Oops

Andrew Han at YBM Education confirms that I may be looking a bit too early for a job. His email starts with...

It sounds great that you are getting your documents ready. The end of June recruitment starts around March and April.

I guess I'll relax a bit, and try not to get into too much trouble until March.

Too early, too soon

I am looking for a job that starts at the end of June 2010, and have found that I may be looking for a position too early. A lot of recruiters are telling me that they are filling positions for late February and March right now. Some asked me to re-contact them in April, which tells me that I may be four months too early on trying to find a job in South Korea.

Regardless, I am trying to get some items in order (e.g. criminal background check, diploma, transcripts), and will continue to look for jobs --albeit, a little less aggressively.

I did register for a profile at Serious Teachers so maybe that will be my key to success. We shall see!

Advice from veterans

I've known a few people that have taught English in Korea. Here is some of their advice that they were kind enough to share with me. Amanda says:

Dave's is a good site. Another one is Serious Teachers. After you post your resume you will most likely be contacted by a recruiter, and they will do all of the work for you. They find you schools and set up interviews and once you're hired they help you with the flight and settling in process. [You might want to wait] until August when public schools are hiring ... 2.1 [million won] is a pretty average starting salary. You can sometimes get higher as a first year teacher in Seoul especially if you have a teaching degree or you are TOEFL certified. Like around 2.2 or 2.3. I wouldn't go below 2.1 though.

Tess' advice to me included:

I'd say about 1/2 of the hagwons are horrid, and 1/2 are totally great. It's all about finding one with honest owners. Def try to talk to at least 1 teacher at the school, so you can get an opinion from a teacher. And whatever you do... don't teach at Choo Choo Train English in Anyang. Ha..I've sent out a lot of these, so I kinda have a back-up that I copy and paste ...

Here's my go-to message:

Most schools hiring English teachers are after school programs, called Hagwons. People have really great and really bad experiences depending on their school, so it's really worth doing the research on your school and talking to teachers there. This often depends on your boss. It's harder to work at public schools without experience teaching/a teaching degree/knowing Korean, but it's a better gig if you get a chance.

When i was there the average salary was between 2.1 and 2.3 million won, which was about 2,000 US a month, but with the dollar and won down, it's worth less now. Your school pays for your rent, sometimes utilities, and they should pay for your ticket over there and the cost of your visa. You also get a bonus of one month salary at the completion of your 1-year contract. This varies depending on where you live (big city or small) and how desperate schools are, and they usually are pretty desperate.

The visa laws changed right after I got there. You now go through the screening and background stuff here, so it might be different if they pay for it. It's hard not to get stuck in a 1-year contract. Your visa is totally dependent on your school. You can't change schools or quit your job and still have a visa.

Korean culture is very conservative and family oriented. Older people are very traditional, and the younger population is more open. In general they are very friendly, respectful and lovely people. I met lots of good friends, and younger Koreans are really fun to party with and love meeting foreigners. I had a great experience with the culture, but not so much with my school.

I also got a TEFL certificate, which is not necessary in Korea, but will help with getting higher pay and the job you want. Most jobs work through recruiters.

Unsuccessful application?

Another fantastic email I have received:

Dear Sir,

Thank you for your email regarding the position at Seoul English Village, your application is being processed and if you have not heard back from us in 5 working days it has been unsuccessful.

Kind Regards

SEV

Finding A Job Teaching English in Korea, Day 1

I have quickly learned that if you want to teach English abroad, Dave's ESL Cafe is a great resource. This website was started in 1995, and you can read the FAQ for more details.

The Korean Job Discussion Forums has some great stickys, including a FAQ for living in teaching in South Korea, discussions on working and living in South Korea, and a Buy/Sell/Trade forum. Most of the stickys are older, started around 2003-2005, but still contain valuable information.

After about an hour on that forum, I spent several hours sending out my resume and photograph to potential employers found on the Korean Job Board on January 11th. I sent out 56 emails, requesting information on possible jobs. One email was undeliverable because the receiver's mailbox was full. I was discouraged against applying on websites, because after going to one website, the virus detector on my computer went crazy.

By the next morning, I missed two calls on my cell phone. Number 82226750583 (Johnny from ESL Seoul?) left me a voicemail at 5:09 PM PST, and number 8207075208882 (could not catch name or organization name) left me a voicemail at 8:59 PM PST.

On the evening of January 12th, I received two more voicemails. Number (245) 298-58 (Anna Jeon from Korea Global Connections) left me a voicemail at 6:05PM. Number 821090533019 (Brian from ?) left me two voicemail, first on the 12th at 6:47 PM and the second on the 13th at 6:49 PM.

I received 11 email responses. That is from the 56 emails I sent out. I'm not sure if this is a good ratio or not. I'm sure there are organizations that leave multiple posts and emails on the Job Board, so the ratio may be skewed. I have not responded back by phone or email, as I figure that I have time to plan my next step, and am still working out personal details about when I can leave the country.

I will share an email I received from Young at Talking Club.

I thank you for your interest in our position, but am sorry to inform you that we need a teacher who can arrive in Korea in February. I think you'd better look for another position. I wish you a good luck.

I'm surprised that they wouldn't keep my resume for a later position! Or maybe something about my resume leaves them uninterested?

First Post

I spent my undergraduate career studying a wholly academic humanities subject pretty useless to the world at large. I earned my Bachelor of Science in Political Science in September 2006. At that time I wanted to go abroad to teach English. Instead, I got a job as a cubicle crusader, a mortgage, and life got in the way. Now I'm realizing that if I don't go abroad now, life is going to continue to get in the way. This is my journey to achieve that goal.

I am interested in this topic as it represents a piece of my past. At the time I was born, my father was flying helicopters for the US Army in South Korea while my mother raised me. My mother is from Busan, the largest port city in South Korea. Busan is located on the Southeastern most tip of the Korean Peninsula, and its weather ranges from hot and humid to cold and snow.

Many Koreans learn English, and other subjects, from private for-profit academies called Hagwons. Native English speakers are often hired to teach at Hagwons. The minimum requirements for such teaching positions are citizenship of USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand or South Africa, and a full university degree obtained in one of those countries [1]. In return for signing a one-year contract, the institute provides an instructor with a monthly salary, round-trip airfare from his or her country of origin, a rent-free apartment or housing stipend for the duration of the instructor’s contract, and an additional one month “severance pay” at the completion of the contract [2].

[1] Hi KOREA. (2007). Foreign Language teaching (E-2). Retrieved November 17, 2009 from http://www.hikorea.go.kr/pt/InfoDetailR_en.pt?categoryId=2&parentId=382&catSeq=385&showMenuId=374&visaId=E2.

[2] Cerralbo, Y. (2005). The good, the bad and the hagwon. Retrieved November 21, 2009 from http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_cerralbo/20050530.html.