Grading: A Pro Tip

Grading: a Pro Tip

If you keep track of your grades in a spreadsheet of some kind, this does not apply to you.

However, if you are like me and keep track of your grades on those paper attendance sheets your university gives you, then heed this advice. As an aside, I don't do the spreadsheet thing because my uni, quite ridiculously wants everything done on paper and I refuse to do the work twice.

But, onward to the grading pro tip. Every single time you enter a grade of some sort, photocopy the paper and stash it away in some drawer, or file folder, either at home or at work. Then, if you lose your main folder that you carry around to class every day through some unforeseen disaster, your disaster will actually be a whole lot less terrible.

I've never actually lost my folder, but you never know.

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Teaching: it's a serious thing

Teaching: It's a Serious Thing

A short one today. Maybe I'm gotten a wee case of the emotionals since it's now down to my second last semester teaching at a Korean university, but I couldn't help feeling like it was a huge responsibility. Almost all my students are the hardest working, most earnest, dedicated students I could ever hope for because they see English as vital for their future success and as I sat in class, thinking, I felt this weight on my shoulders. Like these students are really depending on me to do my best to help give them the skills they need for their futures. Hopefully, they get what I'm giving and my class is a valuable thing to them. It's a serious thing.

Teaching Content Classes instead of Conversation at Korean Universities

Teaching Journalism at a Korean University

A reader question:

"I have several graduate degrees (Master's degrees in Journalism, Counseling Psychology and a PhD in Health Education and Promotion.) My first passion is teaching journalism. Do you think it's possible I could teach any of these courses at the university level or do you think my only option is ESL?"

My answer:

You are certainly well-qualified to teach something besides ESL at a Korean Uni and I'm sure you would do a fabulous job of it. However, the big problem will be finding this job because they are extremely rare and the people that have jobs teaching something besides ESL generally hold onto them for year, after year, after year. And once they do decide to let it go, it's often filled from the "inside," that is someone already working at that uni or a friend of a friend of some kind. These kind of jobs are almost never advertised, from my perusing of places like ESL Cafe.

(Join the Facebook group: Foreign Teachers in Korean Universities)

In addition, you are in Canada now and most of the places that are offering these kinds of jobs will probably want an in-person interview, although you might luck out and get a Skype interview. That said, check out The Chronicle of Higher Education and see what you can find. You might just find yourself at the right place at the right time. Another strategy would be to come to Korea and take any university job that you can get, network with all the right people during that year and make a move up in the world a year or two later.

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How Old is too Old to Teach at a Korean University?

A reader question:

"I am 54 going on 55 in June. Is it still possible to teach at the University level in South Korea given my age? Based on what you've written the answer is: No."

She has read my book, How to Get a University Job in South Korea: The English Teaching Job of Your Dreamsand that is what she is referring to.  While I do talk about the ideal age to teach English at a Korean university in my book (between 30 and 50), I'll expand a bit upon it here.

In Korea, ageism is alive and well. It is not that uncommon to hear of people being forced out of their jobs as early as 50 and certainly by 60, which is generally considered the mandatory retirement age. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that after the Korean war, life expectancies were very low and it was uncommon for people to live into their 70's or 80's. These days, Koreans are living longer and longer but the retirement age has not risen along with it, unlike in most Western countries.

For foreigners teaching at Korean universities, it is a similar situation and it would be quite difficult for someone to hang on past the age of 60. You might not officially be let go but at some point you'll contract just won't be renewed. That is if you could even get a job.  If you had started somewhere in your late 40's or early 50's, shown yourself to be a well-liked and reliable teacher, and established a solid relationship, you'd probably be fine. But, I'm not sure a lot of places would be willing to give someone your age a chance who is not in Korea and has no experience teaching here. The job market is extremely competitive these days and that is a big strike against you.

Korean University Jobs are Not What they Once Were, Part 2

A couple weeks ago, I talked about how I think university jobs in Korea (and actually all ESL teaching jobs in Korea) are on a downward slide to the bottom.

