It takes time

Good morning ladies and gents. My name is Bethany and my hubby (Sir Lancelot) and I hope to be in South Korea by Valentines day. There's so much to do!

You may have found this blog because you yourself are wondering 'How do one get a job teaching English in Korea?" That's a very good question and the very first thing you need to know is that it takes time, like a lot of time. If you're going with your significant other it takes even more time because your recruiter will be looking for a school offering two positions and many schools don't like to take couples at all because if one doesn't like the school or wants to leave they'll lose two teachers instead of one. The entire process took us about five months from start to finish. Some things you should know before you start: you must have a bachelors degree. It doesn't matter what your degree is in, though having one in Education or English will most certainly get you the job the fastest. I have a degree in Journalism and Mass Communications, Lance has his in Anthropology. Don't worry hospitality and sports management majors out there, you too can teach in Korea! Korea is also very strict on who they let teach their kids. You won't even get near a visa if you have a criminal history, a history of depression/mental illness or an addiction to drugs of alcohol.

Still ready to go? First you're going to want to find a school because that process can be a little daunting in and of itself. We spoke with several recruiters and recruiting agencies along the way. We found a great deal of them through UF's career resource center, which is a website run through the University of Florida to connect graduates with people who want to hire a Gator. I'm sure your school has something similar, if not doing a simple google search will connect you with lots of companies looking for qualified teachers.

Once you've applied with a few companies there are a few basic things they'll all require, though each varies slightly on what they might need from you. First they'll want a professional but smiley picture. They'll also need a resume with an emphasis on any teaching experience you have.Then you'll want to start an FBI background check (find a nifty how to here) because that process takes 1-2 months to complete. Some companies will need to see official copies of your transcripts as well so you'll want to order a set of those from your alma mater. Once you get your FBI background check you'll need to get it apostilled (yes its a real word!) -- which basically means it needs to be certified as a real document that can be used outside of the United States. For your FBI background check you'll need a federal apostille (another helpful website on that topic here) Your company will also require that you get a copy of your degree apostilled by the state you got your degree in. The best source for this is to go back to your school because they'll be the ones to notarize the copy of your degree and then send it to get apostilled. You'll need to include a self address return envelope as well as a money order for the apostille. Ours cost $8 a copy, but it may vary from state to state.

While you're waiting for you paperwork, it's a good idea to make a short introduction video about yourself. Not all schools require this, but many do and they'll consider you a more serious candidate if you have one. What the school is looking for is a confident speaker that they can visualize teaching their students. Don't read off a card or look away from the camera and don't have a memorized speech. It should be a relaxed easy going conversation about who you are, where you got your degree and in what and why you should be hired by a school in Korea. Simply upload that video to youtube and send a link along to the schools you've applied to.

This is where you enter a holding period. If a company is interested you'll have an interview with a recruiter first. If the recruiter is satisfied he or she will go about finding you a school in Korea. After that you'll be asked to do an interview with that school and shortly after you'll find out if you have a job.We were asked to also make a short mock teaching video in which we created a lesson plan and taught a fake class. This was a school specific request and not something we were asked to do by every school.

Once we were accepted by the school and received a contract it was time to gather up all that paperwork we'd been acquiring as well as getting 4 passport photos each from our local CVS. We bundled this all up and sent it away to Korea. It should arrive today. The school will review it then get our visa number which Lance and I will take, along with a visa application, to Atlanta, Georgia -- the home of our regional South Korean embassy. It should cost about $50 a person. From there we'll book a plan ticket and fly over to our new home. We plan on being there for Valentines day.

Do you need to speak Korean to get a job? Absolutely not, though we're both using rosetta stone to get some basic Korean before we get there.

If there's anything you should take from this post, South Korea hopefuls, is that this process takes time and money. Expect to spend 6 months looking for a job and around $200 a person for the application process. In the end though, I think it'll be worth it.

We'll keep you updated as we move into the visa process in the next couple days. If you have any questions go ahead and leave them in the comments. We'll be checking periodically.
I'll leave you with our terribly embarrassing teaching/introduction videos. They helped us get the job though, so they can't be all bad.

Introduction Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-idHjoiNi8E
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzzwGbwch4s

Mock Teaching Videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBpgpanNTjM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofevgphHWw4