Tefl in South Korea

Brokentime

JJayoo wrote: »

Hiya guys

Have just been offered a job in Jinju. To be honest after reading the contract I am having my doubts about it. I am using a recruiter and this is the first job they have presented me with. Since contacting them they have told me to forget about trying to get a job in Busan or Seoul and are really trying to push this job.

The terms are 1pm-9pm five days a week and the salary is 2.1 million won. The recruiters are refusing to forward the last teachers email address.

Just want to hear people opinions

This sounds familiar. I had the exact same deal when I first went to Korea. There was only one foreigner teacher at the school I went to, and I was replacing him. The agent wouldn't/couldn't give me the guy's email address. When I got to the school in Korea, the head of the school wouldn't even let me sit in on any of this guy's classes. His excuse was that they wanted a change in how the lessons are taught ("more fun"). I talked to the guy and he was unsurprised, saying the head of the school was constantly at him to have more fun with the students, despite him playing games etc. all the time. It seemed that the head just wanted his Western teachers to conform to the 'goofy-acting whitey' stereotype.

In retrospect, if I knew of the alarm bells involved in not getting a teacher contact at the school, I'd have given that one a miss. JJayoo, give that one a miss and just dig your heels in for a job in Busan or Seoul. I mean, there's no shortage of agents or recruiters, and if there is interest in you from one, there'll be interest for others. Just tell them you have no interest in a provincial city and would like a proper city. If they say no, move on and find another recruiter. Which recruiter are you using, by the way?

JJayoo

This is the main guy

http://hiteacher.com/profile/2456

They really are trying the hard sell. In there tips section it stated in bold that it is considered very rude to turn down an offer once one is made.

But this is just my experience and it would be a bad idea to judge the recruiters of once dodgy experience.

cloneslad

Be rude then,and stop using them as your recruiter. Better be rude to a stranger than unhappy and miserable for a year.

I'd just stop contacting them, if I'm being honest.

SpatialPlanning

If I could give 1 piece of advice it would be;

Look at it like the recruiter needs YOU!! It's not the other way around. They get paid when they place you in a school. If they need a body to fill a vacant (suspect?) position in an undesirable location then they will try anything within their means to push it on you. Don't accept.

If you want a position in Seoul or Busan then be firm with that. There are hundreds of recruiters out there, and even more jobs.

daesu

JJayoo wrote: »

I have asked a number of times, and each time I am giving an excuse. First it was because the last teacher was from South Africa, apparently being from SA means I shouldn't want to hear his opinion???

The second email was a long rant about how the teacher was very rude and always complaining about being bored.

Well there are a few possibilities;

- The location didn't suit that teacher so that teacher didn't have a good time and would mention that to you. If you googled Jinju you would see that it's a small town of only 350,000 people near the South coast of Korea. The foreign community would be tiny and hence you would likely be stuck with the same small group of people for 12 months. Some people may like teaching in such a location, for one reason it's supposed to be very beautiful, but the vast majority of foreigners here that I've met would not be happy there because of the lack of a foreigner community and lack of foreign amenities on top of the isolation.

- The teacher may very well have had a bad experience in Korea because of the difference in culture. This happens a lot. People come here and simply can't deal with the differences or refuse to accept the differences. The teacher might also just be a wanker who was treated OK but wanted more. Plenty of them here too.

- The school boss might be a wanker who treated the teacher badly.

I would recommend anyone on a first year visa to try and get into a big city unless they're pretty certain they can deal with the first option above.

Andy!!

Yikes, that recruiter sounds fairly dodgy, not to mention the money is a bit low for that amount of hours. I get that and usually do a 4-5 to 9 day. My advice is forget about that lot and keep looking. You can definitely find work nearer Busan or Seoul, do not let recruiters tell you otherwise.

