Korean Job Discussion Forums

[bluebubblez]

after reading a lot of threads, it seems like there are several blacklists and discouragement from people~ i was wondering if anyone had a place they enjoy working at -- if so, the name/website of the workplace. i'm trying to find a place where the pay is good and the environment too so any reccomendations would be appreciated!

[Col.Brandon]

There are some fantastic gigs around.

How do you find them? Networking.

You need to stick around somewhere, pay your dues, do a professional job and keep in touch with the contacts you have networked. There's no easy solution... sorry for those with only a 5 minute attention span, although even they may get lucky occasionally. Don't expect much from some drunk in an Itaewon bar, either - try to foster contacts in a more positive environment like a club.

If you can meet some influential Koreans that'd help, too. Where to start? How about an English club?

[SPINOZA]

I'm in a Seoul public middle school (further info available via PM if necessary) and I really like it, on the whole. There are some things that irritate the living *beep* out of me, such as class 3-1, and laziness from Korean teachers, but overall I'm happy and am renewing my contract. I like my area of Seoul, have a very good and convenient location and my apartment is reasonable. It's by far and away the best job I've ever had and the kids generally are really great kids.

[plattwaz]

I always find this post interesting, as lots of people who aren't yet in Korea ask the same thing -- "Can you tell me the name of a good place to work?" There are never any specific answers, no matter how many times it is asked, and I think that the reason is hard to understand when you have not yet been to Korea.

In a Korean city, say Seoul, there are English language academies on EVERY street. One small neighbourhood of the city will have about half a dozen, perhaps more. There are, literally, THOUSANDS of English language hagwans (academies) where Korean children study and English teachers work. Then, add to this mix, public elementary schools, middle schools, and adult academies....the result is huge.

To ask a few hundred people on this board, who are scattered across the country, to name one specific place to work that is good, is near impossible. After almost five years here I know I could not say "Joe Schmo's Super Duper English Academy in Kimchi-dong, across from the Family Mart is a super great place to work! Here is their address and phone number!"

Aside from the fact that it would be impossible to do this, there are a few other factors involved. (I suppose a lot of these are just my opinions/observations, but that's the point of answering a question).

1 - If it really is a great place to work, many teachers are renewing, meaning fewer positions become available.
2 - Most really "strong" academies prefer to hire teaches with Korean experience, and/or who are already in Korea so they can be met face to face for a proper interview.
3 - When teachers have a high opinion of their workplace they are more inclined to refer friends or acquaintances to fill available positions
4 - Just because you have found a great place to work doesn't mean they are hiring right now. Joe Schmo's Super Duper English Academy may not need another teacher until next December.

And finally,

5 - What one person thinks is a great place to work, there are ten other people who wouldn't go near it. For example, you will find lots of threads on here about franchise or chain academies that one poster will say to avoid, and then a response from another person saying they worked at one branch that was perfectly fine.

I'm in no way being rude or anything with this post. I'm just trying to explain why it is very unlikely you will get the kind of response that I think you are looking for.

Instead, the best thing to do is to decide what you are looking for, and what you are not willing to do (ie/ adults or kindie, Seoul or elsewhere, city or country, morning or evening hours, shared or single housing, start date, etc., etc). Search for jobs that meet your criteria, and see what you come up with. If there is nothing, then perhaps you can wait another month, and see what comes up then.

You will have better luck in getting responses when you post about a specific place of employment (ie/ "Can anyone tell me anything about Joe Schmo's Super Duper English Academy in Kimchi-dong?"), and there are lots of people on here who are good at helping with contract advice.

Sorry if that's not the answer you are looking for, I know what it's like to be overseas and just want a list of good places to work. But it's probably not going to happen. Again, I'm not in any way trying to be nasty, just trying to help.

Good luck with your search, and keep in mind that as much research as you do, you won't have a 100% guarantee....coming over here to teach sometimes requires you to take a bit of a risk!

[ttompatz]

[Summer Wine]

[plattwaz]

[big_blue_21]

I've been really happy with CDI. Hauling in over 4 million and month and the boss, Inchul, he treats you pretty fairly. PM with questions.

[John Henry]

[SirFink]

This is one of the reasons for just pulling the trigger and getting over here. Even if your job turns out to be crap, there are plenty more to be found once you get here. I can't go out to the local foreigner bar without someone offering me a job.

[big_blue_21]

Just thought I'd put my two cents in, but I've really enjoyed CDI. And I've had people saving crazy stuff like it's only 2.4-2.6 per month. I don't know, it could depend on which branch you work out (some are franchises which means they're not run by CDI, just like your local MacDonald's isn't), but I get paid at 35,000, which for 27 hours works out to about 4.2 or 4.3 per hour. Also, I only pay 1.5% in taxes, I think maybe because of CDI's special status as a corporation (yeah, it's a freakin' "llc," I think (and if you don't get that, that's fine, it's business nerd talk . . . yeah, must've spent too much time reading the Wall Street Journal as a kid . . . funny, considering we never got it at home . . . you figure that one out! I know I sure can't!) . . . so yeah, not all teachers get 35,000 an hour, but most get about 30,000 I'd say, and I've never heard of anyone getting less than 25,00 or 27,000. Yeah, no holidays! I actually like it! More working time! Sorry, but if I was hear to have fun, it would not have been Korea! . . . But I do know, teachers sometimes take sabbaticals for up to several months--one, William, just back in June after a month or two back in the States; Tricia, is leaving Sunday, I think for a month in the States or Canada; and finally, I know Gary, another teacher at CDI, just came back and is backing over Tricia's classes. He had been in Canada the past two months so don't think you can't take a trip back to the States ever and I requested a three-day break in my schedule (Mon, Tues, Wed) so taking vacactions is possible even without taking time off, especially during the mid-term period, when many of your classes will get cancelled . . . for instance, I had a week where I my Saturday and Sunday classes got cancelled so with my three-day non-weekend "weekend" that meant five straight days off. Considering you don't have to be to school until the afternoon (I could have used that Thursday for travel), giving me four-and-half days of real vacation (if I had departed on Saturday morning). That's plenty of time for a nice trip to Japan or China. I just consider the mid-term time (when classes get cancelled) to be my holidays, just not when everyone else is having a holiday, which is actually a plus because then everything's not so crowded.

[Col.Brandon]

Wow. Looks like they set the bar high at CDI.

[stevenisi]

[VanIslander]

you can't have my job