Korean University Jobs are not what they once were, part 1

Yesterday, at my staff meeting I got a bit of new information which just further confirms what I originally thought.  The head of my department was talking about how the Korean government is deadly serious about shutting down a good number of unis in Korea (although he didn't say this, due to a very low birth rate there are fewer and fewer Korean students going to uni so something truly does need to be done).

Starting this year, the government is instituting a ranking system with 5 grades: A, B, C, D, F.  The F-rated schools will be forcibly shut down. The C and D-rated schools will have to reduce enrollment by 30 and 50% respectively, which will in essence mean their closure because it will just be too hard for them to be profitable with such reduced numbers. The B-rated schools will have to reduce their students by 10% and the A-rated schools can do whatever they want. 

The writing is on the wall, especially for those with working at lower-ranked universities. You could be losing your job, sooner rather than later.

Anecdotally, my school which is the 2nd or 3rd highest ranked in Busan (the second biggest city in Korea behind Seoul) lost a good number of students and some of the extra-curricular English programs that I would normally do for overtime got cut. There is just less money floating around and often the first thing to go is English programs.

Exit-plan = put into full effect.  Want to know my choices for up-and-coming English teaching destinations?  Check out: The Wealthy English Teacher: Teach, Travel, and Secure Your Financial Future

   

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How to Get a University Job in South Korea: on Sale for 1 week only!

Starting tomorrow, you'll be able to get How to Get a University Job in South Korea: The English Teaching Job of Your Dreamsfor just $1.99 (reduced from $3.49) but the sale lasts for one week only.

If you're looking for a uni job teaching English in South Korea, this is your go-to book and there truly is nothing else out there that contains all this information in one place. People like it so far: only 5 star reviews over on Amazon. 

In somewhat related news, check out the newly updated book's website, University Jobs Korea for some resources that will be helpful to any job-seekers. Let me know if you have any questions or requests for posts; I'm always happy to help and will answer them within a day or two on this blog.

Top 5 Tips to Get Ready for the New Semester

It's that time again! The semester is starting up in a week and I'm sure teachers are busy getting everything ready to go.  Here are my top 5 tips to get ready for the  new semester:

1. Plan ahead There's nothing more terrible than frantically trying to pull something together an hour before class. I've been there and it's not a happy place for your mental health. I always try to stay 2-3 weeks ahead for my lesson planning.

2. Things don't work You know it always happens: Monday morning at 8am before the semester starts, there's a line-up of 5 people trying to use the photocopier to copy their syllabi and of course it breaks. Be organized and hit it a few days before, just in case.

3. Simple is best You don't need to reinvent the wheel and simple is almost always better. Of course, put a bit of effort and creative energy into your lessons, but it really is okay to use a page or two out of the textbook, or to use something like ESL Logic Puzzles and Trivia for your class warm-up instead of making your own, which would take hours.

4. Recycle Similar to not reinventing the wheel, hopefully you've been saving your lessons somewhere in a place like Dropbox or Google Documents. There are always plenty of generic "conversation" classes here in Korea where you are free to use anything you want and it's much easier to reuse an old lesson than to pull something new out of your hat.

5. Work space Make sure that you have a happy place where you can get work done so you can put some focused effort into stuff. For me, it's usually not at home and if I want to be productive, it's far better for me to go into my office, which I'm lucky enough to share with only 2 people who are rarely (if ever) there.

But for others, they share an office with 10+ people and of course, serious work is impossible in that kind of environment so those people could maybe find a quiet coffee shop near their house, a public library or set-up a space at home to do work.

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Top 5 Tips for Newbies to Teaching in Korean Universities

It's that time of year again as the new semester starts in a week or so. Even though I've been doing it for years, I still get a little bit nervous. But, it's nothing like it was before my first semester teaching at a university. Instead of feeling a bit nervous, it was a feeling more akin to terror. Anyway, nothing I can say is going to make you feel less nervous, but here are a few tips to help you.

