Korean Job Discussion Forums

pear_thumb · Joined: 13 May 2007 Location: Near-ish to Seoul

I am planning to come to Korea at the end of July/beginning of August. I've been speaking to recruiters for a week or so now and have interviewed with a slew of private schools as well as one public school. And I need your help sorting through this!

Background: I am planning to apply for a Ph.D. to begin in 2008. I intend to apply to schools, take the GRE, etc. during my year in Korea. This is why I need to come at the end of July/beginning of August. I don't want to mess up my year contract because I have to leave in order to start school, nor do I want to leave Korea and start school in the course of 2 days because that would make me insane.

I was pretty certain that public school jobs were out of the range of when I need to come to Korea because of what I'd read here and seen on the various EPIK, GEPIK websites. I can't start at the end of August. Part of me actually considered taking my chances and starting school late so I could get a public school job. It still seems like a good Plan B rather than taking my chances with a private job.

I'm wondering if anyone out there has advice on my situation?

Would a public school position be the better pick for me since I will need the time, mental energy, etc. to focus on the application/gre test part of my life as well as teaching? I have had experience teaching college, so I know how draining teaching can be. I'm not sure if teaching kindegarden would be worse or better, in my case. Furthermore, I know from reading here that public school jobs involve staying at school and sometimes this means not having anything to do. To me, this sounds like the perfect opportunity for me to do my other "job"-i.e. studying and preparing applications for Ph.D. programs.

Secondly, a few recruiters are giving me the idea that I might be able to swing a public school job that starts mid-July. Obviously, that would be perfect for me. I cannot leave the U.S. before than due to a lease/job here. Does this seem legit? Have you heard of other people being able to start mid-vacation like this? Am I asking for trouble in doing this?

Thirdly, I spoke to one recruiter recently who said that she was in charge of hiring teachers for a certain region. She said that she could say I could start mid-July like I requested because I was a highly qualified candidate. Does this seem legit? There's something sort of odd about her just saying "Yep, you're in." I asked for the contract to be sent. It's a high school gig, which would be ideal for me personally since I prefer older students and it might look good on the cv as well.

I apologize if this is long and convoluted. I'm sort of a wordy person and I'm tired. So you get this....really long post.

Thanks for any help you all can provide.

kat2 · Joined: 25 Oct 2005 Location: Busan, South Korea

Do you ahve a masters? If so, consider working at a uni here. The semester would start at the begining of september/late august. The semester would end at the end of july next year (technically you would be contracted for the summer vacation and might have to teach a little, but if you explain your situation, you could probably work out a good schedule that woud allow you to leave when you need). These usually involve 15 or less teaching hours a week and about 10 weeks vaca a year. Ads should start popping up in the next month.

As for the public school question, its possible to swing a mid july start but very unlikely. I would simply try to take your two weeks vacation at the end of your contract so that you could leave two weeks early. Having said, that I started my public school job July 1. So, its possible, but not with EPIK/GEPIK. Look for school districts hiring by themselves.

As to your third question, yes its legit. Most schools woul loved to have a masters on board. If they agreed, take a serious look at them.

pear_thumb · Joined: 13 May 2007 Location: Near-ish to Seoul

Thanks for your reply. I have a couple of leads on places that might be willing to take me mid-vacation. Maybe due to my teaching experience, master's, etc.

I'd assumed that getting a uni job was fairly slim since I'm not in Korea presently. So everytime I see an ad, I just ignore it thinking it's unlikely I could get the job anyway. And of course, I'm afraid that if I had to leave early I'd be losing out on the severance pay at the end of the year. Would that be the right assumption to make? Even if I worked something out like that?

jellobean · Joined: 14 Mar 2006

Uni jobs often have paid vacation in July & August..... As long as there is no summer camp requirement, you aren't actually leaving the contract early if you go back to the states during the vacation.... Even if there is a summer camp requirement it is often in July... There might be an immigration issue about giving up your Alien Registration Card, but I'm sure that can be worked out.... The only issue would be accessing your final pay check, but for that you can just sent up online banking with your Korean account...

dogshed · Joined: 28 Apr 2006

My public school contract specifically states that I will take
the vacation at the end of the contract. I'm kinda hoping
they will be flexible on that though.

You can start a public school job any time of the year
but if you can get something better with your masters
then go for it.

PRagic · Joined: 24 Feb 2006

If your MA is in TESL, Applied Linguistics, or English, you have a shot at getting hired at a university from outside of Korea. Seoul National has a few teachers on board hired from abroad. Teachers with experience in-country know what to ask for, and expect better treatment. Some programs like to hire newbies to Korea because they are more amiable to inane demands.

wanderingsalsero · Joined: 23 Dec 2006 Location: Houston, TX.

you're wondering if it's possible to get public school jobs in June(or thereabouts)?

Apparently it is because I got a job in a high school in Namyang-ju through a recruiter. I'm still here in the US right now but expect to be leaving within two weeks as soon as some visa stuff is taken care of. I was told by the recruiter that they wanted me over there early in June.

I did ask the recruiter why they were hiring me now since it was my understanding that public school jobs only hired a couple of times a year. My recruiter was told (to tell me) that I would be the first foreign assistant english teacher the school had ever hired and they simply wanted me over ASAP.

Hope that helps you.

BTW, I do have a Masters (in International Business Management) and one of my long term goals is to get a job in a university. I don't know much about it accept that it can be a good gig. I'll learn more as soon as I get over there and learn the system of course. Best of luck to you.

Bibbitybop · Joined: 22 Feb 2006 Location: Seoul

Many public school teachers start around August 24th and end the contract on August 24th, but have 7-12 business days of vacation at the end of the contract, so they would be able to be in another country by the time many uni's start.

YoshaMazov · Joined: 10 May 2007 Location: Suwon

It wouldn't make much sense for a public school to hire you mid/late July, seeing as how most public schools end during that time and won't start again until late August. Most schools have some sort of summer camp a week after the school ends, so there's a possibility they'd want you for that, but it wouldn't make much sense (seeing as how they'd pay you for a whole two months for doing nothing). But then again, this is Korea, so they waste money like none other.