How I got the English teaching job in Korea

June 06, 2018

How I got the English teaching job in Korea

“How did you get the teaching job in Korea?”

I get asked this question on a daily and have decided that the best way for me to answer is by writing about it and to include some links to sources that really helped me get here.

Let me first start by saying that I didn’t apply via a recruiter. I did everything myself and so the advice I will give here is based on that. However, it is much easier to go through a recruiter as they have a lot of experience with regards to how the system works and they can give you lots of answers to specific questions. I have included links below of good recruiters that you can use. If you do decide to go at it alone, I advise you to still have a look at the recruiters' websites as they give out important information that can help you.

I will talk about applying to work at a Korean government school through the English Programme in Korea (EPIK) as that is my experience. There are many posts about teaching at a private academy (Hagwon) and so if you’d like to go that route it would be best to do some research on it.

How did you find out about this job?

Well, I had always wanted to take a gap year so when I heard that some of the people I went to school with were teaching abroad, I asked around and found out that they had applied through EPIK. I went to the EPIK website, researched, watched many Youtube videos and after much procrastination, I finally applied and after much waiting, I landed the job.

I think that the best thing you can do is to take time out each day and do some research. I always say GOOGLE is your friend. If you take away anything from this post, it is that GOOGLE IS YOUR FRIEND, USE IT!

Teaching English through EPIK is a great opportunity not only because you get to live in another country but also because you get to experience an entirely different culture and also travel around Asia at affordable costs. If you want to teach in Korea in order to save some money, travel or to just try something new then this job may be just the thing you've been looking for.

Benefits

Monthly salary from 2.0 KRW million (depends on region as well as your qualification level)
Settlement allowance
Free furnished housing
Severance pay
Entrance and Exit allowances
50% of Medical insurance paid by your employer
18 paid vacation days

Are you eligible?

Be a citizen of and hold a valid passport from these English-speaking nations: Canada, U.S., U.K., South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland.
Attended an English medium school from Grade 7 in one of the designated nations or attended an English Medium International School. If you attended school in Zimbabwe and hold a degree and citizenship in South Africa, you can apply.
Hold a Bachelor degree or teachers qualification from an accredited university.
Have no criminal convictions including DWI (Driving while intoxicated).
Have a clean health check and drug test.

If you are from Zimbabwe or any other nation that is not included in the list of the 7 nations that EPIK works with don’t lose hope. Perhaps the EPIK route is not for you but there are other ways to land a job in Korea. As I mentioned before that you can apply to work as an English teacher at private academies known as Hagwons. There are many private academies looking for teachers so it is possible. Just make sure that you read your contract properly as they are not regulated the same way as public schools are, so you need to be extra careful to ensure that you are getting a fair deal. I think for this route it would be better to use a recruiter as they will know where the vacancies are and how to connect you to them.

Required documents

In order to apply through EPIK you will need the following documents:

Required Documents	Other Documents
Completed Application Form & Photo	TEFL/TESOL/CELTA Certifications & Valid Teaching Licenses
An Apostilled Copy of a Bachelor's Degree	Proof of Full-Time Teaching Experience (PTE) (if you are a certified teacher)
Original Sealed Transcripts	Apostilled Birth Certificate (UK/AU Applicants)
An Apostilled National Level Criminal Background Check (CRC)	English Education Proof – Letters from Primary and High School stating that the school is an English Medium School. (SA/Quebec Applicants)
	English Education Proof (Int'l School Attendees)
Two Letters of Recommendation from Academic/Professional Sources

Passport Information Page Copy
Proof of Level 2 Status (A copy of your TEFL certificate)

When I saw this list of required documents I felt overwhelmed. The application process alone is tedious and takes much time to complete, let alone gathering all these documents. However, I decided to take it one step at a time, gathering the documents little by little and celebrating every document I managed to get.

What made it even more manageable is the fact that you don’t need to submit all these documents all at once. For the initial application all you need to electronically submit are the following:

Completed application form with two photos (PDF)
Lesson plan hand-outs, worksheets etc. (PDF)
Two scanned letters of recommendation (Make sure that these are signed with ink – not computerized signatures)
Proof of schooling (if you are from S.A or Canada)
A photo of your tattoos if they are on visible areas of your body.

All the other documents will be required once you pass the interview and are given the job. However, it is advisable that you already start gathering them as soon as possible. The police clearance can take a while so the earlier you start the better. Go to your local police station and ask to apply for a police clearance certificate. TIP: If you are in SA, complete the form at the Police station and send it to the SAPS Criminal Record Centre yourself. It will be much quicker than if you let them do it.