Top 5 Tips for Newbies to Teaching at Korean Universities:

1. Lower your expectations, particularly for freshman English classes. First year of university is a time of rest between high school hell and mandatory army hell for the boys, so they just want to have fun, enjoy their freedom and perhaps find a girlfriend.

2. Simple is best. You may have plenty of fabulous ideas for how you're going to have the raddest classes ever but always remember that simple is best. Your students are probably going to be lower level than you would expect them to be. 

3. You can't fight the system. Things like passing seniors who never show up to class and/or fail every single assignment and test will seem ridiculous to you. Get over that and the quicker the better. You are a lone foreigner and nobody actually cares what you think about the Korean university system.

4. Be fair and care. You don't need to be the funniest, or the coolest, or the most handsome teacher in order to be popular. It is actually easier than that. Just be fair and treat all students the same and also show them that you care. Remember their names, talk to them outside of class, be a decent human being in case of a problem of some kind. Never use the power that you have to your advantage but instead be humble.

5. Fly under the radar. Build yourself a reputation as a stellar teacher but also work on being the person who never has any negative interactions, with anybody. NEVER complain to the admin about anything and try to ask for as minimal amount of their help as possible. I make it my goal to always fly under the radar and only have positive interactions with the powers that be.

Maybe you're wondering how you could get this rad job?  Let me tell you how for the low price of $3.49:

The Korean University Gods have Rewarded Me

During all my semesters working at Korean universities, never have I been fortunate enough to have a schedule as amazing as this one. Just last semester, working at the same uni and in the same job position, I was saved by the skin of my teeth from 5 days/week due to the kindness of one of my coworkers who traded a class with me. 

Anyway, are you ready for it?  Just how amazing is my schedule you might ask?  Enough suspense...I'm just going to tell you:  I work from Wednesday at 10:30 to Friday at 7:15. Nothing on Monday and Tuesday. Yes, all of this equals 4-day weekends.

Although I'm sure my schedule will get filled up with overtime classes (I usually do 10-15 hours/week of extra teaching), it's still pretty amazing and I'm excited about the big chunks of free-time I will have to work on my various online ventures including these websites:

Freedom Through Passive Income
Jackie Bolen 
How to Get a University Job in South Korea

I also plan to finish up my second book, tentatively titled "The Wealthy English Teacher" for anyone teaching overseas who doesn't want to end up in the unfortunate situations of begging from your friends in case of minor medical emergency, teaching until you're 70, or having to take the crappiest of jobs just because you're desperate. It should be up on Amazon in a month or so and the price will be right at about $3, so you really can't afford not to buy it.

Reviews of "How to Get a Uni Job in Korea"

Check out this other site of mine, Jackie Bolen with a page containing reviews of my book, How to Get a University Job in South Korea: The English Teaching Job of Your Dreams.  So far, so good. All 5 stars!

If you've read the book and liked it, please consider leaving a review on Amazonand also telling your friends who are looking for a university job in Korea.  I'd really appreciate it and of course I hope the universe will send some good Karma your way as well as helping your friend get that prime job.

What Others are Saying about "How to Get a Uni Job in South Korea"

I now have 3,  5-star reviews on Amazon for my book,  How to Get a University Job in South Korea: The English Teaching Job of Your Dreams. Here's what people are saying:

#1:

"I've been following Jackie's blogs (eslteacherinkorea.blogspot.com and freedomthroughpassiveincome.com) for a while now. I've also seen her posts on the Foreign Professors and University English Teachers in Korea's Facebook group. She really knows her stuff and this book is no exception. She lays out the info in easy to read form. You can read it straight through or just skip to the parts that you need to read. She gives you the basics about teaching at a university in Korea and gives you lots of tips, such as common mistakes people make at a demo lesson and an interview. I think her info is invaluable and I'd highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to get a university job in Korea or even those people who currently have a university job and would like to get another one."

