Korean Job Discussion Forums

njp6 · Joined: 01 Sep 2005 Location: Gangnam, South Korea

Anyone have any advice on this one? I've checked out the job postings on many different sites; however, I was wondering if there was a more productive way of going about this. How'd you land your uni job?

spliff · Joined: 19 Jan 2004 Location: Khon Kaen, Thailand

Try going to Unis in person and applying. Wait, that can't be right, too easy... Very Happy

Bibbitybop · Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Location: Seoul

Going to unis and applying in person is easy? It's very time consuming.

HapKi · Joined: 10 Dec 2004 Location: TALL BUILDING-SEOUL

I picked 3 or 4 that I was interested in and hand delivered my required papers.
Glancing at the stack of resumes my future boss had in front of her during the interview, I was relieved to see a lot of people were not even in Korea.

njp6 · Joined: 01 Sep 2005 Location: Gangnam, South Korea

Another question, when I go to talk to the uni's and give them my resume, what other papers should I take with me?

Pak Yu Man · Joined: 02 Jun 2005 Location: The Ida galaxy

Best way.

Become friends with people who work at a uni.
Hang out with them. Drink with them, buy them booze. When one quits MAYBE he will tell you about it and you can apply.

Or look on Dave's for a uni gig and throw them your resume along with the other 1000 hagwon peons Smile

ajuma · Joined: 18 Feb 2003 Location: Anywere but Seoul!!

the_beaver · Joined: 15 Jan 2003

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=6586

ella · Joined: 17 Apr 2006

When you go to talk to someone at university about a job, who do you talk to?

lastat06513 · Posted: Tue Dec 05, 2006 11:03 am Post subject:

I didn't find my last job, it found me....

And when I went through the committee interview, one of the teachers was a teacher at the hakwon I worked at and everyone knew the institute (it was one of the most famous institutes in Seoul before it closed down in 2004)

The best jobs are not the ones advertising for teachers, those are the ones who can't hold staff for very long.

the best way to go about it is through networking and knowing people. If you know someone who works at a uni that is hiring or even a friend who is a uni student at a uni that is hiring, ask them and go there to drop off an application.

I got one job from an ex-girlfriend once and although we broke up before I took the job, I stayed at that job for 2 and half years. It was the best hakwon job I had in Korea

I was working as a volunteer at the USO and the director there knew a professor at Kyunghee University. I met her and did several demo classes; she loved them and the students loved them, but I was already hired for a job so I couldn't take it.

In Korea, it is not what you know, but who you know that gets you a good job Wink

Ody · Joined: 27 Jan 2003 Location: over here

though i recently left my post to take up other interests, my own method for securing a job was more traditional. i got my uni job the same way as every other job i've had, by answering a classified add with my resume and cover letter. my job rocked too!

all i'm saying is do the legwork. check out as many job boards as you can, send out a slew of resumes, and never stop tweaking your cv.

don't get me wrong, the above advice is sound. half of the foreign staff at my college are people i recommended. but if you�re at all like i am, you don�t necessarily have a slew of close friends holding jobs you�d want to have. don't let that deter you from aggressively pursuing the job you want.

good luck!!

PRagic · Joined: 24 Feb 2006

You're also missing one point. How about getting qualified to GET the job should it be offered to you! If you already have your MA and CELTA/DELTA, then just go about applying and you'll stand a pretty good chance of getting a call-back.

The best university jobs going for this coming semester were cold hires, meaning that people had to submit an application on-line. After an initial screening, the most qualified applicants were contacted to submit their documentation for the next level of screening. THEN, everyone had to go in for interviews and/or demo lectures. Even if you were the best beer buddy in the world with someone in the department, if you didn't have the qualifications, it wouldn't have helped.

Given, some of the lower-tiered, high contact hour, low paying jobs can be had through connections. Sooner or later, though, you're going to want to move up, for whatever reason, and then you'll need the qualifications. That's now. It's only going to get more stringent.

Ajuma, thought you worked at a UNIGWON. Different story if you do.

ajuma · Joined: 18 Feb 2003 Location: Anywere but Seoul!!

PRagic · Joined: 24 Feb 2006

ONLY one or two?! Hope they are paid at a decent (more than 30K) overtime rate, and that they are not mandatory.

ajuma · Joined: 18 Feb 2003 Location: Anywere but Seoul!!

Yep, they're generally our overtime hours, paid at more than 30,000 an hour. You CAN choose not to take them, but most people WANT the overtime, so there is generally more people wanting classes than are available. These classes are also good in that the students WANT to be there, so they participate more. They're also held 4 times a week, and the classes are small, so we really get to know the students.