Brokentime

JJayoo, the voices of experience have spoken. Ditch that recruiter and move on. As trite and cliche as it sounds, it really is a case of caveat emptor. You're the buyer, not the recruiter (as SpatialPlanning said). Shop around; you may end up in a job in Busan or Seoul with a little less money or tough hours, but you'll be in the place you wanted to be and can work from there. Just tell the guy (?) that you don't think it's the job for you and that you're worried (bluff!) that the position might not be secure or what you want and that you'll move on. That'll call the fcuker's hand.

Like most people say, don't take it if you're not sure. It's a year, or maybe more, of your life. Don't take the word of people who are basically salespeople selling you a job that may or may not be good. Take your time and be thorough. And do a TEFL or something while you're waiting

Andy!!

I'll just leave this here for all the peeps who spent the last week on Jeju :P

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0

JJayoo

A lot of good info, thanks guys

Can anyone recommend a good recruiter?

squeakyduck

I'm badly in need of a holiday now!

Roll on China.

Andy!!

For those considering taking the plunge;

http://megadeals.pigsback.com/megadeal/35503?utm_source=MegaDealAlert&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=TheMegaDeal

http://www.livingsocial.com/ireland/cities/514-limerick/deals/421030-online-tefl-course-including-140-hours-of-lessons

RESEARCH THESE COURSES BEFORE YOU SIGN UP!! I heard the first one I linked to doesn't have a great reputation. I did mine through i-to-i, so I'm not sure, but I think the second one, Star TEFL, is reputable enough. In my experience though recruiters aren't very worried about who you did it with, more so that you did over 140 hours in it (which is starting to be a requirement.)

cassi

JJayoo wrote: »

A lot of good info, thanks guys

Can anyone recommend a good recruiter?

A few pages back Cloneslad put up a prettu comprehensive list of good recruiters that people have recommended in the past. Have a look through it and I'd suggest contacting numerous recruiters and get ye best offer.

Andy!!

How do I text a Korean number from an Irish phone? Do I just add the 82 before it and kill the first 0 in the 010-etc. etc.?

formerrunner25

Okay so this whole job search has been a rollercoaster.
The job in Daejeon is gone because I didn't have the certificate for my diploma because I dont graduate until November. Then I had an interview with a school in Siheung city, my recruiter has now told me she is unable to get in contact with the director of the school. So instead she has got me a job in HongSeong, without even having to do an interview?
I told her I would be rejecting this as it's 2hours from Seoul and it's a small population so I'm assuming the foreign population would be small.
The recruiter told me there are no jobs in Seoul or close to Seoul as they mainly want American teachers?
Can anyone give me some advice on this?
I would change recruiter but I have sent my documents over to her already

R.D. aka MR.D

formerrunner25 wrote: »

Okay so this whole job search has been a rollercoaster.
The job in Daejeon is gone because I didn't have the certificate for my diploma because I dont graduate until November. Then I had an interview with a school in Siheung city, my recruiter has now told me she is unable to get in contact with the director of the school. So instead she has got me a job in HongSeong, without even having to do an interview?
I told her I would be rejecting this as it's 2hours from Seoul and it's a small population so I'm assuming the foreign population would be small.
The recruiter told me there are no jobs in Seoul or close to Seoul as they mainly want American teachers?
Can anyone give me some advice on this?
I would change recruiter but I have sent my documents over to her already

hmmm its kinda unfortuante that you've sent your documents already because my advice to you would be work with a different recruiter!!!

There are jobs in Seoul for Irish people. Just look how many Irish people in this thread are in Seoul.

Now seems to be a bad time for jobs. Things should pick up in the next few weeks. Try to push your recruiter a bit. Tell her you want a job in/near seoul and you're willing to wait for it (presuming you are)

Don't get disheartened! it will happen!

daesu

formerrunner wrote:

So instead she has got me a job in HongSeong, without even having to do an interview?
I told her I would be rejecting this as it's 2hours from Seoul and it's a small population so I'm assuming the foreign population would be small.
The recruiter told me there are no jobs in Seoul or close to Seoul as they mainly want American teachers?
Can anyone give me some advice on this?
I would change recruiter but I have sent my documents over to her already

There are jobs all over seoul for all nationalities. But she's right in saying that most jobs do want northern americans. Some schools will push for this quite strongly.

