Korean Job Discussion Forums

br_owen · Joined: 10 Jun 2008

I've just started the job hunt and have had contact with a number of different agencies.

Which one should i trust/ go with?

Is it true that for public school positions, you can only work with one agency?

Personal experiences (good or bad) from you guys?

a few of the ones i'm speaking to at the minute - Footprints, Work n Play, think outside, flying cows, BCM and ESL

Any info on any of these would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

br_owen · Joined: 10 Jun 2008

please gimme some input!!

climber159 · Joined: 02 Sep 2007

If you are applying to SMOE you can only go through ONE recruiter. I used Footprints. Everyone I spoke with there was very helpful prior to my arrival in Korea. They sent me an e-mail to check in with me after I'd been in Korea for a month. I had a good experience with them. I know some others who didn't I know others who had good and bad experiences with some of the other recruiters. Based upon my experience I'd recommend Footprints...but it probably doesn't matter who you use. There are only a handful that SMOE use. Good luck!

br_owen · Joined: 10 Jun 2008

cool, thanks for the info.

any other personal experiences?

air76 · Joined: 13 Nov 2007

We had headache after headache after headache with Kim's Korea....but that being said the job that we ended up at is great, but Scott didn't know what was going on and we ended up doing half of the research/work on the new regulations ourselves.

bassexpander · Joined: 13 Sep 2007 Location: Someplace you'd rather be.

www.korvia.com

Ann, Joyce, and Henry are good people.

dasmith2 · Joined: 31 Jan 2008 Location: Nova Scotia

I am currently going through ASKNow. They are fantastic. The main guy, Jason, has nearly ten years experience teaching in Korea and is extremely helpful and cooperative.

Nexus11 · Joined: 29 Nov 2006

br_owen · Joined: 10 Jun 2008

thanks for all the replies guys - interesting what you say about the recruiter vs the actual agency - that makes it a whole lot more difficult!!

keep the advice comin'!!

dasmith2 · Joined: 31 Jan 2008 Location: Nova Scotia

Nexus11 · Joined: 29 Nov 2006

Sure.

If you are simply looking for specific examples about this recruiter, just do a search for "Cresswell". The search function should work as long as you only search one word.

mochilover · Joined: 01 Jun 2008

koreaconnection ~

Jamie Lee is really nice, helpful and quick with responding to e-mails!

dasmith2 · Joined: 31 Jan 2008 Location: Nova Scotia

Nexus11 · Joined: 29 Nov 2006

Sure you can. First, do a search. Some people get a little annoyed if you don't search first.

If you can't find anything about the school, then start a thread asking for people who have experience with the school.

Make sure that you include the location of the school if it is a franchise. Results can vary quite a bit from branch to branch for franchise schools.

Once you get your contract, there is also a thread for posting contracts so the long timers can go over it for you and tell you if it is good or bad. That is where you should be a little more careful though. It is best to remove the name of the school from the posted contract.

Ben Glickman · Joined: 10 Mar 2004 Location: Vancouver, B.C. Canada

To answer the previous question about public school applications - the previous post is correct in saying that the S.M.O.E. is the only public school district that only uses recruiters and will reject candidates that apply with more than one recruiter. Some other public school boards outside of Seoul in Korea only use recruiters - i.e. Gangwondo and Incheon and Ulsan - they do not accept direct applications as far as I know, but do not penalize teachers for applying through more than one recruiter. Others, such as the EPIK program and GEPIK (Gyeonggi), recruit teachers on their own, and also use outside recruiters as well.
Hope this helps.
Ben Glickman
Footprints Recruiting Inc.