Job Discussion Forums

[mysterytrain]

Just checked my inbox, found a three day old mail that says it is from Wall Street English China. Whoever wrote the email said that they were responding to my (inquiry / interest / whatever) through TEFL.COM (I do have my CV posted there for employers to see, maybe it was just because of that ... I guess it is possible I sent an email to WSE, but it would have been almost two years ago, if I did), and I have no memory of doing so.)

Anyway, the email says it is from "Carlos A. Cortes, Regional Director of Recruitment for Wall Street English".

I do not consider myself an ethnocentric person at all, but still ... can that be for real?

I mean, I guess the rubric I am applying here is something along the lines of "if it sounds too made-up to be true, it probably is".

As hard as I tried, I couldn't get a straight look on my face about this message, so I replied to it, thanking Carlos profusely for thinking of me, expressing my deep excitement about the prospect of working for WSE, and generally wishing him all the best ... in Spanish.

Was I wrong to do that?

(shrug)

[likwid_777]

Try googling next time... Depending on how it is perceived, you may not get to work there in future. Don't forget about the millions upon millions of folk in the USA with very Spanish names who are native speakers of English. That being said, who says that someone needs to be a native speaker of English to be the Regional Teacher Recruiter at Wall Street English?



Oh yeah, I guess it could still be a scam, if it seems unusual. It would be not out of the question for someone to find a real identity to masquerade as, in fact it would be smart. I would think that in this case, especially if you have put your resume on some ESL website before, that it it's probably genuine. Oopsy daisy.

[mysterytrain]

Hey, that "google" thing works. Looks like Carlos is legit.

Still, I never sent an email to Wall Street China expressing an interest in working for them (I've checked). I do have a CV posted at TEFL.com, but I thought it was on "inactive" status (apparently it was active).

I will send Carlos another email to apologize / explain, but I'm not particularly interested in working for WSE in China (Turkey, maybe) so if he's not big on sense of humor, I won't take it as a huge loss. WSE does have a better reputation generally than EF and some of the other big language mill chains, certainly in Indonesia and as far as I know in China too.

It did look like a suspicious / maybe fake email to me, but I agree the Hispanic name shouldn't have seemed a problem in and of itself. I have had many Latino friends in the States who speak English quite fluently indeed, and of course, he could be a British, etc, citizen as well.

I think I was thinking in the back of my mind of "Inigo Montoya" from The Princess Bride (my name is Inigo Montoya, you killed my father, prepare to die").

[spicykimchi]

I hate to break this to you, but he's a real guy. He works at the headquarters of Wall Street in Lujiazui area in Shanghai. I met him in person and had an interview with him. He seemed like a nice enough guy.

If you work at an adult school like Web, which is where I work, you won't be able to do anything but teaching. If you're at Wall Street, you can go into management. So it shouldn't be surprising if you get an email from a foreigner, claiming to be a manager.

[LongShiKong]

[cedarstreetcowboy]

Carlos Cortes is indeed real. I talked to him over Skype, and he really is a manager at Wall Street, and he speaks English with an American accent.

[asiannationmc]

Likely he failed Spanish ...twice....

[mysterytrain]

[wangdaning]

To me your post looked strange (Carlos is not English but neither are half the names we use), but then WSE, ha.