Korean Job Discussion Forums

[USANAK]

Be careful when dealing with Steve Yoon.

I'm not going to bother everyone with the boring details. Here are the highlights.

1. There is no job. He asked me to meet him at the Samsung training center for an 'interview.' Instead I sat there in amazed silence while he pitched the idea of Samsung hiring corporate trainers from his company.

2. Samsung have never heard of him or met him before (Check out the copy of the company information from his ad on WorkNPlay.)

3. The lady at the 'interview' had no idea I was coming. When I spoke with her later she expressed how deeply embarrassed she was to have me show up unexpectedly.

Samsung are not impressed, apologized very nicely to me about there being no consultancy work at that time for business presentation training: nice people.

So, if you want to do business with Steve Yoon, make sure he has an actual job waiting before you go anywhere to meet with him.

JOB POSTING:

http://www.worknplay.co.kr/jobseeker/jobSearchView.php?jobNum=162568&start=&page=3&jobCategorySch=1

COMPANY INFORMATION:

We at Business-English has strong market reputation in terms of Recruiting.

In order to deploy the expert biz English teacher to the appropriate position,

we are seeking the great experienced biz English teachers to such biz on-site as

1) Samsung Electronics

2) LG

3) Hyunday

4) Other University and government Institute

[justin moffatt]

In the previous blacklist site, I had listed him as an agent to avoid. He wasted my time on more than one occasion. From claiming to have "Samsung" classes at 20-40% tax deductions (off 40,000won /hr) to having me conduct an interview "introduction" at WTC, followed by another "demo presentation" for a course that never materialized. Avoid this guy at all costs!

[KoreanAmbition]

Read his "company informaiton" that is listed.

"We at Business-English has strong market reputation in terms of recruiting."

He doesn't even have enough money to hire a foreigner to correct the grammar on his ads.


There's a big thread up now about ESL teachers being losers. I wish the Koreans could see this guy in all his glory; they could make him the Grand Poo-bah.

[USANAK]

OUCH! Should have checked the blacklist. Next time!

I think I've scuttled him with Samsung though. He herded me off to a private place for a chat. I asked him to explain himself. He started telling me how I was wrong for doing this and that - like riding a motorbike to the 'interview.' So I told him flat out "You picked the wrong guy to mess with mate."

Went straight back up stairs to let Samsung know what was going on. Should have seen the guy's face. Looked like he was going to have kittens. All those nicely laid plans gone to hell.

I explained the situation to the Samsung people. Told them I had been told this was an interview. They spoke with him on the phone. Then I showed them a copy of the posting on the site that I had brought with me. Left it up to them to decide whether they did any business with him in the future, but the comments I heard them making to each other leads me to believe it is highly unlikely. You might say, he didn't make a very good first impression.

It helped that I could show them I'm CEO of a Korean incorporated education company, who had been called in as a consultant by this guy. The Samsung person responsible for hiring asked for my contact details, so who knows, might get some work out of them yet one of these days.

Thanks for the comments, nice to know it wasn't just me.

[KoreanAmbition]

Just curious,

If you're the CEO of what is likely your own company, then why go work for 50,000 to 70,000 per hour for someone else?

Are you on a D8 visa?

[USANAK]

Yes I'm on a D8 visa.

The reason I go to work for someone else is because that is one of the services our company provides, outsourcing. We act as consultants for companies providing business skills training. We also run our own regular weekly seminars, our bread and butter so to speak, in a wide range of topics such as philosophy, life skills, writing skills, and English literature for Korean housewives, executives and university students. Sometimes I'm hired to create a camp curriculum, or manage a camp. We also provide editing and proof-reading services for Korean publishers.

Some jobs pay more than others. In some cases we will work for 50,000 won an hour, but never less than that. We can, and have, made more, sometimes as much as 200,000 won per hour, but those kinds of contracts are rare. Even so, whether I accept a contract or not depends very much on whether I find the work interesting and fulfilling or not. I made a decision a few years back to start chasing quality of life and not dollars. I make less money than some others, but my time is my own. One of my favorite sayings is 'you can always make more money, but you can never make more time.'

I don't know how much time I have left, no one does. So spending a day of it doing work I don't enjoy is something I prefer to avoid. Like everyone, I have to make sacrifices, that's part of life, I'm just doing my best to minimize them and maximize the quality of my life. I'm blessed that, like some other mentors, I look forward with enthusiasm to seeing my student groups. I love what I do, get to make a genuine and significant difference in the lives of others, and also get to see their English dramatically improve, even though we don't actually teach English directly.

So, as far as the Steve Yoon post was concerned. It was working with Samsung, something I did a few years back and enjoyed a lot. I like working with the big companies, the students tend to be very high quality. Based on experience, knowledge, and background we would have expected the 70,000 won per hour payment rate. So it made good sense to pitch for the work. In many cases, at least for my company, work with the big guys like Samsung and Hynix, usually comes from contacts who are already providing those services. We don't mind someone else making their cut, if they are decent, ethically minded individuals like us.

Want to know anything else about this feel free to ask.

[justin moffatt]

USANAK:

You sound like an individual with like minded interests and values. Check your PM for possible alliances with my company.

[USANAK]

Thanks for the PM Justin. I've sent you a reply and look forward to hearing more about your company.

[The Hammer]

I have had the misfortune of meeting him and he also wasted my time.

Does anyone else have any experience with him? (Good/Bad)

[Toon Army]

yeah I recall this scumbag being mentioned a couple of times on the board

A post from last month
http://forums.eslcafe.com/korea/viewtopic.php?t=133599&highlight=yoon

[Young FRANKenstein]

How old is this guy? I worked with a (gyopo) Steve Yoon several years ago, but back then he wasn't long out of uni.

[The Hammer]

[sojourner1]

What a ruse. I remember at home how all these guys like that would advertise good jobs, waste your time leading you on, and it would be nothing, but a generic home grown idea to push a chain scam on commission only. This is so much more prevalent at home than in Korea. You have to know somebody and be personally referred to get a great corporate business job and then your still expendable should the economy tank.

[The Hammer]

bump

[Gusss]

Does this deserve to be stickied ?