Recruiters
My father hung up on a recruiter from Korea. He exclaimed, "I thought he was asking for money!" Luckily the man called right back.
I spoke with 4 people in one evening about one job. The recruiter called to inform me that the school director would call in a few minutes for an interview. Then the recruiter's assistant called to ask if I was ready. Then a teacher called to apologize that the director was sick and couldn't talk to me. Then another teacher called to actually interview me. I declined this job offer when I found out that I would have to wipe bottoms, sing nursery rhymes and do crafts. I don't do crafts!
The next evening I spoke with a nice Korean American about teaching philosophies and my experience learning languages. The job sounded great and I was excited to have found a good position with so little searching. How naive! It turns out that this "new" school was really the latest version of a failed school that didn't pay its teachers.
When I first thought about teaching in Korea I assumed I'd go to Seoul. I like big cities- lots of variety, etc etc. The largest city I've lived in was Berlin- with a population of approximately 3 million. Going from a not crowded 3 million to a very crowded 11+million may be more of a leap than I originally assumed.
The main reason I've started to reassess my commitment to living in a city is that I've found a very decent job in Gyeryong, a town of about 40,000 that's right next to the Kyeryongsan National Park. I spoke with the teacher I'd be replacing, a friendly New Zealander who's moving to Daejeon (1.4 mil pop., half hour away) to be with his girlfriend. He was positive about the position and spoke highly of the town. Even if I don't accept this particular job, it still raises the question of priorities: do I find the right place and then look for a job or identify the job first and then evaluate whether I can deal with the location?
My father hung up on a recruiter from Korea. He exclaimed, "I thought he was asking for money!" Luckily the man called right back.
I spoke with 4 people in one evening about one job. The recruiter called to inform me that the school director would call in a few minutes for an interview. Then the recruiter's assistant called to ask if I was ready. Then a teacher called to apologize that the director was sick and couldn't talk to me. Then another teacher called to actually interview me. I declined this job offer when I found out that I would have to wipe bottoms, sing nursery rhymes and do crafts. I don't do crafts!
The next evening I spoke with a nice Korean American about teaching philosophies and my experience learning languages. The job sounded great and I was excited to have found a good position with so little searching. How naive! It turns out that this "new" school was really the latest version of a failed school that didn't pay its teachers.
When I first thought about teaching in Korea I assumed I'd go to Seoul. I like big cities- lots of variety, etc etc. The largest city I've lived in was Berlin- with a population of approximately 3 million. Going from a not crowded 3 million to a very crowded 11+million may be more of a leap than I originally assumed.
The main reason I've started to reassess my commitment to living in a city is that I've found a very decent job in Gyeryong, a town of about 40,000 that's right next to the Kyeryongsan National Park. I spoke with the teacher I'd be replacing, a friendly New Zealander who's moving to Daejeon (1.4 mil pop., half hour away) to be with his girlfriend. He was positive about the position and spoke highly of the town. Even if I don't accept this particular job, it still raises the question of priorities: do I find the right place and then look for a job or identify the job first and then evaluate whether I can deal with the location?
posted by Haley at 10:20 PM
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