Korean Job Discussion Forums

[traxxe]

Okay, I'm going to share some things I learned in my experience so far here in Korea. I was anxious to get here, facing a money deadline, and found myself in an unfavorable position for being happy with my work.

1) Fly here if you can. Talk to the teachers before signing on in person, away from the school if possible.

2) If you cannot fly here (like me) then talk to the teachers in private via phone. Ask them what the hardest thing is about there job. What they like. What they would change.

3) Search Dave's. I did, didn't find much on my school. I am sure though it is very helpful in some cases. This very same advice, which I ignored but am writing now.. is here.

4) Don't take the first offer that comes your way. Demand is high here and in all probability you're locked for a year, a potentially work miserable one if you get stuck in a crappy hagwon. Get more than one offer.

5) Try to avoid a recruiter. A recruiter is not looking out for your best interest at all times. While I like mine, they get paid to put bodies in schools. They are working with that be their driving goal and focus. You, acting as your own recruiter... are looking out for you. The recruiter is not your friend, don't think of them as such.

****

I found myself in a place where not one of the teachers really likes the place. We all were aware of the working conditions when signing the contract but everyone pretty much had misunderstandings or misqueues given about what would be involved. The mistake I made is not just a newbie one. One teacher there said it was their worst job in the five years they were here and a mistake.

Examples:

Food with the Children - I thought this was in a cafeteria and that all the teachers would stay here and eat a few days a week, like at their own table. Sort of like in a U.S. school as you would see sometimes. The recruiter probably didn't understand me when I asked about this and said it was similar. It wasn't. I serve them breakfast as well as lunch and babysit them in my room for a total of 1.5 hours a day. Not paid for of course or counting towards teaching hours even though I'm told to enforce English only philosophy and am not allowed to walk out, they must be supervised, disciplined, etc.

No breaks. I'll get one class period off a day but it never occured to me to ask about breaks between classes. I teach 28 fifty minute classes, plus serve and watch for lunch and breakfast all week. (I get one lunch period to myself. To be fair, lunch is provided) Some of my peers teach 32 classes a week but get two lunch breaks. They count each class as being 50 minutes of course, not an hour. So it's still under the 30 max and no one is paid overtime.

Vacuming, cleaning of room. I do everything but mop. This was never mentioned. I don't really mind this since you should take pride in your room. It might offend some people though.

Bills. Never thought to ask this. The company has me turn in and pays my bills, taking them out of my check. I actually kind of don't mind this but I can see where it may irritate others.

****

Lying to parents. I came with no teaching experience. As did my peers. The school lied to the parents about this and apparently I taught specialized (in my subject of course) for three years after college. My friend, a little younger, two (never taught either). We were told recently if asked about our experience to, 'make an excuse to go say we must teach, and leave'. This is for all the teachers.. not just us. Some of them found about the lies after the fact, some before.

Some of this is because of turn around. I replaced a teacher who only was there a couple of months before having had enough. Another teacher lasted two months and left for Thailand.

So I think another important is to make sure a school has a teacher there who has been there for a while... longevity probably means that the place is desirable at least to one person. After one teacher leaves in August... the most experienced teacher remaining will be five months. The parents are only naturally concerned about the lack of longevity.

***

That being said, I'm not whining. There are many places with better working conditions out there. I'm sure there are worse too. I believed it when someone told me serving was the norm for most places. That most places have you work 9 hour days with one class period off. Again, if you get a few offers before deciding you'll learn this quick where as I didn't do my due dilligence when job hunting here.

I will stick the contract through, though everyone there wishes they could go elsewhere... the school probably won't fire anyone because of the large turnover. I would love to have my release letter to do what I should have done the first time.

No midnite runs for me though. I signed it, I'll stick to it. My mistake... I made my bed and now I'll sleep in it for a year.

Ask everything, get an idea of what you are getting into and compare it to other people around here. There is nothing worse than knowing better but not acting like it.

Also, leave work at work. Korea is a fun place full of interesting experiences. Not just a place to make money (though it is a good part of it) and learn what you can about the people around you. Not many people get these sorts of experiences.

Much love,
Traxxe

[Johnwayne]

[icicle]

[traxxe]

I'll leave the name of my school, it's a small chain. Out of this... after reading about Ianislm (whatever his name was) and others that would not be fair to say. It sucks working there but I should have done my work and realized this before hand. The only straight up lie (besides not menitoning no break time between classes, one starts right after another). Was to the parents.

Once I finish my contract I'll gladly post the name.

[traxxe]

Interesting, I never thought to use multiple recruiters. That's very sound logic.

I think next time I'll try a public school. Then after that I'll have my Master's and hope to try a uni.

[Jizzo T. Clown]

Could you at least list the recruiter you used??

[Fresh Prince]

Jobs like this are really risky. If the hokwon has no record of people completing the contract then it is a real gamble that they will actually follow through and pay severance at the end of the contract. It's also a gamble that they won't find some excuse to fire the foreigner during the last couple months of the contract, in an attempt to get out of paying for the airfare and severance. Hopefully they are paying into the national health care scheme and being upfront with the pension and taxes.

[traxxe]

One teacher made it through his contract when I first got there. He isn't having any issues yet that I know of. Another one is about to. If I find out otherwise I'll make sure to drop the name here since I'm staying in touch with them.

I do have a question, obviously I have my visa issued. The contract though was only in English. Someone told me it is not a legal contract unless it is in Korean and no one there ever signed a Korean contract.

[garykasparov]

[wylies99]

[silvertoes]

My hagwon is terrific - no lying, good at compromising, do what they say they'll do, have stuck to the easy hours I started with (no major changes or drama), and sometimes more. Last summer we got a surprise 100,000 bonus for 'vacation money'. I sure hope we get that again this year! There are good hagwons out there, you just have to know how to find them.

I got my first hagwon job through a recruiter, from overseas. The recruiters (Angel in Cheongju) are terrific people but the school turned out to be dreadful except for the fabulous students. Second time around I came to Korea and found my own job. It only took a 3 days from arrival to find one. As soon as I walked in the school I could feel what it was like there, could feel in the air that it was a good place. Then I walked around the neighbourhood and it rocks. The only reason I'm leaving in September after 2 years at this place is that I've applied for and am very much hoping to get an amazing job - though it'll be much, much harder and longer hours - outside Korea.

I know it might be difficult and scary for someone who'd never been in Korea before to do things this way (not least, I'd been been before and travellled so had an idea of where I wanted - and didn't want - to live), but I would always, always do it that way in future. I had to pay my own airfare in, ok, and a week or so at a love motel, but the visa run was paid for and my airfare out will be of course. What you lose in inwards airfare you more than make up for with a very different and more positive Korean experience, and a sense of control over your life.