Korean Job Discussion Forums

[alphalfa]

WOW! is all I can say. Yes, I was turned down by SMOE in favor of another candidate. No specific reason was given at all. The recruiter Jay informed me by email with the news. I want you guys to have a look at my qualifications and evaluate for yourselves the experience I bring to the teaching field. Here ya go :
1. certified public school teacher . certified to teach in Ontario and New
Brunswick.
2. TESOL certification.
3. 8+ years teaching ESL : in Korea (7yrs 8ths) and Dubai UAE (6mths)
4. contributing editor and proofreader of ESL reading materials for a
major publishing company in Seoul.
5. curriculum development experience
yatta yatta yatta ...

I'm not bitter just simply surprised that SMOE would not like to have me
teaching in their public schools. Anyway, I am currently waiting on my application to Incheon Public schools. I'll keep you posted..

alphalfa

[Satin]

Maybe too much experience in Korea? Is your photo good? Did you ask for changes in the contract?

They can hire a person with no experience and save money?!

When you have your next interview, don't glorify yourself. They have your application and know your experience. Just answer their questions politely without elaborating and ask a few questions even though you might feel you all ready know the answers.

I would expect the interviewer probably is curious as to why you want to teach in a public school with the kind of experience/credentials you have.

And, let's face it, no one likes to be turned down. Learn from the experience and improve upon the areas that you feel may have had an impact on their decision.

Good luck during your next interview.

[ttompatz]

[Yu_Bum_suk]

I can only guess that:

a) You're over-qualified

or

b) You don't look right.

Amazing that a 22-year-old geography major can get a job with them but you can't.

[crazy_arcade]

I would say that you're too qualified.

Of course, not really. However, I know my friend has his B.ed with certification in Canada, Masters in Tesol, and experience in both Korea and Japan. His co-teacher hates him.

They may be afraid that you will make a co-teacher look bad. Just a guess. Or.....you have dark skin and the school is racist. Sorry.

[Smee]

I'd guess it's a money thing. They can hire a rookie for 1.9 million, so why bother with someone who would command a hire salary? Lots of people stay on with a company or a school district and get qualified right out of a job.

Good luck with your next interview.

[inkoreaforgood]

Connections are really everything here. Any good position is usually filled by someone who knows people at that workplace.

[ella]

[gsxr750r]

Maybe you said or did something in the interview that caused you to be passed-over? Or was something from your resume amiss?

I'll tell you an interesting story. My now former co-worker at my uni was not renewed, despite having an MA in TESOL. I didn't ask around as to why he wasn't renewed, but a secretary came out and said something. She said, "Did you know that he never graduated from high school?"

Instantly, I knew exactly where that came from. We had a departmental dinner one or two months prior. We all sat together at one big table -- Koreans and foreigners. Somehow, the conversation turned to high school education. My former co-worker, who sometimes says the wrong thing at the wrong time, proudly told the entire table that he had never actually graduated from his high school in Canada. He got his graduation equivalent from elsewhere (I assume the Canadian equivalent of the GED). He later went on to get his BA and his MA via distance.

From the utter silence and looks of shock on the faces of everyone from the dean down to the part-time profs, I knew he'd said something really bad. I don't think he noticed, and the conversation continued on to another topic.

In the USA or Canada, if he went on and got the other degrees, I'd venture to say that most employers wouldn't care. Maybe they'd even think he showed a great deal of strength to turn himself around like that.

Not in Korea. If students found out about that and made an issue of it, I later learned, the school could have issues with parents, etc. Or perhaps they feared it could make the news.

That one stupid thing he said ended up being the final nail in his coffin here. I learned from the secretary that all of the professors were talking about it in a meeting to decide who would stay and who would go. The concept of someone not finishing high school, whether completed later or not, is completely and utterly impossible for Koreans to understand. It doomed him.

Sometimes the little things you might say, which could mean nothing to us, end up killing you later. And just as in other countries (perhaps moreso) Koreans won't come out and tell you that you made the mistake.

[ddeubel]

I would also like to add to gsxr's comments about the interview (usually the make or break thing -- not the qualifications which get you in the interview room door). It is entirely appropriate to ask formally and politely, the reasons you weren't selected. Not directly but in the vein of "could you please elaborate on what things I should do in the future so as to better my chances of obtaining a public school teaching position?".

This should be something considered, along with the other one that many, many people don't do post interview. A thank you note to the prospective employer.

You'd be surprised how people view both these things as, "highly professional" and "promising", even if the next time around or if a candidate backs out and they need someone pronto.

But just ask, don't get your head spinning with all sorts of "wtf".

DD

[Corky]

Did you have salary demands?

[spliff]

The teacher who was picked over you was, more likely than not, American...I say this w/ pride!

[Young FRANKenstein]

Too much experience, so less likely to be pushed around or scammed.

[bladerunner]

Nobody has said this yet, but looks has a lot to do with it. I had one person interview for a school and the school rejected the application because of her weight.

Schools reject applications, purely on looks or age and sometimes on too much experience.

[kigolo1881]

On another note, you could hold the highest degree in education, have a lot of experience and be quite handsome or pretty, but still there might be people who won't like you based on your personality.

Just get real.