#2:

"Having met the author at a conference, she seems very personable and eager to help. This comes through in her book. Having been working on gaining a full-time university job after five years teaching elementary school students in Korea, it confirmed decisions I was making, help me question some in relation to time-management (why do I so much so much hime on , when doing Y would likely be more valuable), and gave additional ideas and information about other a few resources I did not know about. Fantastic book from an author who seems like a great person (though admittedly I have only met her only once)."

#3:

"All relevant information for someone looking to land a Uni position in Korea. Well written and easily digestible. Worth the price to have it aggregated into a book."

People seem to like it!  Check it out for yourself if you're looking for a university English teaching job in South Korea.

Types of University Jobs Available in South Korea

This is an excerpt from my book, How to Get a University Job in South Korea: The English Teaching Job of Your Dreams. If you are looking for a university job in South Korea and like what you see, consider buying the book, which is available in electronic form (downloadable to any computer, tablet or smartphone) or paper form. It's cheaper than a decent beer (remember: friends don't let friends drink Cass or Hite).

There are three basic kinds of university jobs that you can get in South Korea and the vast majority of job advertisements you see will be for one of these positions.

4-Year University Your job will often consist of teaching mandatory Freshman (and sometimes Sophomore) English courses. Schools vary in how they administer this, but it can involve one 3-hour per week course during either the student's first or second semester, or it could involve something like four 1-hour per week courses over the first two years of a student's program. You will sometimes be able to teach other classes like writing, presentations, or business English to students in majors like business, airline business, tourism or English. It really depends on the university. Student English levels range from almost fluent to very low. All of these classes involve designing a syllabus, administering tests and homework, and giving final grades.

 

Community College These institutions offer two-year programs in fields like hair-styling, security or cooking. The students are still required to take English courses and will likely be extremely low-level and have almost no motivation to learn English. There is usually no opportunity to teach anything besides basic conversation at these places. This job is similar to the one above in that you will have to design a syllabus, administer tests and homework and give final grades.

Unigwon These are hybrid “university + hagwon” positions, which are located on university campuses. You will teach mostly university students and some adults from the wider community, but quite likely some children as well (if not mentioned explicitly in the job advertisement, you should ask about this in the interview). None of your classes will be for official credit so there are no tests or grades and you will teach things like basic conversation or run English discussion clubs. Your students will often be quite motivated because they have chosen to be there, unlike the previous two positions where students attend your classes because they must fulfill academic requirements.

Uni Jobs and Bad Timing (not March or September)

One topic that my book, How to Get a University Job in South Korea: The English Teaching Job of Your Dreams didn't really touch on but perhaps should of is what to do if your timing is bad when you want to work at a South Korean University. The semesters start in September and March, with March being the start of the academic year. A recent trend in the past few years is that schools have started to try to hire most of their English teachers for a March start, when in the past the hiring has generally been divided pretty equally between the two (that said, I got both my jobs as a September start).

Anyway, what should you do if your current contract does not finish at an ideal time, such as in October or April. The best solution would be to stick at your current job until you can finish at an ideal time. This will probably involve asking your employer to extend your contract, but not for a full-year, perhaps only 3 or 4 months.  In my experience, most employers will be willing to do this if you are a good employee since it saves them the hassle (and expense) of hiring a new person for a bit longer. The additional bonus of this one is that you can hopefully transfer your visa from your old employer to your new one, which is much easier than getting a new visa. If you aren't a good employee, of course nobody will go out of their way to help you.

The next best solution would be to finish your current contract, but then find some sort of temporary employment such as at a summer or winter camp. Or, you could study Korean for a few months and switch to a student visa. It's kind of unclear whether or not you'd have to submit new teaching English paperwork for either of these options. Perhaps give the immigration hotline a call to find out the details.

If you only have a month or two between your old contract finishing and the new uni one starting, you could switch to a D-10, "looking for work visa" in which case you probably wouldn't have to submit new paperwork.

