Teach English in Korea.
The Application Process A ~ Z!
- CURRENT JOBS LIST - Seoul and other parts Private and Public Schools (More details / See Job List)
Application Process: How to apply for a teaching job in Korea - This is the process for most Hakwon jobs in Korea. When the process varies at all, we will let you know. Some jobs such as public schools have different application criteriaand process, but most Korea ESL teaching jobs work as below. This whole process can go by in a matter of a few weeks to a few months. Please Read Carefully!
Step 1: Do you Qualify?
- Are you a native English speaker from Canada, USA, Australia, United Kingdom, New Zealand or South Africa? (Born in one of these countries?) The Korean Immigration Auhtorities are strict these days, and picky about who to issue an E2 Teaching visa to. These are not our rules, they are the Korean E2 Visa rules.
- Are you criminal conviction free? You must now have a clean criminal record. Recently, Korean immigration has been denying visas to people with Impaired Driving records from long before. If you have any criminal code convictions, it may be a huge obstacle.
- Do you have a completed university degree from a recognized university in one of the countries listed above?
- If yes, you probably qualify!
- Note: if you don’t already have one, get a passport ASAP. Also, know that you will be required to undergo a medical test in Korea which includes drug testing. If you do not have a drug free system, you will probably fail this part of the screening and may be refused continued employment. "Recreational" drugs are taken very seriously in Korea, as well as many other countries.
Step 2: Send us your Cover letter, resume and photo
- Please send in MS word format (a JPEG file for your photos, and preferably 3 or 4 photos with nice smile and pleasant looking, and please do not add any fancy formatting to your resume, we will have to reformat it anyhow, and your added formatting takes too much time often)
- Please indicate WHEN you are available to go to Korea
- ALSO indicate if you have any special preferences / requests - Keep in mind, since the economy turned in 2009, teachers must be more flexible than ever with the current flooded market conditions - there are fewer jobs than ever and more teachers than ever. Schools are now demanding the highest qualifications and experience for their new hires.
- Hint – Photos – send us 3 or 4 photos if you like – it is important that the photo is a nice one of you smiling and with family or friends. The photo is to show the school owner that you are a person who is good in social situations and a person that they can feel comfortable about you teaching in their school (their livelihood depends on who they hire).
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Note: Teachers often worry about the risk that they are taking with choosing a school. This is a valid concern and you should be careful by all means. Also, the school is taking a risk, the same sort of leap of faith you are when you choose a school, because if they hire the wrong teacher it could hurt their business dearly.
Step 3: Criminal Records Check (You should do this step as soon as possible, at the same time or before you send us your resume because this step takes the longest to complete usually)
- You will have to order a Criminal Background Check which includes Vulnerable Sector Search***
- You must then have it Notarized by a lawyer or notary: This can be done by most lawyers and takes only about 5 seconds. The lawyer or notary will stamp it and sign it to verify that it is authentic. NOTE: Some lawyers charge for this, some do it for free. If you have to pay, $20 - $25 is average.
- Send it to the Korean Consulate Nearest You to be Verified (In Canada), OR Apostilled (USA, and other countries): This step must be followed closely send ALL of the following to the Korean Consulate.
- You MUST Include Prepaid return Postage Envelope (Must be Canada Post Xpress Post OR USPS Express mail.
- Include a MONEY Order for the Notarization Fee (Currently for Korean Consulates in Canada the fee is $2.20) No other form of payment is accepted, send a money order only (no cash, no cheques). **Check with the Korean Consulate before you send it, to verify how much the fee is for apostille / verification.
- COPY of your passport (Info/Photo page only)
- Here is a list of Korean Consulates in Canada and USA and the addresses.
Step 4: Original Degree and Official Transcripts (You should also do this step as soon as you know you want to go to Korea because it also can take some time).
- Order Three official transcripts. One for Korea, one for the Consulate and one for backup.
- Have your Original degree ready to send (YES, the Original Degree)
- NOTE: You can have your Original degree verified by the Korean Consulate nearest you, and then you wont have to send it to Korea. This process is the same as the criminal records check (prepaid postage, fee, etc), this will allow you to avoid sending the original to Korea (the majority of teachers do send the original degree however, but it is up to you. You will receive your degree back when you arrive in Korea. Sometimes it is folded, not always. Dont count on it being in 100% perfect shape after sending it anywhere in the mail.
- NOTE: When you send your documents to Korea, you must use a Courier Service such as Fedex which will get your documents to Korea in a matter of days. Regular mail gets lost and takes to long when it is not lost. USE a courier service. Too many teachers lost good jobs because they lost their degrees in the regular mail.
- NOTE: **Don't send anything to Korea yet, wait until you get a job first and are instructed by us to send something to Korea.
Step 5: Job Match and Telephone Interview
- We will forward your application to any schools which match what you indicate, the school will then, if they choose your application, arrange a telephone interview with you, which we will inform you of.
- After the telephone interview, usually within a day, or even a few hours often, the school will let us know if they want to hire you (Hint – in most cases, when they offer an interview, they also hire you).
Step 6: Accept Job and send document to Korea for Immigration / Visa Authorization
- Send the following documents to Korea (We will provide you with the address – Please send by FedEx for safety and speed)
- Original Degree & One Official Transcript
- 2 Passport Photos
- COPY of passport
- Signed contract
- Medical SELF Evaluation (download it here MS Word format / PDF format – you fill it out yourself, not by a doctor, you will have a medical exam and undergo drug testing when you arrive in Korea).
- After about 10 days on average – the Korean immigration authorities will issue a VISA NUMBER, which will be sent to us, then we will tell you and you can then apply for your visa in your home country, as shown in the next step.
- ***YOU CANNOT APPLY FOR A VISA UNTIL WE SEND YOU THE VISA NUMBER FROM THE KOREAN IMMIGRATION OFFICE (IN KOREA). This only happens after you have the interview, sign the contract and have sent the documents as per our instructions, to Korea.
Step 7: Apply for the E-2 ESL Teaching Visa from the Korean Consulate nearest you
- Complete the Visa application form NOTING YOUR VISA NUMBER ON THE TOP(download instructions and FORM here)
- Get a money order for the visa fee (between 50 and 60 dollars usually in Canada and USA)
- Return Pre-paid postage
- Passport photos
- ACTUAL PASSPORT
- ONE official transcript
- CONSULATE INTERVIEW: The final step is an interview with the Korean Consulate nearest you. Long distance consuls do this step by webcam usually. If you are in a city with a Consul, you will do the interview in person. The Consul will contact you with the interview schedule after you send the application in.
*This last step usually takes about one week to complete – You will then be ready to fly to Korea. We will tell you the flight arrangements, usually the school will buy your airplane ticket in advance for you.
We help you through this process step by step as we have done for so many happy teachers since 2001. We take the worry and hassle out of going to Korea!
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