Korean Job Discussion Forums

[James1]

I have been thinking of getting a college positiong. At the end of the year I will have 3 yrs experience one year at a kindergarden, one year teaching social studies at a hagwon in Kangnam, one year teaching at a private elementary school, and some experience teaching college students.

Is this enough to work at a university and or a college?
I dont have a Masters, so I realize getting a university job will be tough.

What is the best way to find a college position?

Also, it would help if someone would explain the exact differences between working at a college and working at a university.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Make friends with people who work at colleges.

[I_Am_Wrong]

get a masters

[the_beaver]

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

[Hyeon Een]

You can easily get a college/university job. When you put out your resume put "University jobs only" on it. You'll still get lots of crappy hagwan offers, but not as many as you would otherwise. 5 months into my second contract I got sick of my job and gave one months notice. I put my resume up on Dave's and a couple of other sites. I was offered about 3 university jobs. All 3 were of the "Unigwan" variety though if that bothers you. I took the best one.

I get about 7-8 weeks vacation and during winter and summer university breaks I will be teaching 2 classes a day 4 days a week mon-thur so that will be pretty easy living too. (Most of my classes are university credit classes, not language center classes)

I will try and make my next job a 'proper' university job. I'm liking this one so far though.

[HapKi]

In Korea, colleges are 2 or 3 years, universities are 4.

In my experience (at a small college), knowing someone who works there is more valuable than having a Masters.

If you don't have the connections, I recommend hand-delivering your resume to someone of importance in the English Department. Ask to see someone, if necessary. Act interested in everything, and be well-dressed.

[endofthewor1d]

you could take the same road i travelled, but it's a long and boring one. i was in your same situation. 3 years in the hakwons. no masters. etc...
a friend of mine had a list of the mailing addresses of all of the universities and colleges in korea.
i printed 300 copies of my resume, and 300 copies of a stock cover letter i wrote, inserting the name of each particular school i was mailing to, for example: dear sir or madam, i am very interested in teaching at [insert name of school here]...
after all of those were printed, i bought 300 envelopes, and a lot of glue. i printed out 300 labels, cut them, glued them on the envelopes, and took great care in making sure i put each letter in the proper envelope. (it wouldn't have helped me to send an envelope to a school with a letter inside telling them i would be very interested in teaching at a different school)
and then i dropped them all in the mail. not too expensive.
for all of that effort, i got two bites. yes, that is significantly less than a one percent success rate. but it was enough. fortune smiled on me. i love where i work.

another piece of advice... the less picky you are about where you live/work, the more options you're likely to have. i'm fortunate that i don't mind living outside of seoul.
good luck!

[buster brown]

Before coming here I had read lots of posts and opinions about the best way to get a university job. The Beav's advice seemed the most logical so I tried something similar. First I put together copies of a cover letter, resume with my photo attached, and a copy of my certified diploma. I didn't try to personalize the cover letters, just something general like "Dear Director". From a website listing Korean universities and colleges (do a yahoo search), I targeted 3 or 4 cities with multiple schools. I had planned to take a trip to each one, hand-deliver my info and see what interest was generated. About a week prior to my trip, I sent emails to every address I could find at the schools I was going to. Out of 18 messages I got 5 or 6 responses, some of them directing me to the correct teacher/director. Three of the replies were about current job openings, all at national universities. In the end, I visited 2 of the cities I'd chosen, delivered 6 resumes, received 2 interviews and 2 unigwon job offers. I did all of this on my first visit to South Korea, with a Bachelor's degree and no contacts at any of the unis or colleges. I don't think my experience was exceptional...there are plenty of decent jobs with lower workloads than you have now.

