Korean Job Discussion Forums

[kangnam mafioso]

has anyone made the move from korea to the middle east? over the past year, i've seen some sick job postings. you know, $40,000 + (tax free), free accomodation, shipping, over a month vacation, etc.

now, i know you have to live on a secure compound and picking up women is harder than it is in hongdae, and there are security hazards and ... and ... it probably gets a bit boring out there in the desert ... but has anyone else considered this? i mean, double the korea salary plus all the perks. it might be worth it for a year just to pay off those student loans ...

any info on schools, recruiters and personal experiences would be nice. saudi seems to have the highest salaries, but the most austere conditions. i'm leaning more towards the UAE ....

over and out

[rawiri]

do you know what the score is man? can dodgy lazy buggers with ba's like my self just rock up with a backpack and go at it ala korea, or is there a bit more too it?

[kangnam mafioso]

they are bit more selective in the middle east than in the ROK, but it ain't impossible with a ba, some experience and a couple of fake esl certificates.

[waterbaby]

Check out the Middle East Forums...

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/job/index.php?c=7

[Cthulhu]

When the first thread I see in Dave's Saudi Arabia forum is a warning about a drive by shooting my opinion of Korea tends to go up exponentially.

[whatthefunk]

I think that in alot of those countries, you would be bored sh*tless. I think you would have to live in a 'western compound' and live without booze or women for a year. I might be wrong about all this, but it doesn't seem to be worth the money in my opinion...

[Homer]

It also speaks volumes when the information about jobs in that region comes from someone who says:

[captain kirk]

six months back i contacted posters via their emails left on the dave's forums for saudi, etc. like 'knocking door to door'. living on compounds inspires them to tie their emails at the end of their posts to be congenial i suppose....i too have a ba, though it's english lit major.
-one guy said DON'T come and work in the private language schools. he said you will be exploited, cheated...etc. they will accept you with a ba. and it would probably be adults.
-someone else said DON'T try to work anywhere but saudi. saudi has higher pay than the neighbouring countries like kuwait. because it's harder to live there. but in the end it's worth it
-another guy said DO get an MA tesol from somewhere before you try to get a saudi job. then you can be in the colleges which treat you better, and have all the perks
TRY it yourself. one of the private schools (the type i was warned off) had a job offer, but it came across like 'oh, so you want a deck hand postion on our pirate ship, DoO yOU??!'
couple of times i met a big, usually drunken, joke-cracking boisterous friendly guy in itaewon with his friends. he knew how to get a job in saudi 'like that' and with just a ba. he said, 'they just create credentials' for you(an agency based in england; i lost the card). and 'i guarantee you won't like your (saudi) boss'. and how he wanted to get back there because he just could not save here for going out all the time. he had been in saudi for two years. they made booze on the compounds themselves. re; possible gfs phillipino female workers, like maids, around. he was a big, young, boisterous 'cherubic' guy with slightly yellow teeth. i got the impression saudi and the compounds were a 'recreation room' kind of life, with a lot of drinking and darts, like the pubs in itaewon, except it's homemade booze and less if any ladies. this impression, and the thought of a 'desert'= "why?", for me. but the red sea is fantastic for snorkling/scuba. it's worth looking into. but i was surprised that you can't free roam it like korea; why there are 'compounds'.
-one guy said that he taught in asia when he was young, then got his Ma tesol, now teaches in up and up college jobs in saudi.
-another guy said that with your ba you can possibly get jobs teaching in military colleges, lecturing to soldiers. these come up on dave's job forum
why not yank on peoples' sleeves via their emails from dave's saudi and post the results here. by the way are you a wannabe 'laurence of arabia'. about all i know about 'saudi' is that movie. but hey, it's a desert.
-the emails of some of the respondents, who were 'caucasoids' from the west like us 'aliens' here, were faked arabic-type names, like 'omar fazah' or the like. a couple guys mentioned being careful going about, taking taxis rather than walking. there are also, apparently, desert spiders the size of frisbees which scamper as fast as arabian horses and feed by leaping and clamping to the bellys of camels, burrowing, and eating them from the inside out. but compound life shuts them out really, except the scorpions.

[Emma Clare]

I have a friend who lives and works out in Dubai (accounting, not teaching) and he's always boozing and partying. It's not as strict as you might think. Plus it's 29C in the middle of 'Winter'. You'll need at least an MA or a few years teaching experience and a TESOL cert to work there. Their admissions policy is far tougher than for South Korea. No taxes, much higher pay and free housing though.... Look on www.huntesl.com for more info on teaching in the U.A.E/Saudi.

[Blue Flower]

[ratslash]

sounds like saudi is a place to go to if you have a wife/fiancee/girlfriend and you don't particulary like drinking anymore. in that case, what the *bleep* am i doing in seoul!!!!!