Korean Job Discussion Forums

[hsuk8218]

has anyone gone through footprints recruiting?

i applied the other day and recieved a very friendly email and voice message. but i wanted to know other people's experiences with footprints before going ahead with them.

thanks in advance!

[mindmetoo]

[pest2]

You can read this thread about them

http://www.eslcafe.com/forums/korea/viewtopic.php?t=74804&highlight=footprints


Maybe its just all recruiters, but watch out. They dont have very good communication with many of the schools they contract for. They dont verify the promises being made by those schools, and continue to uphold those promises even after they have clear evidence the school is not keeping them.

Its one thing, for example, for them to hear from X school that you will be paid a bonus at a certain time and in turn advertise that as a part of the prospective job... lets say, for example, they hear that new hirees will be paid a bonus at a certain time and have an apartment with hot water. So they advertise those things as a part of the benefits for the job.

But if they get a mass of complaints from people they placed in a certain school that those people are not getting thier bonuses on time and dont have hot water, they should cease to represent the school in question or at the very least stop advertising those benefits.

But what Footprints does is advertise for anyone about anything, even if they know its a lie... sorta like a bad hakwon and public school prostitute.

Whatever they are promising has not been verified and is likely not true. Last time I cited a specific case regarding this, Footprints paid Dave's to have the entire string deleted... so you wont find it and others about Footprints here. IM me and I'll tell you all I know.

[Ben Glickman]

Nathan (Pest2)-

You are the only teacher that we have placed in a public school in Gangwondo Province that has loudly and publicly complained about your job. We have placed over 30 teachers in public schools in Gangwon-do Province and contrary to your post, the majority of e-mails we get from teachers we represent in public schools in Gangwon-do have been overwhelmingly positive- there has been no 'mass of complaints'.

You taught in Korea for a year prior to signing this contract, and also spent time in China. I would think that with your experience, if you didn't happen to have hot water in your apartment, you could do something about it on your own - like talk to your building superintendent, co-teacher or school principal.

Looking back over the e-mails you wrote to me, you had some problems when you first arrived with your apartment. I put you in touch with Ms. Choi, then director of native English speakers in public schools in Gangwon-do Province, and you wrote back to me and said, "I think we can make it work out." That was the last I heard from you regarding your job until you started posting stuff on the ESL cafe.

[Sam Spade]

Well just for the record I had tried to work with Footprints and had an unsatisfactory experience. They did not place me (thank goodness) but the attempt in and of itself was ridiculous.

Sorry Ben but your folks not only made statements and promises they ended up later retracting but were not always professional.

[Anyong Bluth]

[dmbfan]

Honestly, the next recruitment agency that I will use (if I use one) will be Footprints. I have been in touch with them, on and off for a year and half. Unfortunatley, I was not able to make things work with what they had to offer. It was not due to any negativity on their part, though. I had things come up at the last minute.

But, what I like about them is that they still keep in touch with me. And, they also offer programs outside Korea.

I definately think they are worth checking out..............and, I get the impressoin that they are definately better then the ass clowns that I went with instead.


Cheers.

dmbfan

[pest2]

Ben,

First, I mean, 1) you bribe Dave's ESL cafe site to delete negative posts about you and your wonderful company so how can the audience know who is complaining 2) I suspect you actually create pseudo ID's for this website for the express purpose of creating product awareness for you company... its like clockwork, every couple of months, we see, "Anyone here heard about Footprints?" Actually, the latter is very stupid stategy and you should stop doing it because it inevitably leads to responses from people like me who think your company sucks.

I remember when I met you, you said, "at Footprints Recruiting, we dont like to recruit teachers who've already been teaching in Korea for a while because they always tend to complain and have issues. I ran the ad (that got your attention to the job that you are now taking) on Dave's against my better judgement about trying to hire experienced ESL teachers because those who've been teaching for a while usually create problems. We generally find that we can make the most money and have the best success trying to hire recent college graduates who have no teaching experience and want some kind of cultural experience".

Now, I might not have quoted you exactly but anyway that's pretty much what you said.

What I should have said in response but didnt because I had just met you in person is that probably the real reason you try to avoid hiring experienced teachers is that those teachers know the ropes about what workig in Korea is like, what conditions they should be expecting, and what they should be getting paid. It is my strong suspicion that you shy away from hiring good teachers who can do the job well in favor of naive, inexperienced dopes who dont know what to expect when they get to Korea and will work for a can of pis and some cold water shower and not complain because they dont know that the living standard here is actually higher than that.

I am sorry you made the decision to place that a job advertisement on Dave's ESL that led to some Korea-experienced teachers hired. Yes, teachers who know that most people in Korea use hot water when they take a shower. Teachers who are weary of getting screwed over.

In the future, because you are in fact a part of a company that likes to take people, chew them up, and spit them out, you should refrain from posting ads here on Dave's and put more time and money into those college recruiting open houses you were talking about before.

In that vein, I dont know why you bother trying to refute and defend every time someone writes something negative about you and your company because, according to your own reasoning, you dont get a significant part of your business from this website.

One thing's for sure, Ben: Regardless of what about my identity you reveal on this or any other website, I am going to let people know the truth about you and your company every single time.

Cheers,

Nate

[daz1979]

[bixlerscott]

I understand Footprints is located in Canada so they do not have the local know how on finding jobs in Korea.

daz1979 try www.kimnjoe.com for south coast jobs. I did and thankful I did. They placed me in Changwon, near Busan. I have been here since January 4th and like it very much. Very decent recruiters.

Public transit to Busan and the KTX train line is terrific too for weekend trips.

Go for it.

[ChuckECheese]

[ceres]

I was also contacted by Footprints Recruiting. I have my phone interview on Tuesday. I really want to go to Korea, but I'm worried about being cheated.

Looking into the other companies though (kimnjoe and KorVia)..

KimnJoe's site doesn't seem to want to let me submit my application, and KorVia just opens up the email program I have and never use.

I've emailed both to see if I can apply that way.

[andrew]

.....

[ceres]

Well, there's not only that, but I think that when speaking with my interviewer it will be important to remember that these guys are recruiters, they're in it for the money just like everyone else, and I will NEED to do my own reseach on every school. This is because once I'm in Korea, I'm going to be on my own, and I really doubt that ANY recruiter would do more than wash their hands of me once I have my contract signed. I want to go into the situation knowing that I did everything I could, and that just makes sense to me.

[The Hammer]