"After-school" Programs in Korea

Here's the question:

I am still in Canada searching for teaching work in Korea. It's been like two months and I just don't know what job I want. There are so many that advertise LONG hours and those don't appeal to me and these so-called recruiters never listen to my demands.

Nothing better than new young teachers who want a job, but don't like working. That mentality --in part-- is why I don't hire young teachers or anyone fresh out of college anymore.

I started to see more afterschool and afternoon positions recently. They sound great! Why doesn't everyone want those? Are they hard to get?

First of all, there is usually a difference between  "afternoon" and "after-school" positions. An "afternoon" position is at a hagwon and will typically start at 3 or 4pm and run till 9 or 10pm. An "after-school" position is at a public school and typically runs from 12 0r 1pm until 5 0r 6pm.

It sounds like you want to an "after-school" position. I've worked at several in my time here and all of them are essentially the same. Although the venue is a public school, you are actually working for a recruiter/education company. For example,  ABC Education is a recruiting/education company. They have a curriculum, books, managers, supplies and teachers all within their company. These companies go from school to school trying to make contracts with the principals. Once they have the contracts, they choose the teacher who best suits each school (which means the prinipal has a say). So, each teacher is not actually working for the public school system, but rather a separate company.

The pay varies greatly as well. If you're north of the river, then expect your pay to be less than if you're in the south. And even in the south, you'll be paid based on the neighborhood. For instance, in Yangjae I was making okay money, but then I moved over to Songpa and was making 30% more. Now, I'm in Gangnam making nearly 60% more than I was in Yangjae. Of course, the higher the pay, the more competitive the job is.

You asked "why doesn't everbody want those" jobs? Well, a lot of people do want those jobs. In fact, many of those positions require an in-person interview which puts teachers abroad at a disadvantage. However, it's still worth trying.

On a side note, the after-school jobs are oftentimes looking for teachers on the F2 visa. They do that because F2's are easy to hire, have been in Korea for awhile and usually have housing already. These days, however, some F2's are even being forced to submit the same paperwork at E2's. I protested at first but soon realized that if I didn't do it, then I wouldn't get the job.

In short, the afterschool jobs are great. You're typically teaching medium-sized Elementary classes (10-20 students), have relative freedom in the class (even with the Korean co-teacher) and get a lot of free time. The details of the contract depend on the job and company, but for the most part, they're super sweet gigs.