Education Requirements
First of all in order to teach in Korea you need to either be a qualified teacher, TEFL qualification, or have a degree from a English speaking country - your degree major doesn't have to be in English. There may be other accepted qualifications, but these seem to be the main candidates.
You can have one of the above, or all three of the above, it really doesn't matter. The only difference you will see is a potential difference in starting wage and potential starting job opportunities. I'll talk about that later on this page.
How to Apply
There are a few ways you can start applying for jobs in Korea, first you can sign up to a recruitment agency and they will search out jobs for you. Second, search job forums and apply direct, or finally if you know someone already over there, a recommendation from an existing employee can go a long way.So lets break this down a little;
Recruitment Agencies
There are many around but we used Dreamworks Recruiting and so did a few others we met. Very helpful website and our recruiter Joanne, was fantastic and found us work within a week.
For our second year in Korea - due so start September 2013 - we were struggling to find a couples position and opened up our search joining up with another agency as well. We went with OK Recruiting, once again we have been met with fast service and a very helpful recruiter by the name of Bonnie. It's through this agency we have found our jobs for our second year.
To join up with a recruitment angency, you will need to fill out an application form and return with your CV and a photo of yourself. I would suggest a passport style photo, but you are allowed to smile :)
Job Forums
The other alternative would be to search the job forums, but knowing where to look is always difficult. I was recommended, and have used Dave's ESL Cafe. The website can be a little daunting with just a huge list of job links, but it's worth spending the time going through them and seeing whats available. We had some interviews through this page.
http://www.eslcafe.com/
http://www.eslcafe.com/jobs/korea/
I'm sure there are more out there, but I only want to suggest the ones we've used ourselves.
Documents
There are a few documents you will need in order to apply for a visa for South Korea and you will need to get some notarized and apostilled. So, it can cost quite a bit of money and take
CRB Check 'Basic Disclosure'
You will need to get yourself a Criminal Record Background Check. This will need to be notarized. They used to be able to do as you requested one with just a simple tick box of the request form, but I've been told that this has changed. Apparently now you have to wait for it to be sent to you, then send it back with a request for it to be notarized and wait for them to send it back! This all seems very long winded and most importantly can take a long time. When applying for jobs in South Korea, you'll be surprised at how fast things move and how quickly you can end up being there. I would suggest getting the CRB as soon as you decide it's something you want to do. Employers love candidates who have all their documents ready to go.
You can request one online from the link below.
You only need a standard check that should cost £26. It can get a little confusing on the website as to which one you actually need, but you only need the 'Basic Disclosure'. however to get it notarized, you may need to pay additional charges. Cost to get it notarized won't be all that much more though. This can take at least two weeks for you to receive, and then you will need to send it back to them to get it notarized.
Once you receive it back notarized, you will need to send it off to get Apostilled. I'll talk about that in a moment.
Degree Certificate
Next you will need to find out your degree certificate, you don't need all the documents of the module breakdown, you only need the certificate itself.
You will also need this document apostilled, your university can do this for you - they were charging £15 for me but each university might charge differently, or you can get a solicitor to do it. We found one in our home city that did it for £5.
Apostilled Documents
Now that you have your CRB and degree certificate notarized, you need to send them off to get Apostilled.
Note: The point of getting them notarized is that someone official is confirming that the documents are real that the government can trust.
Each document will cost £30 + postage
Follow the link below for more information, or to get the process rolling.
Once apostilled, your documents are now 'official documents'.
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