Lets look at i) the situation regards job availability for Nth Americans and non Nth Americans in the current market, ii) current work conditions including salaries and level of cheating on contracts, iii) the story about the anti Americanism thats been on the rise.
i) Okay I did something a bit sneaky and posted an ad for an American looking for a job and another ad for a non American with similar qualifications looking for a job for the purposes of this survey which was done over a months cycle.
As a non American I had nearly as many responses surprisingly as an American or Canadian ( 30 plus another 10 or so from recruiters). The bad news was that hardly any wanted to have an interview! I guess they just sent a query out to virtually everyone who advertised including non Americans as a back up measure. Of the few that did want a phone interview only FOUR sounded okay in the whole of Korea and they had several people to interview so it was far from certain that you would have got the position. Of the other dubious sounding schools among those that wanted an interview, one said they would never give a release letter If I wasn't happy and wanted to transfer! Another couple of schools were blacklisted. One final one wanted a US$500 dollar deposit, I guess because it was so good they had had so many people run away. All in all a pretty sorry state of affairs regarding the Korean job offers for non Americans. Actually I did get some other good offers but they were from Thailand/China (although I didn't advertise for these two countries), Taiwan (similar money to Korea but usu no airfare and accommodation) and one from Japan. Actually "the American" also only got one offer from Japan, they usu recruit in country). So if you're not from Nth America you might consider other destinations if something suitable is slow in turning up in Korea. This is all quite different from even six months ago when even non Americans were having people begging them to come work for them. Now they can fill most positions (although its accentuated because of all the recent fresh graduates looking for a job to pay off those student debts) with applicants from Nth America.
Whats the moral of this story? If you're not from Nth America you may not have much luck in Korea these days and you probably won't be able to be very choosy about what kind of job you can get. So hang onto your jobs and make contacts now while you're there for future opportunities. And also if you have any kind of regional accent forget it, you probably won't get past the interviews at any reputable school these days. Now I can hear a few protests at this point. Yes I know quite a few non Americans in Korea with strange accents too. But most of them probably signed up a few months ago before things tightened up with the rising salaries. Also theres always going to be exceptions. I know of a Russian who got signed up just recently. But she was blonde, young and pretty. For the "young American applicant", he of course got many offers for interviews. Its still very much a teachers market if you're Nth American, under 40, and are presentable etc.
ii) As the economy has improved rapidly this year salaries have gone through the roof while the currency has stayed about the same. Whereas at the start of 2000 they averaged 1.5/mth for a hagwon job now most are 1.6-8 with a fair number at 2.0 and some new schools are even advertising 2.2-2.4 (whether they will get enough students to pay that much is another thing). With this new level of high salaries has come a hugh influx of foreign teachers (fresh graduates) wanting to work here. Employers who advertise can get some 50 or so resumes sent to them. They're flooded! And if you advertise don't think that just because you've been sent 40 or so yourself that they havn't also sent the same offer to another 40-50 teachers. Its amazing how much its changed in such a short time. At the start of this year they were desperate to get you. Now its still easy to get a job, at least if you're Nth American, otherwise it might take awhile. One result of this is that negotiating contracts is mostly a thing of the past. Its basically take it or leave it. Even getting them to supply the email addresses of the other teachers can be a challenge. Sure they will supply one, ie their pet teacher whos usu paid off, but thats not going to give you a balanced picture. You have to rely more these days on the graylists and posting a general query on Daves Cafe. Another result of the influx of teachers is that excessive overtime is largely a thing of the past. The chain schools may still sometimes give excessive amounts but generally you may not even get much at all. For the first 8 months of 2000 I worked at about a dozen schools if you include temporary relief work etc. Only three of them even offered overtime, although I tend to avoid the big chains.
iii) As regards anti Americanism, yes its there and it has been on the rise lately surrounding the SOFA negotiations etc. I even know some who pretend to be Canadian or Mexican. Even normal friendly Koreans will reveal strong anti American sentiment if you tell them you're from somewhere else. But its not really that big a deal though. They are still mostly very friendly esp if you are also warm and outgoing. I'm sure you can be a survivor!
Look for the next survey of the job market in a few months time.