#and at my last job they wanted me to bc they needed notaries

[i-am-simply-here]

My boss is mad at me bc I'm refusing to become a notary 😩 I knew he'd take at as me saying a simply didn't want to no matter my reasoning but its frustrating that he won't listen when I say its honestly a waste of my already little amount of energy

[gourmetmilkshake]

ive been a bit destructive as of late - although things are looking up slowly, im getting into the swing of working 2 jobs 5 days a week, managed to see friends, stay healthy, and i have been getting informed help w my job search, i cannot help but consistently think about how tired and upset i am with how things are going, to the point where last week i was so suicidal (home situation definitely had everything to do w this) that i was just telling myself over and over again that if i do not find a job by my 22nd birthday (i.e., end of sept) i was just going to kill myself and end things before i have to deal with having my willfully unemployed dropout brother at home 24/7 and my sister out of school and playing video games on live loudly in our shared bedroom for 12 hours a day. like i was literally just like i'd rather be dead than have to listen to my mom yell at them both for months on end about everything and my dad rant about how i need to help him w how "out of control" they both are and i definitely no longer want to be the liaison for my parents' child support payments bc it is a burden on ME to have to transfer that money between them like a fucking notary every month. like if i had my own place, none of these things would be an issue because i'd firstly get a new bank account and tell them i would no longer handle their money and at LEAST working those 2 jobs i would be able to come home to my own refuge and be alone but instead i am bombarded with everyone's issues questions comments and i have to share a room with a child and no matter how many times i say "i am tired i worked eight hours at a grocery store can you please not talk to me and leave me alone and be quiet" absolutely no one respects that boundary. right now my only escape is getting a full time job and moving out. if i have to continue living here by my birthday i will not see 23. i know i tried to start off this post saying i've gotten out of my harmful mindset but i have not

[eissibee]

jesus christ I’m so stressed right now

last night I made a to do list with really reasonable goals and time stamps and it was nice to me and made sure I got myself breakfast buuuut none of it happened im still in bed and furious bc every time I went back to sleep it was because I was having a different dream where I was getting something I wanted: a friend who is ghosting me to reply making a cake I saw in a picture my brother playing a video game with me and being nice so I kept going back to sleep and now its almost 4:30pm and I’m still in bed and my face hurts from rubbing it,,, the stress of suddenly being jobless and flatting has given me worse acne than I’ve had in years and when I feel inconsistencies I pick em - so really I have like 12 holes in my face. 2 on my forehead, 1 on my cheek, 2 on my chin, 3 on my nose and like 5 tiny ones either side of my mouth. not to mention all the self inflicted scab wounds on my arm...

and I messaged said friend begging them to talk to me its been 5 months so now I'm big anxiety - they came online and then disappeared but this person was my best friend so I don’t want to let it go until I know WHY I’m being treated like shit. and the freelance work I had to do today was some copywriting work I am doing for my dad and so I'm being useless about that and in the end it'll probably only pay 500 bucks before tax and I worked out today that IF I get this job that starts on the 9th of sep I'll need to pay 1600 in rent and food before then, at minimum... plus 200 for a week long holiday I was saving for before I lost my job and already booked-

I don’t know what to do. even getting up now feels pointless. I’m ugly, in physical pain, soon to be broke and tired all the time - unemployed and depressed and grasping at straws for friendships that I thought meant something (and I NEED them to reply to me bc I have a book of theirs I need to give them back but I don’t know their new address)

My parents are disappointed in me in that ‘come home so we can look after you’ way, which is pointless because being at home is a nightly yelling match for my folks and I NEED to keep looking for a job and the government hasn’t got back to me about a project I pitched them and I can’t go on the benefit without finding documents I don’t have and a notary-

fuck dude, fuck I don’t know what to do

[tawnitravels]

Teaching in Korea

*hi quick edit to inform you guys that i’m inttentionally messing up the spelling of the capital city of korea with a capital I instead of L bc of a stalker issue sorry to anyone looking for info about the job search process*

So I’m writing this post because as I went through the whole process of finding a job in Korea and getting my visa, I found a lot of conflicting information or gaps. This is my experience with the job search/documents/visa process. I started my process mid 2016 (after I graduated), applied to recruiters December 2016, and found a job and began the visa process a few weeks later. I’m starting my job February 22ndish, 2017 so this information is from this time.

Sections: Hagwons vs public school Recruiters      SayKimchi      Adventure Teaching      SeouIESL Documents      *Apostilled FBI background check      *Apostilled diploma Visa

Hagwons vs public schools I did a lot of research on these two types of teaching positions. As far as I understand, public schools have fewer hours and slightly lower pay. Hagwons are private academies. Because of this, they’re not as strictly regulated and there are a lot of sketchy ones. However, I wanted to be in SeouI (since I’ve lived there before) and programs that place you with public schools don’t really give you much of a say in where you’re placed. SeouI jobs typically go to experienced teachers, which I am not. I did so much research to ensure I didn’t end up signing a contract with a sketch school (since I’m not there yet I’m still not sure haha fml). Some good resources I used are Dave’s ESL Cafe, hagwon green list, and hagwon black lists [1] [2].

