| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
clark.w.griswald
Joined: 06 Dec 2004
Posts: 2056
|
 Posted: Sat Jul 02, 2005 8:54 am Post subject: |
 |
|
I took the time to contact the reference sources that were listed by Andrew Lin. I can't say that I have been overly impressed by the information and feedback that I have received to date.
In fact Andrew Lin contacted me about my enquiries to these teachers, and below is an excerpt of the email that I sent to him:
| Quote: |
My purpose in sending emails to people you had listed as references sources about your services, was to find out more about you from teachers who it appeared had worked through you. I chose to contact them openly from the buxiban site rather than anonymously as I wanted the teachers to know that this was an opportunity for them to have their say. I must say that I have not been impressed at all by the level of contact from these references.
Out of the ten teachers listed I found the following:
1. One forwarded you my contact but didn't respond to me directly.
2. One responded in a very suspicious and less than professional manner, and even had the hide to suggest that I should contact you directly as she was not 'a free source of information'. It was clear from the content of that persons email that she was not a native speaker of English and that she was in fact a local Taiwanese.
3. Two sent me pre-written information about living in Taiwan, neither of which addressed my specific question, and neither of which made mention of you or your services.
4. One sent me a cut and paste of correspondence that briefly mentioned your services, but this person made no effort to answer my questions nor speak directly about your services.
5. The other five failed to respond at all.
I find the above particularly interesting as these ten people are listed by you as being able to provide information about your services. After taking the time to contact them however, I am no closer to knowing any more about you than before. |
I am awaiting a reply from Andrew Lin on this.
As most users of this forum know, I am not anti-recruiter, but I am anti-bad companies. If Andrew is able to actually provide some good references from past teachers that check out then I will post here and let you all know, and I will see that his rating on the buxiban site reflects this.
If on the other hand no past teachers are willing to speak out in favor of his services, well this will beg the question - Why not? |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
JLockeCU
Joined: 01 May 2005
Posts: 7
|
| Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2005 1:20 am Post subject: |
|
|
I was contacted by him early on. In a weird way, he convinced me to come to Taiwan. However, his sketchiness was pretty obvious.
My favorite link is: "http://www.englishschoolwatch.org/webboard_detail.php?topic_id=789"
Check out the post by Michelle Smith, I actually did laught out loud when I read that. I am confident that all those reference addresses he uses go to him. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
clark.w.griswald
Joined: 06 Dec 2004
Posts: 2056
|
| Posted: Sun Jul 03, 2005 10:35 am Post subject: |
|
|
Well Andrew sent me six emails within a period of few hours, all pretty much saying the same thing, with some small variations.
As to the question of the teachers that he lists as points of reference about his company. He claims that the reason that none of them replied with an answer is that they are very busy people - Well, my question would be that if they are so busy then why is their name listed as being available to answer questions about his services. Surely they have time to say that Andrew Lin's services are good, or bad.
He admits that some of the teachers he places are not native speakers - which as we all know means that he undertakes illegal teacher placements.
Basically, he states that the recruiting business is a hard and tiring business - Well it is his choice to do it so I don't see how he complain!
He states that he has placed over 1,000 teachers. Despite this, when I pressed him about contacting some of the teachers for some comments about his services, he suggested that he would allow the teachers to use their free will to decide whether or not to contact me. I find this somewhat surprising, and it certainly suggests to me that these teachers do not have anything favorable to say.
At this stage I certainly have not seen anything positive about the services of Andrew Lin, and assuming that he was honest when he says that he has placed over 1,000 teachers, then I would have to ask why none of these teachers is available to say positive things about his company. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
enrico palazzo
Joined: 12 Jan 2004
Posts: 19
Location: Moscow, Russia (The Big Potato)
|
| Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2005 2:16 pm Post subject: recruiters to avoid... |
|
|
avoid Robert Phillips, too.
He won't pay you at all. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Wonder
Joined: 29 Jun 2003
Posts: 109
|
| Posted: Thu Jul 07, 2005 4:07 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| clark.w.griswald wrote: |
| Well Andrew sent me six emails within a period of few hours, all pretty much saying the same thing, with some small variations. |
I think it's funny the guy even got back to you. These recruiters think that most of us are pretty gullible and almost never do their homework. They make the same mistakes 100 times over. They never change the way they do business because one in 10 works so why change? It's like human junk mail.
I had a couple recruiters going after me and man were they dumb! They didn't even take the time to note the area I was requesting. I was moving to another city and they continued sending info on the city I was leaving.
So one day I returned their mail with the city in question written about 100 times in various font sizes and scattered all over the page. And I had already told them repeatedly that I found my own job, no thanks to their ineptitude.
Losers. 
Really, I feel for judogirl because a lot of us learn the hard way and recruiters do look tempting. They know all the right con-men moves. They know how to prey on the desperate. But people, listen. You can do much better for yourself sitting down in front of a computer in Taiwan somewhere than relying on a recruiter.
Heck, just get to know the bulletin board addresses in the major cities and dwell there for a while. Or better yet, get a regular seat at the local watering hole and buy a few rounds for the long time teachers. Tell anybody who will listen that you're looking for work. Ya got nothing better to do anyway if you're not working.
And bring survival money to Taiwan.
Cheers |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
clark.w.griswald
Joined: 06 Dec 2004
Posts: 2056
|
| Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 1:13 am Post subject: |
|
|
I certainly wasn't impressed by Andrew Lin. Nor have I been impressed with many of the other recruiters that I have been in contact with.