Alternatively, you could also take a few months off to travel or hang out in Korea on a tourist visa (you will probably have to leave and come back).  In this case, you will definitely have to submit new paperwork.

The option that you should put out of your head is starting anytime besides September or March. It just isn't possible. I know it maybe doesn't seem fair, but that's just the way things work here. Of course, think about how you would have felt if you took a class in university and the teacher you started with wasn't the one you finished with. That would just be really annoying.

Our Students and the Job Market in Korea

In my job, I teach many first year English major students and I often run into students who have grown up in a foreign country for at least a period of time and are fluent (ish) in English and are far better than almost anyone else in their major, even the third or fourth year students.

Then, I also encounter third or fourth year English major students who are pretty terrible at English. Now, I have no idea what their TOIEC score is, but what I do know is that they cannot communicate in written or spoken English, in even a basic way. And I feel kind of scared for them because when they graduate from university, who will give them a job? They are going to be in the 20-30% of young Korean university graduates who are unemployed. Their only skill is English and they are not at all proficient in that.

So, I try to catch students in their first year, especially in the first semester and give them a bit of advice if they come to my office for a chat, or we have a friendly kind of relationship. 

For those who are fluent in English already, I tell them to switch majors. Study something like engineering, or business, or education, or another language like Japanese or Chinese because then they'll have that, plus English.  2 marketable skills instead of one.

For those who are unable to communicate, I suggest that perhaps English really isn't the major for them. I mean, they've studied English for 10 or 12 years already and if they haven't gotten a grasp on the simple past or body-part vocabulary, will they ever be proficient enough to use it to get a job?  I tell them to switch to another major, preferably business or engineering and then study English on the side.

I get a feeling that their Korean professors who are all in the English department aren't telling them this because it's like saying that the classes they are teaching are useless, kind of, in a way. And their parents probably have no idea how much better, or worse at English they are than their peers. So foreign teachers at Korean universities, does that perhaps leave us to tell it like it is?

Sound like the job for you? Check out this book on How to Get a University Job in Korea.

Paperwork: Don't stress!

If your uni (or perhaps public school too) is anything like mine, they require massive amounts of paperwork in things like lesson plans, comprehensive attendance reports, homework/tests grading criteria and samples of student work to compile this huge portfolio thing for every class.  It doesn't make me annoyed because my job is actually pretty easy and since I'm organized with everything on Google Drive, it doesn't actually take me that long just to print up everything and kill a small forest in the process. 

Anyway,  in my years of working at a couple unis in Korea, I can confidently put myself and my coworkers into three groups as it relates to this topic:

1. Those who stress publicly by posting on the teacher's Facebook group or sending various emails to everyone or hassling the admin.  These people have serious stress over things that don't really matter  such as how to get online homework into paper format.  Or, making up massive grading criteria spreadsheets for oral exams.  Or, transcribing oral exams into paper format.  These people are an admin's worst nightmare.

2. Those who just do what they need to do and don't make a big fuss about it.  Their portfolios are "perfect" in that they contain what is needed and nothing more, nothing less and are of course turned in well before the deadline.

3. Those who can't follow simple directions and put everything necessary into the portfolio.  This may be due to not being able to read, laziness or disorganization because they simply don't have things like samples of student work. These people are an admin's worst nightmare.

What am I and what should you be?  Number 2 of course.  The secret is that the department secretary will take a cursory glance through your portfolio and then it will be filed on some shelf for a few years, collecting dust after which it will be thrown in the trash.  No one is analyzing your course looking at your teaching methodology and seeing how the program could be improved.  No one is checking to make sure that you're actually teaching what you're supposed to be teaching.  By doing number 1, you're just wasting hours of your life which you can never get back.  By doing number 3, you just look totally incompetent and it may cause your department to wonder why they gave you the job in the first place.

Wages for Expats in Korea are on the Decline

Wages in Korea for expats (I'm not really sure about the situation for the locals) have been stagnating for the past 10 years or so, especially for English teachers and things are just getting more and more expensive, especially in Seoul. 