Process and interview

Once I had submitted all this information via email to the EPIK office, I waited for their response which I received a week or two later. I was given information about what other documents were required and about my interview date and time.

I was fortunate that my Skype interview took place in the morning at around 10am. The time difference between Korea and South Africa is 7 hours so be careful when choosing your interview time on your application form. Some people have had their interviews take place in the early hours of the morning. When you do go for your interview, make sure that you look presentable, it may be a Skype interview but you must still look professional. Also, make sure that your internet connection is good to avoid any technical interruptions.

Lucky for me, my interviewer’s Skype had issues so he could see me but I couldn’t see him. He asked me about my answers in my application form and a few other questions. He then went through my lesson plan with me and made some suggestions on how I could improve my lesson. I took some notes so that I could make some changes to my final application. He told me to expect the outcome of my interview within two days. I was excited but also nervous. I had heard of some people who thought the interview went well only to find that they were rejected so I was not 100% certain.

After three days of hearing nothing, I began to panic. I googled to check how long it took for others to hear from EPIK and began to lose hope. After checking my inbox over and over again, I decided to check my spam and there it was, my acceptance letter- sent the day after my interview.

Collection of documents

This was when the real work started. I was hopeful though because half the job was done. Now I just had to power through the rest. Now it was just about gathering all my original documents to send to Korea via courier services. This part of the process requires patience and money. I had to pay to get my transcripts, pay to get the police clearance application to Pretoria, pay to get my passport renewed, pay to get to Pretoria to get my documents apostilled etc. Basically, be prepared to spend some money. There are services that you can use to manage the apostilling process for you however, I did it myself because eish, these streets are not safe so I wanted to make 100% sure. After gathering all the documents, it was time to courier them to Korea. At this point, I felt as though I had accomplished so much in life! It took me about a month and a half to collect all these documents and about four to five months in general on this whole process.

Contract

Now it was just a waiting game. I had to wait for my contract and Orientation information to be sent to me via courier from Korea. I submitted my documents in November and only received my contract towards the end of January beginning of February. I was panicking. I literally received my contract three weeks before I was to leave and I needed it to apply for my E-2 visa. Needless to say, I received my visa and was able to leave for Korea and make it to the EPIK Orientation on time.

EPIK Orientation February 2018.

Money talks

You need to keep in mind that you bear the costs to everything. This includes your flight tickets. You will receive an Entrance Allowance yes however, it may not be equivalent to the amount you paid for your flights and the whole process. It is important that you know this upfront so that you can start saving as soon as possible. You must also have about R10 000 or 1000 USD on you for the first month in Korea. This will be essential as you will only be paid at the end of the first month when you arrive.

TESOL/TEFL certificate

With some of my students at TKW.

One of the requirements is that you submit a Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL/TESOL) certificate from an accredited service provider. This means that you need to have done at least 100 hours of training in order to get the certificate. TIP: Look for schools that offer both an in-class and online component. The best is to do all the hours in-class.

Getting your TEFL/TESOL certificate is costly but it is worth it as it opens the doors to teaching abroad. While doing your TEFL, you will meet many like-minded people who are also on the journey to working abroad. I did my course at The Knowledge Workshop (TKW) in Cape Town. We worked really hard and put in many hours aside from the 120 hours required but it was worth it. By the time we left, we were well equipped to go into any classroom and teach.

Overall the process is long, so make sure that you start early and that you celebrate the little victories along the way because it is really easy to give up. I know many people who had started the process but gave up because it was just taking too long. I too was one of those until I made up my mind that I really wanted this and I was going to give it my all. Make sure to start saving some money because as I mentioned it doesn’t come cheap. And remember GOOGLE is your friend. There are many other people who have gone through this and have shared their stories online. Go find them. Watch what life in Korea is like from an expat’s point of view - I've added some links below. Do your research and I am telling you before you know it you too will be sitting behind your computer telling the rest of the world how you landed this great opportunity.

Some links:

Recruiters:

Life in Korea Youtube videos:

Melody on the move: https://youtu.be/aHo2EaUI-nQ

Sandhira Chetty: https://youtu.be/_lXGiadBA6E

Ninja Teacher: https://youtu.be/p1QsPYR-MOM

Simon and Martina: https://youtu.be/tBtLx10xD2M