Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Homer]

How much research did you do before accepting a job here?

[sheba]

I did a lot of research! I was so psyched about deciding to come here I spent months reading daves, searching black lists and websites, posting my resume - heck I even come to Korea for a 5 week homestay.

Of course the more research I did, the more paranoid and pessimistic I became.

I turned down about 5 jobs and went through 4 or 5 recruiters before I finally landed a position and all I can say now is that I am so glad that I did all my research! I love my job, I am clued up on a lot of legal aspects (which I approached with my boss and came out favorably), I pretty much expected the worst, but it meant I was prepared for it - and imagine how delighted I was to not even encounter most problems!

One of my friends came here without doing ANY research at all and they are STRUGGLING. They weren't prepared for the culture and language barriers, they are completely reliant upon me and other friends, they cant handle the teaching.... basically it wouldnt be surprising if they did a runner...

Coming here without doing any research is just stupid.

[kathycanuck]

I did a fair amount of research. I didn't sign with my first recruiter, Morning Calm and thank God! A lady I met here did, and they and her school were a nightmare. I spoke to my director on the phone before I signed, and to the other foreign teacher. The job was fine.

[weatherman]

I flew over in May of 1996 without a job, didn't know a thing about the job market in Korea. Some lady I met on the subway introduced me to hogwon, and it turned out just fine. Before that I was offered a job in Busan, but I turned it down.

[crazylemongirl]

none. Signed a contract on tuesday, was in Korea saturday morning.

[Homer]

[SuperHero]

It was pretty much impossible to do research in '97 and at that time I'd never even heard of Daves Cafe.

[crazylemongirl]

[manlyboy]

I came in on a one way ticket without a job, without any contacts, and without enough money to get back out! All I knew was that there was a lot of well-paid efl work. Landed on a Tuesday. Took an interview and signed a contract on a Wednesday. Did the visa run on a Thursday morning. Moved into an apartment on a Thursday night. Started teaching on a Friday. Not very prudent, but it was a great adventure.

[bellum99]

A friend got a job for me (he also got money for providing a teacher) while I was in Canada. It was the worst job I ever had in Korea. He didn't care about job conditions, just found the place that offered him the most money.

I still remember him telling me how he checked everything out and and it was an honest school. He personally saw the housing and it was great. He said " Sign the contract and we can work out the little details here in Korea because that's how they do it". WE ARE NOT FRIENDS NOW.

[Son Deureo!]

School #1 - In 2001, Daves was not the searchable treasure trove that it is today. Old posts were only stored for 45 days or so. Nonetheless, I did all the research I could possibly do from home on my first school. It didn't appear on any blacklists, no one on Dave's had ever heard of it, and the foreign teacher I talked to on the phone had nothing but good things to say about the school. It turns out that teacher was their first ever, and he was being paid W500,000 to say whatever it would take to get me and my friend to sign. The boss really wanted two American teachers, and my co-worker-to-be was just as amoral and greedy as the boss.

What we weren't told about were the 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. swiss-cheese split shifts (a nightmare when teaching kids), kindy classes (we were told we'd be teaching middle school students by the recruiter), and the fact that our 2 weeks of vacation time would be doled out one day per month (forget about travelling). Later on, CCTV cameras were installed in our classes, the boss turned out to be a micromanaging *beep*, and did I mention that our apartment reeked of human feces due to the shoddy plumbing? At least we got paid on time, and that's the only thing the FT we talked to DIDN'T lie about. In short, we did our research, but the only info to be had was a pack of lies.

School #2 - I was taking over a friend's job who had successfully completed a year with no real problems, and I'd seen the apartment so I knew it was great. The kyopo supervisor was great and the non-English speaking owner mostly stayed out of the way, I was told. The first 4 months were great. The books were crap, and the kids were a little wild, but the supervisor and the KT were easy to work with and I'd learned a lot about how to manage a classroom after my previous year. Plus I had a sweet 1:30-7:30 block shift.

Then the supervisor quit, and my monolingual Korean boss decided she was going to run the show on her own. Oh, and her credit was running out, and she never had turned a profit. Suddenly I'm being ridden over every little detail, every student who leaves (even though enrollment had risen by 30% overall since my arrival), and she decided to cut my pay by W200,000/mo. Not to mention that she developed a habit of paying late (when I threatened to walk, she never tried it on me twice, but the KT routinely got paid up to 2-3 weeks late). She constantly told me what a terrible teacher I was (since she didn't speak English, I'm not sure how she knew, but...), but wanted me to come back the next year, albeit working more hours for the same pay. Even a raise wouldn't have made it worthwhile to deal with her for another year. When I politely declined she tried to screw me out of airfare. When I threatened her with the Tax Office she backed down. Oh well, at least the hours were good.

I did my research, but the situation changed.

School #3 - A well established corporate adult hogwon chain, with a reputation for long hours, good pay, honoring their contracts, and many teachers who had been there for years, some as many as 10 years. Plenty of info to be found on Dave's, the worst complaints being split shifts, long hours, and burnout, but with the upshots being the pay and experience that can help get a uni job. A friend who worked there (but at a different branch), and the human resources guy who interviewed me told me I could expect block shifts after 4-5 months. That dream never materialized.

To be fair, I got most of what I was promised, and the splits were in the contract. I even signed on for a second year. Then pay got cut on the (now mandatory on a rotating basis) Saturday classes, a salary cap got put on long-term teachers (so much for longterm job security), oh and where was that health insurance? I loved teaching adults, the pay there was above average, so I can't say the job was a total loss, but the situation definitely deteriorated during my 21 month tenure, and no research could prepare me for the evil that is working split shifts.

Having read Homer's posts, I'm pretty sure that the conclusion he's hoping to confirm, at least inside his own mind, is that people who do their research get good jobs and are happy, those who don't get what they deserve. I'm sure that happens sometimes, but the Korean ESL job market is a slippery place, and from my experience I've found that research really doesn't seem to guarantee very much here. Small hogwons are inherently unstable, and can change at a moment's notice even if the information you find about past and present conditions is accurate. Even at the big places, things can change without rhyme, reason, or warning, and sometimes the compromises you make (split shifts in my case) can be much more than you bargained for.

I'd also say that unless you get really lucky with a good uni job, situations can only get so good here.

So kids, do your research, it can help. But if you end up in a situation that's better than your peers, don't pat yourself on the back too hard. Luck also has just as much to do with your success over here as your mad research skillz.

[Homer]

[SuperHero]

Son Deureo!,

That's some bad luck...

[Son Deureo!]

[TheUrbanMyth]