When I first came to Korea in 2003, the average starting wage for a public school teacher or hagwon teacher was around 2 million won.  Today, it's much the same and some public school teachers are working for as little as 1.8 million, while the average hagwon starting wage has increased a bit to around 2.2 million.  The potential for saving a considerable amount of money is still there, especially with the free airfare and housing, but it's much harder to live comfortably on 500 000 or 600 000 than it was back in the old days and I'd say the average expat probably spends between 800 000-1 million/month. 

Unis are a whole different thing entirely because there are just so many more factors to consider beyond the base salary.  Airfare and housing are often not included in the package, although places may offer key (deposit) money or a monthly housing allowance.  The wage per hour has to be considered because the base hours can range from 9-18+ per week and vacation can range from 4 weeks to 20 weeks per year.  And overtime opportunities are what can actually increase pay significantly and this actually matters a lot more than the actual base salary.

Here's an article from Expat Newswire with more details:

For Expats in Korea, Race to the Bottom Wages are Here

Looking for the big money?  The Middle East is probably where it's at these days:

Reader Question: Night-Classes Only?

Teaching Night Classes Only

From N.T:

"I just bought your book and read it. Thanks for the info; I enjoyed your style of writing as well.  I was curious if teaching late afternoon or night classes exclusively was at all possible. I know some universities occasionally have a teacher teach one or two, but I'm not sure if one is able to avoid morning classes altogether or if people ever try to do this. Perhaps some people make arrangements for classes they are taking as opposed to teaching? If one is able to do this, is there any guarantee that this can continue for the rest of the employment term?"

My answer:

First of all, thanks for the positive review of my book (How to Get a University Job in South Korea: The English Teaching Job of Your Dreams).  A short answer to your question: no, it's probably not possible.  Check out this blog entry of mine for further details:

Korean University Schedules.

That said, if you have a very good reason for requesting a certain schedule (children, or doing a course of some kind), most unis will try to accommodate you, but it would be rare that anyone would guarantee you anything from one semester to the next.  And, of course you should never say something like, "I can't wake up for 9am class" at an interview because it will make you look totally unprofessional.

 

Life of the Inside: what working at a Korean University is really like. Part 2: classes

Please see part 1 of the series: Schedules if you missed it.  Here's an excerpt from my book How to Get a University Job in South Korea: The English Teaching Job of Your Dreamsthat explains about classes.

"Your job (working at a Korean University) will often consist of teaching mandatory Freshman (and sometimes Sophomore) English courses. Schools vary in how they administer this, but it can involve one 3-hour per week course during either the student's first or second semester, or it could involve something like four 1-hour per week courses over the first two years of a student's program. You will sometimes be able to teach other classes like writing, presentations, or business English to students in majors like business, airline business, tourism or English. It really depends on the university. Student English levels range from almost fluent to very low. All of these classes involve designing a syllabus, administering tests and homework, and giving final grades."

I would add that what classes you teach can really make a big difference in terms of job satisfaction.  While you often don't have much say in your first year or two and will have to take whatever you get given to you, if you can move up in the world into teaching things besides mandatory freshman English, your job will probably be much more rewarding, although more will be required of you in terms of preparation and grading.

For example, at my current university most of the teachers teach 9-12 (separate!) classes of around 30 students only once/week for 50 minutes.  It's almost impossible to get to know the students and it's not easy to develop a friendly relationship.  For a "real" teacher who is serious about their teaching, it can be quite demoralizing.  But, it is a very easy job and if you are pursuing other interests outside work, it can be quite ideal since you'll have to expend very little in the way of mental energy.

I work in the actual English department so I no longer teach freshman English classes but instead I teach English major classes.  This semester, I have 4 classes (one of which is overtime) with about 20-25 students in each one.  I teach each class twice a week for 1.5 hours each time.  It is really possible to develop a decent relationship with many of the students and to actually help students improve their English skills in 3 hours/week.  Although more preparation is required and student demands are higher (some of them are extremely high level), it's a far more rewarding job as a teacher because I can actually see improvement in my students.

