Episode 2: Check a Korean Job Offer Before You Accept It

Korean job offer checklist: A Korean job offer may look clear in one message while the employer, workplace, duties, pay calculation, deductions, or housing remain different elsewhere. Before saying yes, preserve the original offer and compare the same facts across the job notice, recruiter conversation, official process, and draft contract.

Korean job offer checklist: This episode checks the offer itself. Episode 1 established your official route; episode 3 will examine the written labor contract line by line.

What you will accomplish

Finish with an offer comparison sheet with four columns: promised, written, officially confirmed, and unresolved. You should be able to choose accept, pause, or decline without relying on memory or verbal pressure.

Before you trust or accept the offer

• Save the original job notice, URL, screenshots, date, and every recruiter message before anything is edited or deleted.
• Ask for the employer’s legal name, business registration number, actual workplace, responsible person, and reachable telephone number.
• Separate the recruiter or introducing person from the employer who will sign the contract and direct the work.
• Request the duties, workdays, hours, breaks, pay calculation, payday, overtime, deductions, housing, meals, and transport in writing.
• Compare the offer with the official route that applies to you. EPS users should use the official EPS process and contract record rather than a private promise.
• Ask for a draft contract and mark every difference from the job notice or chat. Episode 3 will show how to read the contract fields in detail.
• Do not pay, surrender an original passport, travel, or begin work merely to reserve the place while important items remain unresolved.

Korean job offer checklist: Treat the offer as evidence to compare

Korean job offer checklist: Put the original job notice, recruiter message, employer identity, duties, time, pay, deductions, and housing in one comparison sheet. An unanswered difference stays unresolved—it does not become a promise.

Use this five-part offer check

1. Step 1. Freeze the offer. Save the original notice and messages, then write the date, source, job title, promised employer, workplace, and contact person at the top of your comparison sheet.
2. Step 2. Verify who is hiring. Match the legal employer name, registration number, workplace address, responsible person, and official route across the notice, messages, draft contract, and available official record.
3. Step 3. Convert promises into fields. Record duties, normal days and hours, breaks, basic pay, allowances, overtime, payday, deductions, housing, meals, transport, start date, and contract period separately.
4. Step 4. Resolve differences one by one. Ask one clear Korean question, request the answer in writing, and mark the field confirmed only when the same answer appears in the correct document or official process.
5. Step 5. Make a decision record. Accept only the version you reviewed, pause if a material field is blank or inconsistent, and keep the final offer, contract, receipts, and confirmation messages together.

Fill in this 12-field offer comparison sheet

Copy the exact words and amounts. A blank or different answer belongs in the unresolved column until the correct document or official process confirms it.

20 Korean questions to check a job offer

Use the learner-friendly reading first and RR as a standard romanization reference. Both are approximations; listen to Korean audio or a Korean speaker when possible.

20 essential words for this step

Replies you may hear

• 자세한 내용은 계약서에 적혀 있습니다. — The details are written in the contract. Ask to receive the draft now, not only after arrival.
• 근무지는 본사와 다릅니다. — The workplace is different from the head office. Request the exact work-site address.
• 기본급 외에 수당이 있습니다. — There are allowances in addition to basic pay. Ask for each amount and condition.
• 숙소비는 월급에서 공제됩니다. — The accommodation fee is deducted from salary. Ask for the exact monthly amount.
• 초과근무는 상황에 따라 달라집니다. — Overtime varies depending on the situation. Ask for a recent typical schedule and the recording method.
• 서명하기 전에 다시 설명해 드릴게요. — I will explain it again before you sign. Bring your comparison sheet and mark each answer.

Two short dialogues to practise

Dialogue 1

구직자: 회사 이름과 실제 근무지가 어디예요?

담당자: 본사는 서울이고 근무지는 경기도예요.

구직자: 정식 회사 이름과 근무지 주소를 문자로 보내 주세요.

Applicant: What are the company name and actual workplace? / Contact: The head office is in Seoul and the workplace is in Gyeonggi Province. / Applicant: Please text me the official company name and workplace address.

