Working in Korea 4 - How to apply

How to apply / Background Check:

If you want to work in Korea the first things you should do is make sure you have an updated passport and start working on getting your background check. The rules just changed in 2011, and now all background checks must go through the FBI. They can take several months to get.

Next you will want to find someone who is hiring in Korea. We like to use a website called DavesESLCafe.com. This website is great because they have a bulletin board where employers and recruiters list the jobs they have available. They are going to ask you for a lot of personal information. They may not even talk to you unless you have a copy of your degree, passport, resume, cover letter and a professional photo attached in your first email. This is where things get tricky. You might be worrying about ID theft, but they don’t seem to worry about that too much. The crime rate is very low in Korea and so they don’t have rules about giving them a copy of your passport and it is expected that you show a picture of yourself. They want to make sure that you are professional looking. If you are a guy make sure you are wearing a tie and your hair is combed. Don’t show any tattoos or piercings. With women  they are very modest with the upper half of their bodies so don’t show ANY cleavage. You should wear a very high cut shirt. The funny part is that you can wear your skirt as short as you want to.

Once you find a recruiter or employer that is interested in you they will ask you to mail them apostilled copies of your background check and diplomas along with 4 passport size pictures, a copy of your passport, your resume, cover letter and their employment contract.

To get something apostilled means that you get it notarized through the state. It is best that you go directly to your state’s capital to get this done. In California we get our paper work notarized by a local notary and then we drive to Sacramento and have it appostilled. This usually takes about 10 minutes. You can mail it in, but it will take several weeks.

When you go to get your background check appostillized don’t forget to get a copy of your diploma appostilled at the same time. Once we made the two hour trip to Sacramento, got our background check appostilled like the recruiter told us to and when we got home he told us that we needed to get our diplomas appostilled as well.

So here are the steps:

1. Order your passport.
2. Get your fingerprinting done at the local police station.
3. Send your fingerprints to the FBI for a background check.
4. Get your background check and a copy of your diploma notarized locally.
5. Take the background check to the Secretary of State in the capital (That’s who does it in CA) to get them appostilled.
6. Get your 4 passport sized photos.
7. Write your resume. Make sure that it has any teaching experience or work that you have done with children even if it is volunteer work.
8. Write a cover letter about why you want to work in Korea.
9. Find a professional picture of you with nothing in the background. Make sure that you are facing forward, smiling and are dressed very professionally. We have had them ask for a different picture just because our heads were tilted a little bit.

10.   Now you can start looking for a job, www.eslcafe.com is a great place to start.

When you are looking at bulletin board forums go to the jobs section. There are many forums that talk about Korea but I have found them to be outdated and usually it is the people that are not happy about their jobs that tend to complain about working in Korea. It is unbalanced because the happy people don’t usually post on them. So don't put too much stock in negative things listed.