I made a personal post the other day, so today my post is gonna be not personal, aka talking about the process of getting to teach English over in South Korea. Now so far I've talked about the expense side of the process, but now I'm going to talk about the other side- the time commitment.
I started the process of finding a job in South Korea back at the beginning of December (why I decided at that point is another story for another day). The first thing I learned was that I couldn't actually apply to schools until 3 months before I actually wanted to start. I had decided on June 1st since my sister was getting married in May, therefore I couldn't start applying until March 1st. No big deal. Why?
But I could still find a recruiter. Some people don't use a recruiter, but I think if this is your first time, a recruiter would make things a bit easier. They find the schools, schedule the interviews, and answer any questions you might have. I interviewed with three different recruiters and was having a hard time choosing between two of them. I ended up having a few questions and went with the recruiter that answered me fastest and whose answers made sense. Maybe not the best requirements, but it worked for me. I recommend that you do some research on your recruiter, talk to some of their current teachers, and look into their facebook/ twitter/ blog/ whatever they have.
So once I had a recruiter, I figured I was good until February 1st, right? WRONG! FBI background checks take a thousand years (aka 6-8 weeks) and the apostille process takes another year or two (aka a week). Then you have a week or two after you apply before you start hearing back from schools. If you're lucky, you'll like your first school and can send your info and signed contract to them right away. 4 or 5 days later, they'll have your stuff, and then 10-15 business days after that you'll have your visa acceptance number and can head to your consulate!
To sum up:
Mind you, this is what I've figured out, and I'm approximately 1.5 months out from my departure date. I think I'll make another post after I've arrived with a better and more accurate schedule, but this will do for now I think! Oh, and it is possible to totally scrunch this up and leave at around the 1 month to 0.75 month mark from what I've heard, but with the amount of stuff that can go wrong, I feel like giving yourself 6 months is a good amount of time.
As you can see, this is a VERY long process, but so long as you stick to the schedule, you should be fine and freak out free until approximately 1.5 months before you leave. Which is now for me, yay! Anyways, good luck if you are just starting your process, and if you've already finished let me know if this seems about right for what you did as well!
I started the process of finding a job in South Korea back at the beginning of December (why I decided at that point is another story for another day). The first thing I learned was that I couldn't actually apply to schools until 3 months before I actually wanted to start. I had decided on June 1st since my sister was getting married in May, therefore I couldn't start applying until March 1st. No big deal. Why?
But I could still find a recruiter. Some people don't use a recruiter, but I think if this is your first time, a recruiter would make things a bit easier. They find the schools, schedule the interviews, and answer any questions you might have. I interviewed with three different recruiters and was having a hard time choosing between two of them. I ended up having a few questions and went with the recruiter that answered me fastest and whose answers made sense. Maybe not the best requirements, but it worked for me. I recommend that you do some research on your recruiter, talk to some of their current teachers, and look into their facebook/ twitter/ blog/ whatever they have.
So once I had a recruiter, I figured I was good until February 1st, right? WRONG! FBI background checks take a thousand years (aka 6-8 weeks) and the apostille process takes another year or two (aka a week). Then you have a week or two after you apply before you start hearing back from schools. If you're lucky, you'll like your first school and can send your info and signed contract to them right away. 4 or 5 days later, they'll have your stuff, and then 10-15 business days after that you'll have your visa acceptance number and can head to your consulate!
To sum up:
- First! Choose your departure date.
- 6 months before departure: Find a few recruiters you like and apply/ interview with them.
- 5 months: Submit fingerprints for Background check
- 4 months: order transcripts and make a copy of your diploma for apostille
- 3 months: Background check is back! Send off to get an apostille!
- 2.75 months: Background check w/ apostille should be back! Tell your recruiter and they'll start sending out your resume.
- 2.5 months: Interviews? ... INTERVIEWS!
- 2.25 months: Contract time!
- 2 months: Sign your contract and send it to your school with all of your other info.
- 1.75 months: Waiting and twiddling thumbs and getting stuff ready I suppose.
- 1.5 months: Still waiting, MAYBE luck enough to have info for getting your visa
- 1.25 months: Visa info should be back by now! Go quick! Get your visa number, YAY!
- 1 months: Turn in your two weeks notice, pack what you need, take care of any animals you may have, donate stuff if you can! Oh, and save money.
- 0.75 months: Getting close... Try to find others who are already over in your country/ city teaching and get to know them! Having friends before you arrive probably makes things easier.
- 0.5 months: SO CLOSE! Find out what is in your apartment, what you need to bring, what you might need to buy, etc.
- 0.25 months: Time for goodbyes and finally frantic packing! Also- no medicine at this point. Even cough medicine and pain relievers! Supposedly the drug screening they do is very, very sensitive. If you fail the first time, they'll make you come back, so you might as well just be 'clean' when you arrive.
- 0.00 months: BLAST OFF!
Mind you, this is what I've figured out, and I'm approximately 1.5 months out from my departure date. I think I'll make another post after I've arrived with a better and more accurate schedule, but this will do for now I think! Oh, and it is possible to totally scrunch this up and leave at around the 1 month to 0.75 month mark from what I've heard, but with the amount of stuff that can go wrong, I feel like giving yourself 6 months is a good amount of time.
As you can see, this is a VERY long process, but so long as you stick to the schedule, you should be fine and freak out free until approximately 1.5 months before you leave. Which is now for me, yay! Anyways, good luck if you are just starting your process, and if you've already finished let me know if this seems about right for what you did as well!
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