So I got a new job!

Well first, let’s all welcome each other back to my long-lost blog. Not much to write about when it comes to my being back, other than my sister having her 3rd child, a boy named Lee. He’s a low-maintenance, quick-to-laugh and smile little guy, who is happiest watching his two older brothers do… anything. Here’s a pic of the littlest one and me:

Beyond that, there have been the ups and downs of job searching. I immediately got back in touch with the original recruiter I’d used to apply to teach in Korea before, only last time it was for the Korean public schools (EPIK), and this time for the private schools, or hagwons. While EPIK only has 2 intake times, hagwons supposedly hire year-round. As it happens, I applied in July, just in time for 1 of the 2 high hiring seasons in Korea, coinciding with the Korean school year: August (the other is February). Nevertheless, the recruiter, from what I can understand, just sat on his hands and forgot about me. He sent me exactly ONE job.  I replied with some questions, he didn’t write back. I wrote the company owner, he nudged the Korean guy, but he never actually answered the questions I asked or sent any other jobs.

Before we get too much further, let’s talk a bit about the whole applying process. While you can look at job postings on ESL job sites, you’ll still almost always be talking with one of the 100s or 1000s of companies that recruit teachers for Korea. Many are good, many are bad, so there’s research there to be done.

I’d planned on being gone in August, and it was now going into September. It appeared that there weren’t any jobs for me, especially as the guy in charge of hagwons was incommunicado, so I asked the owner about applying for teaching in Taiwan. He referred me to Dean the Taiwan recruiter, and I FINALLY heard from hagwon guy: “I’m sorry I couldn’t find you job.” Sure dude. Sure.

My interview went well with Dean, there was just ONE LITTLE THING: I was TOO OLD to teach there. Most of the students in Taiwan are young learners, and overall, Asians believe that only kids in their early to mid 20s have the energy to handle young kids. Dean said he’d definitely try, but at least he was upfront.

So! WTF to do now? Right around this time, I got a friend request on facebook from Leeza, an ESL teacher who’d been in Santiago the same time I had. We’d never met, though we had commented on the same expat posts, etc. She sensed a kindred soul, and her instincts were right-on. Leeza was going to China. She couldn’t say enough great things about her new job, and how it was the opposite of being in Chile: lots of money, fewer hours (she’s at a university), great new apartment, and the school was treating her like a princess.

China is supposedly one of the biggest ESL markets now. But, well, it’s also China. That week I spent there was not REMOTELY enough time to get over the culture shock, and I just can’t fathom returning, or at least not yet.

Leeza wisely pointed out that Beijing is a megacity, which is far different from the rest of China. And that is of course correct… to a point. I looked at the site of the recruiter she went through, and I just didn’t see a city that looked like it would be that much better. I knew after Chile I needed a fully developed country, and China just isn’t there yet. Oh! And I looked at some expat postings: they were revolting. Mainly, I could only find posts by men who constantly talked about “banging dirties.”

So! I kept looking. I looked at jobs on the best-known site, and applied to anything that looked good, pretty much anywhere, but mainly Korea. Now I was getting responses because the recruiters were Korean. Basically, the job I was initially interested in was never available, but they looked on my behalf.

Interesting note for anyone who has never done a job search like this: your picture, date of birth, and marital status go on your resume. One recruiter that was recommended by alumni from my certification program needed not just my headshot, but a full body picture, because Koreans don’t want overweight applicants. Also? You won’t get the name of the school until the interview.

I got close to finding a job in Korea: there was a job just outside of Seoul. I really liked the head teacher, and the school wasn’t on the Korean Black List (schools that teachers had bad experiences at). Part of deciding on a hagwon is talking to a current teacher there to get the low-down on the school and how it treats teachers. The rule is, if a school balks or won’t give you a teacher’s contact info, you know it’s a bad school. I found 2 teachers, and they had good things to say about it. There was just ONE LITTLE THING: shared housing. Let’s be clear: I am NOT going back to sharing a kitchen and bathroom, especially when I’d be sharing them with kids in their 20s.

I had also been invited to interview in Chicago for a job in Tokyo. It would have been an 8 hour day with all the other applicants, which would consist of interviews and processes of elimination, including an English test and group presentations. Japan’s developed! But it’s also expensive. And, many people I’ve known have not liked Japan. There was a waiting list of applicants, so I bowed out of that.

Anyway, there was a trickle of interviews coming in. First was for a school in Yongin, a 30 minute bus ride from Seoul. It wasn’t anything special, though I liked the questions the owner asked. The same night, I had an interview with an elite school in Gangnam, of the “Gangnam Style” song, the prime neighborhood in Seoul. This position was for teaching English literature. A dream come true! 2.1 million won (about US$1800) is the offered salary for all jobs, but elite school paid 2.2 million. Except that the interviewer said it was a high pressure job. Usually this is due to the moms who have nothing better to do but harangue the teachers asking, “How many English words did my son learn today?!” all day, every day. This was a factor in the pressure, but it seemed that wasn’t all of it. I don’t like jobs that apply constant pressure. And dealing with that while learning the ropes of managing a classroom of kids for the first time seemed less-than-ideal.

The tricky part was these interviews were Thursday night. Elite school was interviewing other candidates, and planned on deciding by the following Tuesday or Wednesday. And I’d just found out that the Yongin school offered me the job.

I had a little time before I had to tell Yongin, because I had to talk to the teacher and look up the school. Alarmingly, the school was on the Black List, and it was under the current owner’s tenure. However, it wasn’t as bad as most other posts, and was a bit vague. When I spoke to the teacher at the school, she said she’d seen it, and there was truth to a lot of it (they worked more hours than other teachers in the area, for example). But otherwise, the owner wouldn’t try to cheat you, and the VP was awesome.

The Yongin school recruiter was pressing to get my decision, when I got word on Sunday night that the elite school offered me the job. And just to make sure I hadn’t forgotten that pressure was a part of this job, here’s what the recruiter wrote: “They usually pay 2.2 mil a month. But they offer 2.3 mil for you as you have more experience and they expect you to teach very well.” No pressure!

The clincher though was the contract. It’d have 30 teaching hours/week, which is pretty normal. However, not included in those teaching hours was a mandatory hour of class prep for each teaching hour. Meaning I’d be working 60 hours/week. If I wanted to be stuck at work 60 hours/week I could just get another job here in the US.

I signed the contract with the Yongin school. And yesterday I sent my documents to them so they can get started on sponsoring my visa. Naturally, I’m still really smarting from having to decline the Gangnam job. That is where EVERYONE who goes to Korea wants to go. When I told the recruiter, he replied: “Did you accept another job in Korea or U.S? If you found a position in US I understand. But if it is Korea I suggest you think again.” I was feeling the pressure before I even accepted the job!

So it continues to hurt deep in my elitist heart and soul to have declined the elite school. I know that the position was not right for me at this time, if it ever would be, but I still regret that I won’t have an elite South Korean school on my resume.

So, there you have it. Not to worry—there’ll plenty of my griping to fill this blog once there—businesses are run FAR differently than here, particularly in the way of giving you exactly NO notice of any big changes to… anything. So not to worry: I’d never forget to pack my grumpiness!