Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Captain Courageous]

G'day, all. I've been browsing the forums and culling all the info I can about every facet of living in Korea, which I will be doing come January. Being that the search tool has a tendency to be utterly useless, I figured asking some questions in my own thread would work a wee bit better.

I'm quitting grad school (at least for the time being) in December. I need a break, and Korea seems to be an interesting place to get some teaching experience abroad and pay back the ungodly amounts of loans and credit debt I have to pay back. I'm also a sucker for new experiences, and Korea offers that.

I haven't signed a contract yet, but have been in contact with a recruiter or two. So my questions to you are:

1. Anyone hear any good or bad things about recruitment by Matthew Campbell of SKTEACH.com? Seems pretty up-and-up to me, but I thought I'd ask about their reputation before committing to their services. So far, my experience has been pleasant, and Matthew has been very prompt and polite.

2. I have a BA in Anthropology and an MA in History from a major US public university (Florida State University). My teaching experience is generally relegated to class subbing and guest lectures. What kind of salary can I expect as an offer, and what kind of salary can I effectively demand?

3. I've already settled on Seoul, so I won't be asking about "where in Seoul," etc. There are plenty of threads covering that already, so i'll spare you.

4. It would seem as though 90+% of all complaints re: teaching in Korea relate mostly to vagueness in contracting terms. How willing are most employers to revise the offered contracts to meet common-sense demands and specifics?



I guess that's all I have for now, but I'm sure there'll be more, and thanks all in advance! And don't worry, I won't be a one-post question bot, like a lot of people tend to do on boards such as these.

[Mark7]

Sup dude,

Yeah, I recently got in contact with the same guy, Matthew Campbell. And like you, I think he's polite, very prompt and a nice guy. He replies to my e-mails very quickly and thoroughly. He even called me one morning to discuss my future options about looking for a job. I gave him my info and photo and he said he'll make a file for me to send to other schools. So far, he seems like a genuine recruiter.

But again, this is from me, a person who is very new to this process. So, like you, I request anyone else who knows about SKTeach to give us the real scoop about this guy. Is he f'real or is there something else we should know?

Let me know what you think.

[Captain Courageous]

Does no one here have any experience with SKTEACH?

[BigBuds]

From what I can gather they're a pretty new outfit.

You may want to find out how many teachers they've previously recruited and get in contact with some of those teachers to really find out about them.