Bait and Switch

Welcome to Korea!

What is teaching in Korea like?

Nothing like coming to Korea to make you hate it. Contracts and recruiters are a big bait and switch of epic proportions.

The MOE (Ministry of Education) has been running this gimmick for the last 20 years and has been conning people to come ever since.

They have been maintaining the mistreatment of foreigners as a constant and it won't be fixed any time in the foreseeable future. Even though they try to pretend it's getting better.

Generally, most people will come to Korea and find that they have lost any sense of negotiation; your contract will be fairly useless. They'll find that their schools and their co-teacher(s) have agendas of their own that will try to manipulate you. You can say no, but if you don't follow their schemes, you'll be mistreated even more. So much for having rights, respect, or a sense of dignity.

All recruiters advertise no training necessary. It's a load of bunk. As much as most people love being thrown to the lions, it's not wise to step into that arena without some concepts of what to expect.

Footprints Recruiting Website:

• NO COURSES - all you need is a bachelor's degree in any discipline. (Or less nowadays, they just really don't care whatsoever what your education was, since you're a puppet to them)
  
• FREE SUPPORT - we place you in a job and we support you all year. (you most likely won't talk to them once you're there)
  
• ENGLISH ONLY - no job requires you to speak the local language. (living in Korea can be arduous without knowing a few words of the language)
  

This was part of an email from Korean Horizons a recruiting company for teaching English in Korea:

In addition, you will both get:

• 300,000 won one-time settlement allowance (which they won't give you for a week or two)
  
• round-trip flights
  
• rent-free apartment suitable for you both (mostly likely a tiny efficiency with a brick wall view)
  
• 35-14 days paid vacation + national holidays (more like 20 days that will be allotted last minute, good luck planning your vacation in a hurry)
• medical contributions (yeah medical is cheap, but doctors want you to come back every three days usually, medicine is unlabeled, most English speaking doctors are in Seoul)
  
• pension contributions
• severance payment (you've endured a year of torture, here's your prize)
• 15 sick paid leave allowance (ha ha, good luck trying to use these)
• 7 day special leave allowance (doesn't exist, more like you are sometimes, based on how kind your overlord is, excused from work to go on cultural events)
• 2 weeks additional paid vacation if you resign your contract after the first year (you're not likely to resign anyways, its like all those unobtainable prizes in Peter Piper Pizza, you'll never have enough game tickets save up)
• Korean co-teacher to assist with your classes (now this one is a downright lie, your assistance could be anywhere from 0%-5% to maybe 25% if you're really lucky)
  

Not to mention, your utilities could not be hooked up for a while (including internet), you won't have a bank account for about a month, you will usually have to go get your cell phone on your own, you're really lucky if your co-teacher will take you shopping when you first arrive (lugging your groceries home can be a burden), you'll probably have to figure out the bus system on your own (which is mostly in Korean and don't think the bus drivers are friendly).