Dialogue 2

구직자: 기본급과 공제 금액을 따로 알려 주세요.

담당자: 숙소비는 월급에서 공제돼요.

구직자: 기본급, 수당, 숙소비를 각각 서면으로 보내 주세요.

Applicant: Please tell me the basic pay and deductions separately. / Contact: The accommodation fee is deducted from salary. / Applicant: Please send the basic pay, allowances, and accommodation fee separately in writing.

Build one offer comparison folder

• Original job notice with URL, date, screenshots, and source
• Every recruiter or introducer message in chronological order
• Legal employer name, registration number, responsible person, and telephone
• Exact workplace address, route map, and separate accommodation address
• Offer comparison sheet for duties, days, hours, breaks, pay, overtime, and payday
• Separate list of allowances, deductions, housing, meals, transport, fees, and receipts
• Draft contract, each revised version, and the final signed version
• Official-process references, unresolved questions, decision date, and who confirmed each answer

Copyable Korean job-offer check message

안녕하세요. 채용 제안을 정확히 확인하고 싶습니다. 회사의 정식 이름과 사업자등록번호, 실제 근무지 주소, 담당자 성함과 연락처, 업무 내용, 근무일과 근무시간, 휴게시간, 기본급과 수당, 초과근무, 지급일, 공제 항목, 숙소 주소와 숙소비, 식비를 서면으로 보내 주세요. 이 내용이 계약서에도 똑같이 적히는지 확인해 주세요. 서명하기 전에 계약서를 읽을 시간도 부탁드립니다.

Hello. I would like to check the job offer accurately. Please send in writing the company’s official name and business registration number, actual workplace address, contact person, duties, workdays and hours, breaks, basic pay and allowances, overtime, payday, deductions, accommodation address and cost, and meal cost. Please confirm that the same details will appear in the contract and give me time to read it before signing.

Pause when the offer shows these warning signs

• You are pressured to sign, pay, travel, or start immediately before receiving the important conditions in writing.
• The company, employer, recruiter, workplace, or job title changes between the notice, messages, official process, and draft contract.
• The recruiter will not identify the actual employer, responsible official route, or a reachable contact person.
• Duties, normal hours, basic pay, overtime, deductions, or housing change each time you ask.
• A high monthly amount is advertised but the basic pay, overtime assumptions, and deductions are not separated.
• Money is requested to a personal account without an official basis, named recipient, written amount, and receipt.
• You are told to work first and fix the permission or contract later.
• You are asked to surrender an original passport indefinitely, sign blank fields, or accept a different final version.

Episode 2 completion checklist

• I saved the original notice, URL, date, screenshots, and messages.
• I know the legal employer, registration number, workplace, responsible person, and telephone.
• I separated the recruiter or intermediary from the employer and official process.
• I recorded the duties, normal days, hours, breaks, and start date.
• I separated basic pay, allowances, overtime, payday, and every deduction.
• I recorded the accommodation address, room conditions, cost, meals, and transport.
• I compared every offer field with the draft contract and relevant official record.
• Every material difference is resolved in writing or still marked unresolved.
• I have time to read the final contract and will not sign blank or changed fields.
• My decision—accept, pause, or decline—is based on the reviewed written version.

Information and links checked on 25 August 2026. Employment-permit routes, eligibility, forms, pay, and workplace conditions can change. Confirm your own case through the responsible official service and compare the final written contract before accepting or starting work.

Prepared by the BSKorean Editorial Team. Korean expressions were reviewed for polite workplace use; legal and administrative facts are limited to the official sources below.

Official sources checked

• Ministry of Employment and Labor: 2025 standard labor contract materials
• Employment Permit System: general foreign worker employment procedure
• Easy Law: employment procedure for general foreign workers
• Korean Law Information Center: Labor Standards Act Article 17
• Employment Permit System: official foreign worker services and contract records

Practise before the real conversation

Hide the translation, ask each question aloud, and replace the company, workplace, job, amount, date, and cost with the real offer. Practise asking for the answer again in writing.

Practise Korean vocabulary and listening in the BSKorean app →

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