Recruiters So as someone who wasn’t currently in Korea, the simplest(debatable) way to find a hagwon job is to go through a recruiter. Essentially, a recruiter is a middle man that sends your resume to schools that are hiring. They are free for us to use. They make their money from the schools by placing people with these schools, so do your research!!! A good recruiter won’t place teachers with shitty schools, but just check out the schools you schedule interviews with for yourself to be safe. And hope for the best :) There are so many schools, so it can be hard to find info. I took “it’s not on the blacklist” as good enough to schedule an interview even when I couldn’t find info from any previous teachers. Now let me talk about my own experience with recruiters. Different recruiters have relationships with different hagwons, so apply to more than one. I did a lot of research on recruiters and ended up applying to SeouIESL, Adventure Teaching, and SayKimchi. I also thought Dreamworks Recruiting and Park English seemed decent, but I never got around to sending them my applications because I suck haha. Now I’ll talk about my experiences with each recruiter I applied to: SayKimchi: I never heard back from them. Ever. Whatever. Adventure: They seemed friendly when I spoke to them, but they were SO SLOW. I scheduled an interview with them and they canceled day of, so the process got delayed a week. I was aiming for March start dates and, because they took so long (despite them being first to contact me after I applied), they said they wouldn’t be able to place me until April or May. Then, they asked me to send all of my original documents to their office in Korea, which essentially makes it impossible for you to use another recruiter. If you’re 100% set on using just them, I suppose it would just speed up the process, but….. Funny enough, a week-ish after hearing nothing from me after requesting my docs they said they changed their policy and didn’t require docs sent until a contract was signed. I’m still not entirely sure if they really did have a policy change or if they were trying to dupe me into only being able to use them and changed course when I didn’t comply. My friend taught through them and her experience was just okay. One positive(?) is that they are based in Canada so the time difference is less extreme for me and they’re all native English speakers. Their website and emails are also laid out well compared to many others. SeouIESL: This is the recruiter I ended up using. Overall, my experience was positive. I was emailing with someone named Carolyn and she was very quick at responding and friendly. When I was scheduling interviews, if I emailed her during work hours I would often have a response within five minutes. Since I was super free at the time, I would set up interviews at 4:30pm my time (9:30am in SeouI) and do them at 7pm my time. Very fast. Their initial email actually got sorted into my spam(watch out for that, I guess) so I got in touch with them like a week late, but they scheduled my interviews lightening fast. She would send me a list of schools and their info and I could tell her which ones I wanted to apply to, and if they wanted an interview she would set it up quickly. She sent the info about the different stages at they came, so I was a little stressed. (ex: signed my contract and sent my docs, but had no idea how or when my flight would be booked until I knew exactly when my visa would be ready). Based on my experience, I would recommend them. They were fast, efficient, didn’t push me into anything, and were very accommodating of my desire to apply to jobs in SeouI.

I did two interviews. The first school had a very good reputation, but I didn’t get offered a contract. I must have been so awkward because I was so nervous. The second school offered my a contract and I took it. There wasn’t as much info about the school, but I still liked it better than others I sent my resume to. I hope I’m right :)))) I will update on how it goes later!

Documents: So many documents. First off, I’m a US citizen (specifically California) and the document requirements vary slightly by country. After I had signed a contract, my recruited had me send the following documents so the school could apply for my visa: 

Apostilled FBI background check

Apostilled diploma

copy of passport

4 passport photos on light background

hard copy of resume

original contract, signed

health statement (a form she sent me)

E2 visa confirmation number application form (also sent to me)

These are mostly easy, but I have a little guidance on two items. Apostilled FBI background check: First off, you need to download the relevant forms. There are other guides on where and what you need exactly so I won’t get into detail :) You also need to be fingerprinted. I did this at one of my local police stations. One thing to keep in mind is that the background checks takes sooooo long. 3-4 months. It really put off my timeline because again, I suck and I procrastinate. Once you get it back, you’re still not done! You need to send it to get apostilled. And this is where I messed up again! There was some conflicting info online about where to send it. I argued with my mom, she won, and we ended up sending it to the California Department of State since I had to send my diploma there as well. WRONG!! IT MUST BE APOSTILLED IN WASHINGTON DC. DC. DC!!!! It’s a federal document, so it needs a federal apostille, not a state one. My recruiter told me that in the past, Korea accepted state apostilles, but not anymore. Don’t be dumb like me! Send it to DC! This takes another few weeks, so be prepared. You can expedite either of these processes by sending them through a legit expediter, but they cost money. If you’re in a hurry, it’s very worth it, but if you plan ahead it’s not necessary. Apostilled diploma: So to apostille a copy of your diploma (because plsss don’t send them your real one you’ll never get it back), you need to first notarize it. I went to my bank for that. The first employee said California notaries can’t notarize documents, only signatures. She also wanted to charge me :’D The second one said no problemo and did it for free! I can’t remember the name of the type of notarization, but it was something like I verify that it’s a real copy and she notarized that. Next, send it in to get apostilled. One important note is that is needs to be apostilled in the same state it was notarized in. There are also other guides for this out there if you’d like more details. :)

After you gather all of these and sign a contract, you send them off to Korea. Your school applies for your visa and you wait for your visa number. This can take around 2 weeks. Mine took a week and a half.

Visa The last thing you need to do is get your visa! I live within driving distance of the Korean consulate, so I went and walked everything in. I’m not sure how you would do it if you can’t take them in yourself, sorry~ After I got my visa number, I took the following forms to the Korean consulate:

visa application form (sent to me by recruiter)

1 passport photo on light background

original passport

copy of passport

visa processing fee (my consulate only accepts cash, so check!)

visa confirmation number

Some consulates may require more documents, such as bank statements, so make sure you check that too! I waited an eternity for my turn, gave all the relevant documents to the employee, waited another eternity for her to check everything, and then was told my visa (and passport) would be ready to be picked up in a week. 

And that’s it! I picked up my visa on the specified day (much quicker than submitting the docs) and I was done!

I’m not sure if this post will help anyone, but I sure hope it does. If anyone has other questions, feel free to ask. I will likely be posting more about the whole experience as I go, so if you’re interested give me a follow ^3^~