Just wait it out.

Andy!!

formerrunner25 wrote: »

The recruiter told me there are no jobs in Seoul or close to Seoul as they mainly want American teachers?

This is BS, ignore recruiters when they say this. You probably won't get central Seoul, but you can get areas that are only about an hour away, that are populated themselves. Hold out for the best offer mate.

Did you apply for that second certificate of character like I advised?

formerrunner25

Yeh I rejected the offer. She has got back to me with an interview for a school in Daegu.
I wouldn't be completely against living in Daegu, as it is pretty populated and seems cool enough.
Can anyone give me some information on it?
I have applied for the 2nd character reference

squeakyduck

Daegu is a really cool city. It was the first city I visited after I came to Korea. There are loads of hot spots for night life and loads of cool Koreans and foreigners there.

My friend used to live there but he ended up moving as he got an amazing job in Ulsan which is South East of Daegu.

Andy!!

Finally finished up on a blog post documenting the application process for Irish applicants. Took way longer than I thought it would! This blogging business is awful hard. :P Took a few pretty late nights (3AM now) so if you find spelling mistakes etc. that's why let me know and I'll fix 'er up.

http://waygookseoul.blogspot.kr/

Hope this helped Oranage2!

petethebrick

formerrunner25 wrote: »

Yeh I rejected the offer. She has got back to me with an interview for a school in Daegu.
I wouldn't be completely against living in Daegu, as it is pretty populated and seems cool enough.
Can anyone give me some information on it?
I have applied for the 2nd character reference

Daegu is a really boring city. It has a population of something like 3 million but has the atmosphere of a rural Irish town.

Stick to Seoul. Or perhaps Busan if you got a good offer there

Andy!!

From what people can remember, what is someone on 2.1M won looking at after tax and pension and medical deductions? Are there any other deductions aside from that? What is tax like in this country? I hear it's quite a bit lower than in Ireland.

decimatio

Andy!! wrote: »

From what people can remember, what is someone on 2.1M won looking at after tax and pension and medical deductions?

Approximately 1.8/1.9-ish I'd assume.

Are there any other deductions aside from that?

Depends on your specific situation. The school may be taking other deductions to pay fees related to your housing or something else like a mobile if they provided it if you're not paying the fees yourself. Electricity, maintance fees, water etc.

What is tax like in this country? I hear it's quite a bit lower than in Ireland.

It depends on your circumstances and visa status. Koreans can pay anywhere from about 7% all the way to 40% depending on their circumstances.

As a foreigner on an E2 visa and talking specifically about your pay check, you should be paying about 3.5% if my memory serves.

squeakyduck

Andy!! wrote: »

From what people can remember, what is someone on 2.1M won looking at after tax and pension and medical deductions? Are there any other deductions aside from that? What is tax like in this country? I hear it's quite a bit lower than in Ireland.

Have a paycheck here in front of me. I'm paying

Pension
Health insurance
Long term care
Income tax
resident tax

The total amount in deductions is roughtly 250k.

So after tax you are looking at 1.8ish. Decent money for the month. I live like a queen here!

cloneslad

I think resident tax is for people there longer than one year.

pension and insurance should take off about €150k or so. Tax about another 35k

camoramo

Hey everyone, bit of a disaster, I've been in Korea a week and a half and was meant to start next week but it fell through cause of 'financial problems'.
I couldn't get my visa on time in Ireland, I am pretty sure they slowed down the process to save money with visa run cause I already had flights.
I changed my flight home and I can't change it again. My new return flight caused problems leaving Dublin cause the length was longer than a tourist visa so I had to show proof I was doing a visa run.
So the first visa hadn't been issued but I had the number and the original recruiter has my documents and is trying to get me a new job but it won't be straight away and I didn't prepare enough money for more than the first month!
I had a funny feeling about this school so brought second copies of my docs but they're notarised not apostilled, does anyone know if the Irish embassy can sort this out?

daesu

camoramo wrote: »

Hey everyone, bit of a disaster, I've been in Korea a week and a half and was meant to start next week but it fell through cause of 'financial problems'.

