool in the same building as the school (not sure if we pay for this ourselves or not)
- Decent training period upon arrival before I start teaching
- 10 days vacation
- note that all salary related info in this description came from the ECC sample contract available on their website (except the 1.8 a month, which was confirmed by phone)
- I've dealt with Danny Kim... Haven't spoken to the director or any teachers from the actual school.

Job #3
- school is located in Pyoungchon, near Anyang
- M-F, 120 hours/month
- no kindergarten
- teacher i spoke with said he works 2pm to 9pm/10pm
- He has worked Saturdays when needed, but said that it was completely up to him. (the 2 Korean teachers didn't have the choice apparently)
- hours not specified in contract
- overtime is 20,000/hour "for each hour worked over and above agreed upon schedule" --- but schedule is not in the contract
- "incentive" of 100,000-200,000 Won added on at pay period sometimes, for good teaching, making director happy i guess.
- School has been open for 3 years. Has about 100 students. Its a single independent school, not part of a chain.
- Interview was between me and a foreign english teacher at the school.. All contact was through this one teacher - not the director
- School currently has 1 foreign teacher (who is signing back on for another year), and 2 Korean teachers.
- 10-14 vacation days
- Single studio apartment provided... 5 minute walk from school
- Training will be minimal. They are short staffed. 1 day trainign probably.
- I also spoke with a former teacher from the school.. She had some problems with the director being overly money focused, less education focused (as I assume is the norm for hagwons). Anecdote: One kid was severly misbehaving; the teacher finally took him to the director's office; the director blamed the issue on the teacher having a bad day - kid doing nothing wrong; kid gets candy from director and goes back to class; gloats to his classmates.. Bottom line: director wants the money!
- consistent pay every month, never late..
- the teacher that i spoke to who is presently working there told me that it is a 20 minute bus ride to Seoul.. i've learned since, from people here on Dave's, that its more like 60 minutes. hmm.


So there you have it.. I guess what it comes down to for me is -- should I go for the good looking contract at the school where I'll be the one and only foreigner; or the school that is is reliable but not as attractive otherwise (ECC); or finally the small independent school that isn't perfect but at least has been up front with their issues.

Thanks for any advice you can lend!

[kprrok]

Personally, I'd take Job 1.

Job 2 is very low pay for Seoul and Saturdays are not fun. Plus, that's a lot of classes in a month. Basically, it's about 7 per day. That's rough.

Job 3 sounds some warning bells to me about the money-focused director.

Good luck.

KPRROK

[Grotto]

#1 seems the lesser evil.

I would still be quite leary about the non specification of hours.

Suwon is a great city(especially if you are in the youngtong area.)

The other two dont even look like they would be worth considering.

Money hungry director means anything and everything is your fault.

[Qinella]

I would keep looking. Job 2 and 3 require bus rides that could turn into nightmares. You want to sit outside in blistering noon-day heat waiting for a bus? Not me. Teaching 6 hours straight with no break/planning time in between? Not for me.

As the only foreigner at my school, I'd advise against Job #1 for that reason alone. Perhaps you will like it, but I would rather be around others who really understand what I say. Other than that, it sounds pretty good, but I would definitly contact the KT's first, though, and make sure their English is fluent. I'd keep looking; that's just me.

[Anasazi]

Yeah, I'd go with #1, too - and try to get the contract changed on the sixty days - and I'd want to talk to the director first to get a feel for the place.

If it doesn't feel right, don't do it - period. The job market's good enough, even for new unseasoned teachers, that you can find something else comparable somewhere else.

[joe_doufu]

I like #3. Pyeongcheon is not so close to Seoul but it's closer than Suwon is. Also I know the area is a decent place to live/work/shop/play. I would worry about #1 never having had a foreign teacher, you really can't know what that might be like.

[manlyboy]

[bucheon bum]

I had a similar situation to #1 in Bucheon. Was very straight-forward contract, no BS (no 60-day thing). It also was vague about the schedule, but the director told me there was no Kindergarten or morning classes. Considering he showed up late for our meeting that morning and we met in a coffee shop since the hogwon wasn't open yet, I took his word for it.

But seriously, being an only foreign teacher isn't that bad. Being the first foreign teacher, you don't have to worry about some dumb ass who slacked and let discipline slack. Odds are the kids will behave well for at least a week or so, and if you don't let them slide, will remain that way.

#2, forget ECC.

#3, sounds like a lot of stress and tiresome due to the money-focus thing.

[livinginkorea]

I would go with #1. Can you tell me the name of the school? Or the recuriter? I think that I know who it is already.

[plattwaz]

I worked at ECC Seogkye a few years ago. ... not that it was *that* bad or anything, but I wouldn't go for that one. Danny Kim will say ANYTHING, and I mean ANYTHING to ANYONE to get you into the school. The Seogkye ECC manager, although a fairly reasonable man, has NO IDEA what the teachers have been told prior to arrival, and his way of dealing with it is "sorry, I can't change the way my school runs because our Head Office lied to you..." (Truthfully, with the type of things that DK lies about, the manager is NOT in a position to bend to the requests....and DK wont' stop the lying....kind of a crappy situation....)

To save typing out a whole lot of detail, when you may already be leaning away from it, just PM me if you want detailed info.

P.S The gym upstairs is crap, and yes you have to pay for it on your own...it's not in any way affiliated with the school.

[freebeerandchicken]

[jajdude]

[freebeerandchicken]

[bosintang]

[ajuma]

#1 doesn't sound bad at all, as long as you're confident in your teaching ability. If you've never taught (and I mean ALL DAY EVERY DAY) before, then keep looking. If you HAVE taught before and have good classroom management skills, then #1 could work for you. I was the only foreign teacher in my first and third hagwon. It can be a little stressful, but Suwon seems to have quite a few foreigners that you can meet up with. I didn't see or talk to another foreigner for a month at my first hagwon!! (Long time ago, when foreigners weren't a dime a dozen!)