Life on the inside: what working at a Korean University is really like. Part 1: schedules

Korean University Schedules

Thanks to my friend "E" for the suggestion of this series about what working at a Korean University is really like with the students, classes, administration and other various things.  I'm going to kick it off with schedules, or what my days basically consist of.

If you work at a fabulous university, your schedule will consist of only 3-4 days/week of teaching.  You may even get a long weekend like me, this semester since I get Friday off (however that was due to my own scheming and the kindness of one of my coworkers).

A lot of people end up having classes 5 days/week, but even this isn't really terrible since it will usually only consist of either mornings (9-1 for example), or afternoons (1-5 for example) and not both.  Your actual teaching hours will be around 12-15/week, so you'll have plenty of time for grading and admin and other general duties related to the job.  The best places try to give you a block schedule which means that you'll teach for 3-4 hours back-back instead of a split shift kind of thing where you have large breaks within your day (4 or 5 hours).

Generally, you don't have a lot of say over your schedule, although both my previous and current unis have been amenable to requests, like when I needed Tuesday and Thursday morning off to do the Celta course, or switching a class with my coworker to not work 5 days/week.  Some places do the seniority thing, where the longest serving teachers get first pick of schedules, but that seems like a lot of hassle and it's not that common I think.

I personally don't really care about my schedule that much since I have a nice, semi-private office (with 2 other people) and my own computer.  As a bonus, it even has a phone, heating and air-con as well as wicked fast Internet which is definitely a better set-up than I have at my own house.  If I have a 4 or 5 hour break, I'll just do lesson planning or grading and work on my online ventures, such as this blog or my recent book about University Jobs in Korea.

The worst possible scenario related to schedules is 5 days/week but with only something like 9 or 10 teaching hours, which means that you'll end up coming into work and teaching only 1-2 hours a day.  If you have a 5 minutes commute like I do, it's not terrible but many of my coworkers come from the other end of the city (1-1.5 hours) so for them it's not ideal.  You can sometimes salvage this by trying to pick up some overtime during the days, which is readily available at my uni, but that's a bit of an anomaly.

Reader Questions: Getting a University Job in South Korea

Some reader questions from Kyle:

"Would you be willing to give some advice?  I'd like to teach at a Korean University with my Masters in Ed. , a K-12 ESL Certificate (State of Michigan and North Carolina), 4 years of K-8 licensed US teaching experience, and 15 years of K-12 ESL teaching experience in Taiwan.

Questions:

1. Would being 47 years old make it difficult for me to be hired by hagwons, public schools, and universities?

2. What's the best path to getting a Korean University job that pays at least US$30,000 per year?

3. Is it best to travel to Korea first and job hunt or secure a job before leaving?  (I'm thinking Visas and paperwork here, in addition to the benefits being there before signing contracts).

4. Do you recommend any websites/blogs about working in Korea?

5. Can a qualified teacher like me just show up and find a job or is it always seasonal on schedule like hiring in August and in February?"

My answers:

If you're looking for advice about getting a university job in South Korea, check out my book:

How to Get a University Job in South Korea

It'll have all the information you need, and if not, send me another message and I'd be happy to help.

But, more specific answers:

1. Yes, 47 is a bit old but it's not impossible, especially if you look "young" for your age.  The prime age for most places is between about 25 and 40.

2. See the book!

3. It can go either way, depending on how adventurous you are.  It's often possible to find a better job when your boots are on the ground, but the job market is pretty tight for job-seekers these days and you can burn through a lot of money while waiting for the right one to come along.

4. Check my sidebar for a few blogs that I like.  As far as I know, nobody else is writing exclusively about teaching in Korean universities besides myself.

5. Universities hire seasonally, as well as public schools but hagwons hire year-round and you can literally start almost any week of the year.