The first job offers come rolling in
I emailed Ben at Footprints to remind him about D'Arcy and I, only because it has been a while since we have been in touch with him. He sent two job possibilities today, both for areas in and around Seoul.
The first offer:
School Name: Wonderland Sanbon
Contract Overview:
Salary: (min) 1,800,000 (max) 2,000,000won
Overtime:
Airfare: provided by school
Bonus:
Housing: single housing
Vacations:
Medical Coverage: 50%
Description of Duties and Opportunity Schedule: Teaching Hours: 25-30hr/week
Type of Students: kindergarten-adults
Number of Teachers:
Number of Foreign Teachers:
My review: There isn't too much information here. First of all, I have heard terrible things about the Wonderland chain (but I can't remember where from). The salary is on the low end and there's no mention of overtime, bonus, or vacations; all bad signs. The hours are standard, the level of students is fine by me. All in all I am not excited by it.
The second offer:
School Name: Top Kids English
Location and Start: City: Anyang
Start Date or Dates: June 1
Contract Overview: Salary: (min) 1,800,000 (max) 2,000,000won
Overtime: False
Airfare: Return airfare provided
Bonus: 1,800,000 - 2,000,000won upon completion
Housing: Housing provided with furniture
Vacations: Ten vacation days plus national holidays
Medical Coverage: 50%
Teaching Hours: 120 hours/month
Type of Students: elementary school
Number of Teachers:
Number of Foreign Teachers:
My Review: This one seems better than the first. They specify a bonus and vacation days. I have never heard of the school chain (if it is one) and I have no idea where the city of Anyang is.
Ben sent an email suggesting D'Arcy and I each accept one of these jobs. I don't think we will. They are both for June, and one says the starting date is June 1st so there's no way we can make that due to a June 8th convocation date, plus visa processing time once we have our diplomas in hand. I'm hoping we will find better contracts than these anyways. I want 2,000,000 Won/month at least which will be about $2000 CAD a month.
This is exciting!
posted by Jessica @ 8:55 p.m.
6 Comments
6 Comments:
Anyong is a suburb of Seoul.
You should request that they find you a job in Busan. It's a beautiful area and there are plenty of jobs there!!!
Also, why just stick to one recruiter? Play the field and send out your stuff to a few recruiters. Hell, apply for a few jobs directly over at Dave's Cafe. Don't limit your options!!! Remember, the goal of the recuiter is to get you into Korea as soon as possible so that they can make their $1000 of off you. That's the bottom line.
Get people to send you contracts as well, not just job descriptions. Those are just useless. Get the e-mails of the foreigners that work at the jobs that've sent you contracts and see what hours they work, what their housing is like, if their directer has ever been late in paying them, etc. I'd recommend getting a job that teaches middle-school kids. Then you won't have to start work until after lunch. Trust me, you probably don't want to start work until after lunch. Those who work in the morning are usually getting left behind half way though the night, or else waking up early in the morning being extremely tired and/or with a hangover. That would suck.
Don't be in a hurry to get here. If you have to wait until July or August to get a sweet contract with the hours that you want, then it's worth waiting. Korea isn't going anywhere.
Thanks for the great advice, Blake. I'll be sure to use you as my personal advisor from here on in. :)
You'd better do that! I'm the best person that you've never met. ;)
wonderland!!!! ahhh!!! have a look at: www.prisonerof wonderland.com
i've only heard bad things about wonderland. hard work, bad bosses. they have themed rooms...there's even a mcdonalds classroom...sounds cool, i know, but stay away!
be careful! do an internet search for the hagwon blacklist database and you'll get info on most of the bad chains. don't settle for less than 2.0 mill. nobody makes 1.8 mill anymore even if you're new.
remember to ask the director how much you're expected to do outside of class time too. i was stuck with at least 20 hours extra a month writing report cards at home and a good 20 hours or more photocopying and preparing materials a month too. too much! report card writing sucks...photocopying sucks...
i'll answer any questions you have too...
I will stay away from Wonderland! Though I am a fan of McDonald's... ;)
I'll be sure to check with my advisors (ahem.. you two...) before accepting any old position.
I was in Sanbon Wonderland back in late 1999-early 2000. They screwed me hard. If they tell you that you have health insurance, it's a lie. They even tried to hold and not give me back my passport (you need your passport for such basic things as exchanging money.) Do -not- I repeat do -NOT- go to Sanbon Wonderland.
The kids were cute, although due to cultural and linguistic boundaries, they pretty much did what they wanted in the class. If you were the "new guy", you got the brats.
I'd only advise teaching at Wonderland if you had problems at home and the French Foreign Legion turned you down.
I got out of there by picking the little manager up and throwing her against the wall, demanding my passport. (I'm 200 pounds, she's half my size.) She got the idea. I joined the US Army near Itaewon and got the fuck out of there in January. Best thing I ever did. Never looked back.
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