#i have sooooo many sketches i want to turn into something... less... sketchy...

[nickydraws]

Sketches!

[tawnitravels]

Teaching in Korea

*hi quick edit to inform you guys that i’m inttentionally messing up the spelling of the capital city of korea with a capital I instead of L bc of a stalker issue sorry to anyone looking for info about the job search process*

So I’m writing this post because as I went through the whole process of finding a job in Korea and getting my visa, I found a lot of conflicting information or gaps. This is my experience with the job search/documents/visa process. I started my process mid 2016 (after I graduated), applied to recruiters December 2016, and found a job and began the visa process a few weeks later. I’m starting my job February 22ndish, 2017 so this information is from this time.

Sections: Hagwons vs public school Recruiters      SayKimchi      Adventure Teaching      SeouIESL Documents      *Apostilled FBI background check      *Apostilled diploma Visa

Hagwons vs public schools I did a lot of research on these two types of teaching positions. As far as I understand, public schools have fewer hours and slightly lower pay. Hagwons are private academies. Because of this, they’re not as strictly regulated and there are a lot of sketchy ones. However, I wanted to be in SeouI (since I’ve lived there before) and programs that place you with public schools don’t really give you much of a say in where you’re placed. SeouI jobs typically go to experienced teachers, which I am not. I did so much research to ensure I didn’t end up signing a contract with a sketch school (since I’m not there yet I’m still not sure haha fml). Some good resources I used are Dave’s ESL Cafe, hagwon green list, and hagwon black lists [1] [2].

Recruiters So as someone who wasn’t currently in Korea, the simplest(debatable) way to find a hagwon job is to go through a recruiter. Essentially, a recruiter is a middle man that sends your resume to schools that are hiring. They are free for us to use. They make their money from the schools by placing people with these schools, so do your research!!! A good recruiter won’t place teachers with shitty schools, but just check out the schools you schedule interviews with for yourself to be safe. And hope for the best :) There are so many schools, so it can be hard to find info. I took “it’s not on the blacklist” as good enough to schedule an interview even when I couldn’t find info from any previous teachers. Now let me talk about my own experience with recruiters. Different recruiters have relationships with different hagwons, so apply to more than one. I did a lot of research on recruiters and ended up applying to SeouIESL, Adventure Teaching, and SayKimchi. I also thought Dreamworks Recruiting and Park English seemed decent, but I never got around to sending them my applications because I suck haha. Now I’ll talk about my experiences with each recruiter I applied to: SayKimchi: I never heard back from them. Ever. Whatever. Adventure: They seemed friendly when I spoke to them, but they were SO SLOW. I scheduled an interview with them and they canceled day of, so the process got delayed a week. I was aiming for March start dates and, because they took so long (despite them being first to contact me after I applied), they said they wouldn’t be able to place me until April or May. Then, they asked me to send all of my original documents to their office in Korea, which essentially makes it impossible for you to use another recruiter. If you’re 100% set on using just them, I suppose it would just speed up the process, but….. Funny enough, a week-ish after hearing nothing from me after requesting my docs they said they changed their policy and didn’t require docs sent until a contract was signed. I’m still not entirely sure if they really did have a policy change or if they were trying to dupe me into only being able to use them and changed course when I didn’t comply. My friend taught through them and her experience was just okay. One positive(?) is that they are based in Canada so the time difference is less extreme for me and they’re all native English speakers. Their website and emails are also laid out well compared to many others. SeouIESL: This is the recruiter I ended up using. Overall, my experience was positive. I was emailing with someone named Carolyn and she was very quick at responding and friendly. When I was scheduling interviews, if I emailed her during work hours I would often have a response within five minutes. Since I was super free at the time, I would set up interviews at 4:30pm my time (9:30am in SeouI) and do them at 7pm my time. Very fast. Their initial email actually got sorted into my spam(watch out for that, I guess) so I got in touch with them like a week late, but they scheduled my interviews lightening fast. She would send me a list of schools and their info and I could tell her which ones I wanted to apply to, and if they wanted an interview she would set it up quickly. She sent the info about the different stages at they came, so I was a little stressed. (ex: signed my contract and sent my docs, but had no idea how or when my flight would be booked until I knew exactly when my visa would be ready). Based on my experience, I would recommend them. They were fast, efficient, didn’t push me into anything, and were very accommodating of my desire to apply to jobs in SeouI.

I did two interviews. The first school had a very good reputation, but I didn’t get offered a contract. I must have been so awkward because I was so nervous. The second school offered my a contract and I took it. There wasn’t as much info about the school, but I still liked it better than others I sent my resume to. I hope I’m right :)))) I will update on how it goes later!

Documents: So many documents. First off, I’m a US citizen (specifically California) and the document requirements vary slightly by country. After I had signed a contract, my recruited had me send the following documents so the school could apply for my visa: 

Apostilled FBI background check

Apostilled diploma

copy of passport

4 passport photos on light background

hard copy of resume

original contract, signed

health statement (a form she sent me)

E2 visa confirmation number application form (also sent to me)

These are mostly easy, but I have a little guidance on two items. Apostilled FBI background check: First off, you need to download the relevant forms. There are other guides on where and what you need exactly so I won’t get into detail :) You also need to be fingerprinted. I did this at one of my local police stations. One thing to keep in mind is that the background checks takes sooooo long. 3-4 months. It really put off my timeline because again, I suck and I procrastinate. Once you get it back, you’re still not done! You need to send it to get apostilled. And this is where I messed up again! There was some conflicting info online about where to send it. I argued with my mom, she won, and we ended up sending it to the California Department of State since I had to send my diploma there as well. WRONG!! IT MUST BE APOSTILLED IN WASHINGTON DC. DC. DC!!!! It’s a federal document, so it needs a federal apostille, not a state one. My recruiter told me that in the past, Korea accepted state apostilles, but not anymore. Don’t be dumb like me! Send it to DC! This takes another few weeks, so be prepared. You can expedite either of these processes by sending them through a legit expediter, but they cost money. If you’re in a hurry, it’s very worth it, but if you plan ahead it’s not necessary. Apostilled diploma: So to apostille a copy of your diploma (because plsss don’t send them your real one you’ll never get it back), you need to first notarize it. I went to my bank for that. The first employee said California notaries can’t notarize documents, only signatures. She also wanted to charge me :’D The second one said no problemo and did it for free! I can’t remember the name of the type of notarization, but it was something like I verify that it’s a real copy and she notarized that. Next, send it in to get apostilled. One important note is that is needs to be apostilled in the same state it was notarized in. There are also other guides for this out there if you’d like more details. :)

After you gather all of these and sign a contract, you send them off to Korea. Your school applies for your visa and you wait for your visa number. This can take around 2 weeks. Mine took a week and a half.

Visa The last thing you need to do is get your visa! I live within driving distance of the Korean consulate, so I went and walked everything in. I’m not sure how you would do it if you can’t take them in yourself, sorry~ After I got my visa number, I took the following forms to the Korean consulate:

visa application form (sent to me by recruiter)

1 passport photo on light background

original passport

copy of passport

visa processing fee (my consulate only accepts cash, so check!)

visa confirmation number

Some consulates may require more documents, such as bank statements, so make sure you check that too! I waited an eternity for my turn, gave all the relevant documents to the employee, waited another eternity for her to check everything, and then was told my visa (and passport) would be ready to be picked up in a week. 

And that’s it! I picked up my visa on the specified day (much quicker than submitting the docs) and I was done!

I’m not sure if this post will help anyone, but I sure hope it does. If anyone has other questions, feel free to ask. I will likely be posting more about the whole experience as I go, so if you’re interested give me a follow ^3^~