Popularity contests

I have never felt so loved in my life

So, after a long procrastination period, I finally updated my cover letter and resume. And took a recent photo (shout out here to David K Davey) to send along with it. And then I followed the recommended advice and posted my resume on an ESL Jobs site. The ATA recommended Dave's ESL Cafe, which is very user friendly. 

And boy, did I get a response. 

I must have received at least 10 emails the next day, and more come through every hour. And, no I do not have a picture posted. Its just the resume. Everyone who has contacted me has been a recruiter, who have told me how they can find me a job etc etc. I suppose the trick now is finding a legit recruiter to deal with...

Pretty much everyone whats another copy of my resume, and a recent photo. And then they go from there. So overtime someone has requested this info, I have had a look at their contact info. If there is no website, I delete. If I go to the website and its not very appealing, I delete. This may seem a little picky or cut throat, but I don't have any other way of screening my potential people. And I have had phone calls too... One guy called and followed up with an email, nice guy, claims his name is Jeff (totally not his name, the guy is Korean) and told me of 2 jobs that match my preference for teaching in Seoul. I said yeah, thanks I will read them later and yes I will send through my pic and resume. About an hour later he calls back and tells me there are actually like, 6 jobs or something that match my criteria. So as expected, looks do count in Korea. What can I say, I have never been so popular in my life!

Documents update

I really need to get this sorted. My new friend "Jeff" thinks that you can get the apostille stuff done in a few days, but I really don't think thats true. I am pretty sure it all needs to get sent to Canberra... I am planning on calling the ATA and finding out what the g-o is in a bit more detail. And I need to organise the police check. That should only take 15 days, but I want to get it happening so that its done. Pretty much all the recruiters I have spoken with have said that it should all still be done and I should be able to travel in August. So there is another bit of good news. 

Private vs Public School debate

There is a bit of a word war going on about which is better - conditions wise, pay wise, the whole thing. From what I can gather, here are the main differences:

Public

Day time hours, some quite early

Straight forward classes

More holidays

Shorter working hours

Sharing classes with a co-teacher

Less money

Less freedom with lessons and what you teach

Private

More night classes and split shifts

Return students

Better pay

Longer work hours

Better school conditions

This is really just an overview. It seems that the private schools get bad reviews though. So maybe the better money isn't really worth it. Also, I don't think I will be earning as much as I hoped to, the starting salary for a new teacher is between 2.0 - 2.2 million KRW... Might not even amount to $2000 a month. But still, the cost of living is so low I should still be able to put money aside. 

Anyway, just a quick post today as I am going out for dins later. But I was so shocked and excited by the email responses that i needed to say something. 

I already love Koreans, they are super polite on the phone and send cute email. One ended with "Have a quiet and nice day"

Lol... quiet and nice :)

xx