by | January 8th, 2007
A teacher who I’ll call “Mike” is currently hard at work in Korea, but took some time out to share some insight on finding a job, working, and living day to day in Korea. These tips are nearly completely in his words with only a few points edited for order or clarity:
- Make sure you come here to work. You’ll work a lot. You won’t play much. Think 40-50 hours per week in the classroom with a bad schedule. It’s rough, but the money is good. It is NOT much of a “working holiday” here.
- Research the company before you sign a contract and spend all your money to fly here. Try to talk ON THE PHONE to some English speakers who work here.
- Bring a lot of patience. Korea isn’t a very difficult country to live in if you’ve traveled before, but it can and most certainly WILL be frustrating and quite lonely sometimes.
- Bring at least $1000 USD to live on while you are here until you get your first paycheck. That could be more than 6 weeks after you arrive.
- Ask a lot of questions during your over the phone interviews. There are LOTS of jobs here. That partially has to do with the fact that there are a lot of really bad jobs that people keep quitting. You’ll get a job here if you really want one. Make sure you find one that you feel comfortable with.
- Keep in mind that Korea is a pretty xenophobic place. I have personally known several non-white teachers who have had trouble keeping jobs here, and it was certainly NOT because they were bad teachers. This is a country where image is very important and some institutes think that race is a good enough thing to judge people on. You might want to be prepared for that possibility. Ask direct questions about that to the company before you invest a lot of money in coming over if you think it might be a issue.
- VERY IMPORTANT!! Bring ALL the deodorant you might need for the year. It’s really hard to find here. Also, you’ll probably want to buy some good shoes before you come, to last you the year. Between the language barrier, shopping culture, and different sizes, shoe shopping can be frustrating. Also stock up on bed sheets which are thicker than at home and slow-drying! Most other things are no problem here.
{ 7 comments }
40-50 hours? Yikes…I thought one of the benefits of teaching in Korea was the limited hours. Most job ads say 30 hours.
I can hardly imagine working that much…I’d also point out that if you have lesson prep, 30 hours is hardly “limited” either if it is contact hours.
I haven’t worked in Korea but my impression is that it is mainly jobs at universities that have fewer hours.
I’m with you on the yikes!
Yes, most jobs say 30 hours. What they don’t tell you is that you are very frequently required to ALSO put in “prep time” which is usually not paid. My company doesn’t require any prep time…but instead schedules me for 40 contact hours per week. Plus mandatory overtime if necessary. Korea is a very work-centered culture. Most of my students work FAR more than I do. Yikes indeed!
“Mike”
You get paid for the overtime though, right? Would you be willing to share how much you make?
Whoa, Steve, you’re starting to sound like an EFL student…asking all sorts of personal questions
I’ll let “Mike” decide if he’d like to share or not, but if you want a quick reference point, there are a plethora of Korea job ads on the Korean Job Board at http://www.eslcafe.com. Also know that the rest of the TEFL Logue interview with “Mike” is on the way!
Yes, the overtime is paid, but it’s not like in the west where it is “time and a half”. The overtime rate will be decided by your company and you’ll want to make sure it is clearly established in the contract that you sign. It is usually slightly more than you make for a regular hour. Some companies pay a lot more than others for overtime. My overtime is 15,000 Won per hour. The industry average here in Korea is about 20,000 Won per hour. I saw many jobs advertising 25,000 Won per hour. Yes, the extra money at the end of the month is nice, but it sometimes doesn’t feel worth it at the end of a 12 contact hour day (which translates in my case to about 15 hours at the office). Katie is right about eslcafe.com. Lots of current job listings to get a feel for what’s out there and what the going rates are right now.
I got a comment from a reader once again expressing concern over the 40-50 hour figure. This reader thinks 25-30 hours is a more accurate average as he and others he knows work that.
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