Compared to EOTW's mass-mailing, I distributed six sets of info to get two interviews. Maybe I was just fortunate in applying at the right time of year. One of the schools told me that they'd posted an ad on Dave's several months before, but their finance department had only recently approved their request to add a new employee. I never put on a suit for the visits, although I wore a tie to one of the interviews...the second one was done on the spot when I dropped off my resume. With your teaching experience in Korea, it ought to be a simple matter to find a job at a unigwon. You also stand a good chance of landing a regular uni gig if you stumble across a school with an opening at the time you're applying. When my contract is up next year I intend to try the same procedure in looking for a regular uni job so I can lower my teaching hours and increase my time off. Good luck in your search.

[James1]

Thank you for the advice everyone.
It sounds like putting together a proper portfolio is needed. I will start on that. Also, reading some good books on theory is in order. I will try a combination of tactics. Again thank you very much for the advice.

One last question. What is a unigwon?

[HapKi]

[buster brown]

While there may be many unigwons similar to the ones Hapki described, they're generally considered (by me anyway) to be much more desirable than a hogwan. My working hours are much lower, there's more paid vacation time, and my pay comes directly from the university. In the event of a tax, pension or medical insurance irregularity, I'm going to be in a much better position with a unigwon than a hagwon. I've read some posts talking about private universities with private pension plans, but haven't encountered them myself. As always in Korea, personal research will give you a better picture about the situation at each particular university. I'm not sure about the possibility of movement between the three departments. At our school, some of the unigwon teachers also teach freshmen classes while the university and freshmen teachers sometimes teach one or two classes at the unigwon level.

BTW, Hapki, that was a nice breakdown of the different levels of uni jobs. I spent several weeks wondering, "Who are all these other waygukin wandering around the Humanities building?" before I figured out the hierarchy.

[PRagic]

Try to get a college/university position outside of Seoul where you'll stand a better chance. Once in, start up an on-line MA in TESOL or A.L. Even if you don't stick with it, it'll look good. With a couple of years of experience in the boonies, you'll be able to angle for better jobs in Seoul or Pusan. Just my 2 cents. Some of the smaller universities in Seoul still hire BAs, but not many from what I've heard. Also, the Uniwons are NOT a doorway to university departmental positions. Doesn't work.

[mep3]

Are uniwons like hagwons in regards to the national health insurance -- they often won't sign you up for it even though they are supposed to,

or are they like universities -- they will sign you up for it like they are supposed to?

Also, anyone know specifically what kinds of contract/work problems ft's often have with the uniwons? Thx.... mep

[gsxr750r]

My uni signed me up. I checked to be sure, and they already had my insurance.

[thepeel]

When I was in Korea, I applied for three uni positions and got all three. I had then, only a BA.

Clean yourself up. Get a nice shirt, tie, and pants. Nice. Iron them, properly. No white socks. No sneakers. If you smoke, don't smoke that day so that you don't smell like an ashtray. Go very easy on the smells. In your mind, you act as if you are about to apply at Goldman Sachs. Get a nice picture of you taken, with your hair properly cut, combed and set. It should be a headshot, like they do. Be clean shaved. No beard, goatee or whatever. Your hair is only on your head, not your face.

Create a professional resume. Leave the editorializing out. Write a professional letter that makes special reference to the school (not a "set" letter that you send unchanged to all the schools). Talk about the school, the area, the programs that they offer. Don't be afraid to compliment them slightly.

DO NOT EMAIL your resume. Put on your nice suit, with your nicely combed hair and neatly shaved face and GO TO the schools. Ask for the lady you need to talk to and sell yourself to her. Physically hand to her your resume, out of the envelope, highlighting to her your specific strengths. Use two hands to hand it.

When you meet her, act like you are Korean. Bow to her. Hand her your resume with two hands. Be as polite as you can without seeming fake.

Get her name card. Email her when you get home that night to tell her it was nice to meet and compliment, slightly, the facilities.

Email, or call, two days later (early in the morning, about 30 min after the working day starts) to reaffirm your commitment to the school. Ask if there is any further information she needs.

Do this for every uni you want to work at. You will get a job.