Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Snowkr]

Hi all

I'm posting this on behalf of a friend of mine who left Korea back in October of last year after being fired from her hogwan.

Long story short, she was at the school for nearly two years and then literally 2 weeks before the end of her second contract, she ended up in the hospital (admitted overnight) and had to miss several days of work. She had a doctor's note. When she got out of the hospital, she was fired from her job. The hogwan director paid her severence, airfare and everything else they owed her-- I suspect they just wanted to be rid of her ASAP.

Unfortunately, a few months prior to this incident, she did have a bit of a fallout with that director and a co-teacher, which she apologized for the following day. I suspect though that the director and co-worker never accepted her apology.

She has now been home looking for another job in Korea for over 6 months and no doors have opened. This woman is a diligent, responsible and dedicated teacher with a very good work ethic. She was in Korea for 4 years prior to this incident and has letters of recommendation from other hogwans as well.

Her most recent hogwan however has apparently given her a bad phone reference on several occassions. Now she is concerned that she has been blacklisted completely from the hogwan association in Korea.

Is this actually possible? I've heard countless stories of foreigners who come here and run amok, get fired, quit, do runners... whatever, and still manage to find other jobs elsewhere in Korea fairly easily. So why is this teacher who actually is trustworthy having such a problem getting back here?

Any helpful advice or input here would be greatly appreciated. I'll be copying the replies and pasting them into an email for her, so thanks in advance!

I've been in Korea nearly as long as she was and I've never come across anyone who has had such a hard time getting back in after losing a previous job...

[Troglodyte]

If she knows that she's getting a bad reference from the last employer, then she should simply not tell the recruiter how to contact the person. Unless it's a famous hogwon (not likely) the recruiter won't find it easily. Just say "Oh. I worked for the Tarzan-Jane English Academy in Daegu. The owner's name is Harry Park. I don't remember what his real name is. He always asked me to call him Harry." "Oh. The address? I'm not sure. The streets didn't have any names in that neighborhood. Every building just had a number. It's been so long, I don't remember the building number any more." "The Korean name of the school? I suppose it was Tarzan-Jane English Academy. I never heard it referred to as anything else." If she has the contact info for her other employers in Korea (who will give her a good reference.) Then use those. If the recruiter calls 2 employers and gets a good review (or even 1 if that's all they can contact) they won't go to the trouble of tracking down her previous employer (who may not even still be in business). All that the recruiter wants to do is get her to sign a contract. Really they don't even care if she's any good. What they DON'T want is for her to do a runner too fast. Depending on their contract with the school, they may not get paid if she does a runner within a certain amount of time.

Six months IS a long time to be unable to get a job offer in Korea. Your friend may be on a blacklist. These are in theory illegal, but they exist. The KFTRA list is probably the most well known. It used to be that anyone could look at it. Now you have to be a paid member of the group to view it. Ironically though, ANYONE can post to the list. For more about that read this thread:

http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=184851

If you know someone fluent in Korean and you pay the membership fee, you could check out the list yourself. If your friend is on it, she can have a lawyer ask for her name to be removed. Every time that I've heard of someone asking to have their name removed, it was removed (probably because maintaining the list itself is illegal). I think that people usually get a lawyer to make the request.

[Steve_Rogers2008]

why is the OP even posting for a friend.... if "the friend" wants it what badly, she or he should be digging up the info themselves...


I've seen a lot of these "friend" posts lately.... has the internet been disconnected in N America and Europe?!?!

[gonefishing]

This is funny. I like to hear stories like this. 4 Years. It is a good thing. Back home. Get a job, and move on. You have escaped and avoided reality for 4 years. Grow up. I know what you want, 4 years becomes 14 years, then you will have TESL under your belt and have no other work experience, have to move to Thailand and live there until you die since you still cannot afford to live back home. 2.5K per month for 14 years. Accounting the time, you would have received double for a regular job.

[Snowkr]

Please people... I'm really looking for helpful replies here. Thank you to the first one.

I AM posting for a friend. I've told her to create a username and get onto this forum herself and she hasn't done it. She didn't ask me to post on her behalf either. I just did it because I've never been in her situation before and don't know anyone else who has either. I don't know what to tell her to do...

I also agree that 4 years is long enough to be in Korea. I've reached my 3 year mark and am headed back home to the states this August to teach. She doesn't have that option in her country.

So again, anyone who has anything helpful to contribute here, I'd appreciate it. Surely someone else has been where this woman is now.

And yes, the hogwan was a famous one-a large franchise found in nearly every city or town in Korea.

[discostu333]

If she was treated like that, why would she want to return?

[Snowkr]

Desperation, I guess.

She had a good experience with them for a year and half. Things went downhill toward the end. Prior to that, she worked for two other hogwans as well. Both gave her recommendation letters.

But I do suspect she's been blacklisted on the kftra site and I also suspect the recruiters she's used recently are members there. So maybe trying to get another job here really is a lost cause now...

[TheUrbanMyth]

[just bob]

To the O.P.:

One of the reasons she can't find a job is that the market is very tight right now.

It might not have a thing to do with a blacklist. I really don't think such a list exists.

Hakwons aren't organized enough to be truly evil.

Tell her to try as many recruiters as possible.

Good luck.

[moosehead]

so has she tried public schools?

tell her not to even mention the school she fears or like the one poster said, give it a new name.

it's hard enough sometimes to figure out people's intentions in real life, much less on a forum and even more difficult when someone is posting for someone else.

OP, if I didn't know better, perhaps your friend is just telling you they are trying and really doesn't want to come back? it almost sounds like you want her here more than she wants to be here. maybe she really just wants to do something else - somewhere else.

sorry, just call'em like I see 'm but if she can't even come on here herself, well...you know....

[wesharris]

I don't see the market as being that tight justbob.
It WAS tight about 7 or 8 months ago. Now' there are hundreds of posts
just on the Dave's job boards, and other job boards also.

[Troglodyte]

[Troglodyte]

[T-dot]

I find it odd that the schools are actually calling her previous employers for a reference; this is a rarity.

[young_clinton]

There is no hogwan association black list so you are not on one, nor is thier a hogwan association. Obviously you should not include people from your former hogwan in your references, unless of course you don't mind not getting a job. Make sure you have a nice consice orderly resume with all the information ABOUT YOU (schooling, former jobs etc) in BOLD letters, information headings which don't have info about you in nonbold letters. You have to embellish your credentials on your resume to get any job, but don't lie. Don't include in the resume any information that is not necessary or directly relevant to the job you are going to get (including schools that you did not get a degree from, unless you have to to explain where you have been). It might very well give them a reason to throw your resume out.

Another item to consider is you might be very choosy about where you want to go, so it may take a long time to find a school that wants you.

Why would you want to work at another hogwan? I would apply for a public school position. Only don't get fired at this position because public schools do for all practical purposes have a black list.