Teaching Jobs for First Time ESL Teachers & Recent Graduates

Will this be your first time applying for an overseas teaching job? Although many schools and programs in Korea prefer applicants with previous teaching experience, there are still lots of opportunities available for college and university graduates who have unrelated majors and/or a lack of formal teaching experience. Gone2Korea represents hundreds of first time ESL teachers from North America, the UK, Ireland, Australia, South Africa and New Zealand every year.

Above and beyond related educational backgrounds and work related experiences, school directors will also place a lot of value in a teacher’s personality and character. Assuming you have a friendly and outgoing personality, combined with a legitimate interest in working with children, your chances of securing a credible job in South Korea is highly possible.

Job options for first time teachers in Korea

There are two types of teaching opportunities in South Korea for recent graduates and first time ESL teachers:

Private schools in Korea or Public schools in Korea.

Salaries for first time teachers and recent graduates

The salary you would be eligible for will depend on a number of variables. These variables include; your college/university major, credentials and experiences, the location (cities and provinces in Korea) you choose to work in, student age groups, the sector (public or private) and the number of hours that the school will require you to work each week. Generally speaking most first time teachers can expect to make somewhere between 2.0 – 2.2 million Korea won a month. The XE.com Universal Currency Converter

If you have no experience and you’re expecting to make 2.5 million won or more each month then chances are we won’t be able to help you. Yes, we realize there are certain jobs posted on various sites and forums that offer salaries above the industry benchmarks, however, if you read the fine print or apply for the position you’ll likely find they are looking for someone who has specific qualifications or is willing to work above and beyond the standard work week. Additionally, many ESL recruiting companies post jobs online with inflated wages in order to get more people to apply; however once you make contact they send you offer’s for substantially less.

It’s important to understand that there are industry standards and benchmarks in Korea and rarely do employers offer salaries above and beyond these standards. Likewise, public school programs have set salary rates and private schools usually employ numerous western teachers; therefore, it’s not possible for them to offer higher salaries to specific individuals when they already employ people (with the same qualifications) who are making a set amount….it would cause too many issues between co-workers

So you want to teach abroad but you’re nervous about doing it alone? We realize that leaving the ‘normal life’ you’re accustomed to and travelling abroad is not an easy decision if you’ve never done it before. We would like to point out that South Korea is a very safe and highly developed country with an established ESL teaching industry. South Korea is also one of the world’s largest employers of ESL teachers (from western countries) with more than twenty thousand western teachers currently employed - many of which are first time teachers. Lastly, Gone2Korea is a credible company with 8 years of recruiting experience. We work closely with teachers to ensure their transition goes smoothly and we provide numerous documents, information packs and updates to ensure you’re aware of the country, job, culture and school expectations before your departure and throughout the duration of your contracted term. We’re here to help and we do our best to make sure your overall experience is memorable. Gone2Korea Teacher Parties