Comments on: Checking your Potential TEFL Employer’s Reputation

By: Ted

Ted — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 23:35:11 +0000

Hello Beck,
I don’t know that hesitating to offer more than one contact should be the kiss of death for an employer. Realize that of the people who are offered a position, perhaps only 50-60% accept the position and ever fewer actually show up for the job. Employers are essentially asking a favor of their employees – asking them to volunteer – to spend their time responding to (often quite vague and unfocused and even silly) questions from potential employees – many of whom will never actually arrive on the job. Some of the most common questions that are asked – for example – are similar to these: What is Korea like? What is teaching like? Both of which would take a book to respond to and often the person who asked those questions never even bothers to send a “Thank you” to the teacher who wrote them a response. So . . . while only one contact might seem like not enough, do the best you can with that one and read between the lines a bit. But – overall – realize that working and living abroad are highly personal things. What you like, I might hate and vice versa. I’ve had employers that I quite liked that my wife didn’t like. Yours is an excellent question and I think I will make a future post about contacts and how to deal most effectively with them.
Thanks for the idea!
Ted

By: Beck

Beck — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 13:19:02 +0000

I currently have an offer from a school in South Korea. I have spoken with one of the current teachers there via e-mail. However, when I inquired to my recruiter for a couple more names/e-mails I was informed that it would be “difficult to ask for more e-mail references since the teachers are busy & hesitate to reply”. In your opinion, should I still consider the school’s job offer? Thanks!

By: Ted

Ted — Fri, 14 May 2010 06:00:04 +0000

Hello Pakelika,
Probably about 2-2.4 million won. Not a huge amount of money, but when you realize that you have free housing, reimbursed airfare, bonuses, etc – you can probably save about US$1000 per month without even trying. Think about getting a TEFL Certification – even if only online at http://www.TEFLBootCamp.com – with the big unemployment problems in the UK and USA – there is much more competition for jobs these days. A TEFL Cert of any kind at least says, “I am interested and want to do a good job.”
Korea is where I go when I want to rebuild my savings account.
Enjoy!
Ted

By: Pakelika

Pakelika — Thu, 13 May 2010 19:30:03 +0000

Thanks for all the valuable information, Ted. My question – what (should/could/would) be the salary range or average for Korean TEFL with only an undergraduate degree?