Teaching English in Korea: The Application as We Know It

There have only been a few things in life that I have incessantly tried to pursue, becoming an English teacher in South Korea has joined that list. I am going to be honest and say that I usually and I when I mean usually I mean 99% of the time do not follow dreams that I believe are outside of my reach. That sounds horrible but when you have as little drive as I do and a whopping case of laziness the result is typically not very much.

But starting in July, I (and Jacky) have started the process. What is the process you may ask? Here it is in a nutshell.

1. Paperwork! Get started on this as soon as possible because as any one will tell you this will take the longest to get done. That means an apostilled University Diploma (must first be notarized my a public notary and then sent to the department of state from which that document originated), apostilled National FBI Background Check (takes a minimum of 3 weeks to process and then a minimum of 1 week to get apostilled in Washington D.C) , university transcripts, a valid passport. 

2. Contact a recruiter. There are a million out there. Check websites like Dave's ESL Cafe to find postings, most of which are created by recruiters. Once you contact them be strong about where you want to go because I find location to be the hardest place to secure. NOTE: Stay in contact with more than one recruiter, this way you can look at more options. 

3. Interviews. These are typically with the school director or in some cases another foreign teacher. I have been having the most difficulty with this part of the job hunt. For the most part these are done either as a video Skype call or an actual phone call. Expect for these calls to be done well into the night. The lastest call I received was at 1 AM. If you are naturally enthusiastic and bubbly then you probably aced the interview if you are nervous, more calm sounding, or just not as "happy" sounding then some acting is gonna be necessary. This is something I haven't been able to master. This, coupled with a lack of experience hasn't landed me a job. I suspect there is another factor but I will leave that for another post. 

Interviews are also where you need to ask the important questions, anything that isn't clear to you or that you are curious about such as the location of the school, the number of foreign teachers, whether or not you can get in contact with those teachers, how old the children will be, the conditions of the housing, what teaching style the school uses and so on. 

4. Getting the job, reading the contract. I have no experience with this but you need to read every line of the contract to make sure there is no glaring loop hole where you can get caught in a situation that is less than desirable. Try looking at online forums where you can post your contract and members of the forum which are usually experienced will look over the contract for you. After that is done and you have clarified every inch of the document you sign it and return it to the school. 

5. Visa Application and Arriving in Korea...The documents that you have prepared such as your diploma and background check will now come into play. The recruiter will probably guide you through this process and direct you as to where the documents need to be sent. From what the recruiters have told me this can take 1 1/2 months. Once this is done then the school will confirm your arrival date and will have the flight information ready for you. From this point forward you are set!

-Ashley