The school you mean ?

So the first visa hadn't been issued but I had the number and the original recruiter has my documents and is trying to get me a new job but it won't be straight away and I didn't prepare enough money for more than the first month!

Where are you staying ? If you're badly stuck for money I suggest sleeping in a 24hr Sauna (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jjimjilbang). It only costs about 5,000 won a "night". There are special areas (floor space) and free blankets available to sleep there. Most of them are also very clean. This may sound strange but lots of people stay in these places including foreigners who have been in Korea a while.

camoramo

Yeah apparently the school can't afford a teacher anymore, I may have dodged a bullet but its annoying cause I passed up other jobs.
Can you store your luggage safely there or where could you?

I was willing to sleep anywhere but my Korean sister in law insisted on paying for an extra week in a hotel in Gangnam, I feel guilty but its their culture :-/ after that I don't know what's going to happen!

Andy!!

camoramo wrote: »

Hey everyone, bit of a disaster, I've been in Korea a week and a half and was meant to start next week but it fell through cause of 'financial problems'.
I couldn't get my visa on time in Ireland, I am pretty sure they slowed down the process to save money with visa run cause I already had flights.
I changed my flight home and I can't change it again. My new return flight caused problems leaving Dublin cause the length was longer than a tourist visa so I had to show proof I was doing a visa run.
So the first visa hadn't been issued but I had the number and the original recruiter has my documents and is trying to get me a new job but it won't be straight away and I didn't prepare enough money for more than the first month!
I had a funny feeling about this school so brought second copies of my docs but they're notarised not apostilled, does anyone know if the Irish embassy can sort this out?

Christ on a bike how did you get yourself into that mess. Contact the embassy immediately. DO NOT TRAVEL TO KOREA TO TEACH WITHOUT A VALID VISA GUYS. I have a feeling we recommended you to not do this camoramo, can't remember exactly now. And as for the second set of documents, yeah they are fairly useless unless they have been notarised and apostilled. If by some miracle they have a Commissioner of Oaths at the embassy, there might be some light at the end of the tunnel. Otherwise try and secure the original set. What part of Korea are you in?

camoramo

Andy!! wrote: »

camoramo wrote: »

Hey everyone, bit of a disaster, I've been in Korea a week and a half and was meant to start next week but it fell through cause of 'financial problems'.
I couldn't get my visa on time in Ireland, I am pretty sure they slowed down the process to save money with visa run cause I already had flights.
I changed my flight home and I can't change it again. My new return flight caused problems leaving Dublin cause the length was longer than a tourist visa so I had to show proof I was doing a visa run.
So the first visa hadn't been issued but I had the number and the original recruiter has my documents and is trying to get me a new job but it won't be straight away and I didn't prepare enough money for more than the first month!
I had a funny feeling about this school so brought second copies of my docs but they're notarised not apostilled, does anyone know if the Irish embassy can sort this out?

Christ on a bike how did you get yourself into that mess. Contact the embassy immediately. DO NOT TRAVEL TO KOREA TO TEACH WITHOUT A VALID VISA GUYS. I have a feeling we recommended you to not do this camoramo, can't remember exactly now. And as for the second set of documents, yeah they are fairly useless unless they have been notarised and apostilled. If by some miracle they have a Commissioner of Oaths at the embassy, there might be some light at the end of the tunnel. Otherwise try and secure the original set. What part of Korea are you in?

I was never going to teach without a visa though, i'm on holiday first and was originally supposed to be doing visa run tomorrow, my recruiter is convinced people do it all the time and its ok?
I wouldn't reccomend it to anyone, serious panic at the airport showing proof that I was planning to go to Japan, lucky I had it and then more stress at incheon!
I'll still have to do that when I get another school.
I'm in seoul at the mo!