Robert Phillips, Gordon (Artisan International), Blair Zetl (proefl), and now Andrew, have all been lacking in knowledge and professionalism. I understand that it is a tough business, but that is no excuse for poor services.
Despite the above I still believe that recruiters can offer a valuable service, even though it isn't a necessary service. All it will take is a legitimate and hard working person, with a knowledge of Taiwan and westerners, to really offer a valuable service to teachers. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
judogirl
Joined: 26 May 2005
Posts: 14
Location: canada
|
| Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 3:20 am Post subject: |
|
|
i know a few people who have gone through Robert Phillips and had all good things to say.
As has been mentioned by others already, I also tried to contact Anderw's referencees and got no replies whatsoever. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
judogirl
Joined: 26 May 2005
Posts: 14
Location: canada
|
| Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 4:08 am Post subject: Robert Phillips is a good recruiter |
|
|
| I signed one of Robert phillips' contracts and have had no problems...Of course he takes his cut but he is up front and you know what you'll be getting....Taiwan has more twists and turns than you can possibly prepare for and I couldn't imagine coming here for a first time without Robert's guidance...He picked me up from the airport...took me down south where he provided a place to stay untill my job began....he assisted me with my ARC..drove me to my medical....found me an apartment....and backs me up anytime I feel the school is screwing me around....I know at least 10 other teachers that would agree with me..... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
enrico palazzo
Joined: 12 Jan 2004
Posts: 19
Location: Moscow, Russia (The Big Potato)
|
| Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 4:34 am Post subject: |
|
|
like I said in my original post about the subject-(whatever happened to that?.... mmmmm..)
Robert was nice enough. He just seemed to think that his promise to pay me was invalidated after I left the country. He said he wire transferred me 40000 NTs. I called every Bank of Taiwan from Toulio to New York, and they all told me he was full of s**t.
The fact that he won't comment on the situation here is deplorable and pretty incriminating. This situation justifies the warning.
...and judogirl you should feel lucky you haven't been left hanging. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
clark.w.griswald
Joined: 06 Dec 2004
Posts: 2056
|
| Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 5:23 am Post subject: |
|
|
Judogirl your comments are of course very valid and it is good to hear positive comments about recruiters.
My opinion of Robert Philips comes largely from the Enrico situation. Upon being accused of not paying the money to Enrico, Robert came to this forum and tried to validate his reasons for not paying. During his posts he admitted that the money was owing, and that he had promised the money would be paid to Enrico, but he tried to blame the failure for delivery of the money on the banks. The problem is that despite claiming that the money had been sent, and that he had in fact fulfilled his promises to Enrico, he never took the time to prove this. On pressing the request for some evidence that he had in fact sent the money, Robert chose to make some less than professional comments and abandon the forum, leaving Enrico without his money.
The ultimate test of a companies services is not when things are good, but when problems arise. Robert could have dealt with this situation a lot differently and could have done a lot more to actually help Enrico. I agree with Enricos comment that it does appear that Roberts opinion seems to be that once Enrico left Taiwan the problem left with him. Personally, I don't agree with that, and I am pretty sure that most people don't either.
Maybe you could contact Robert about this judogirl and see what he has to say. Ultimately, he has admitted owing the money, so if he just pays Enrico what he agrees he owes then the matter will be resolved. Surely if Robert is the upstanding person that has been suggested then he would be willing to do this. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
judogirl
Joined: 26 May 2005
Posts: 14
Location: canada
|
| Posted: Fri Jul 08, 2005 8:57 am Post subject: |
|
|
| in case this discussion is sounding like i have multiple personalities, I posted that I know people who have gone through him then my brother (who did go through him) was on the computer later with my account still logged on. so the one saying i have a contract with him isn't me (if that makes any sense). |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Big John Stud
Joined: 07 Oct 2004
Posts: 513
|
| Posted: Mon Jul 11, 2005 4:53 am Post subject: |
|
|
| JudoGirl, I am glad you explained! I was beginning to think while practicing judo you did not do ukimi too good and so when someone flipped you, you landed on your head too many times! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
The Great Wall of Whiner
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Posts: 4946
Location: Blabbing
|
| Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2005 12:32 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Big John Stud wrote: |
| JudoGirl, I am glad you explained! I was beginning to think while practicing judo you did not do ukimi too good and so when someone flipped you, you landed on your head too many times! |
No, you're thinking of wrestling there, Big John. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Big John Stud
Joined: 07 Oct 2004
Posts: 513
|
| Posted: Tue Jul 12, 2005 2:03 am Post subject: |
|
|
| The Great Wall of Whiner wrote: |
| Big John Stud wrote: |
| JudoGirl, I am glad you explained! I was beginning to think while practicing judo you did not do ukimi too good and so when someone flipped you, you landed on your head too many times! |
No, you're thinking of wrestling there, Big John. |
Why wrestling? I've landed a few times on my head because of resisting to be thrown but being over powered. Trust me, landing on your head does not feel good! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
judogirl
Joined: 26 May 2005
Posts: 14
Location: canada
|
| Posted: Tue Jul 26, 2005 6:03 am Post subject: |
|
|
| been there done that, nope landing on head doesn't feel good. niether does breaking toe, nose, finger, or tearing the crap out of your shoulder. check out this smiley, he looks like he's being dropped on his head. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
