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ManintheMiddle
Joined: 20 Oct 2008
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 Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2009 5:11 am Post subject: NOTICE OF FALSE CLAIMS IN RECRUITER'S EMAIL ADS |
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Just received this unsolicited email ad from PARK English of Seoul here in Hong Kong (how they got my address I haven't got a clue).
The big selling point is that as a FIRST YEAR EFL teacher working for them you can make more than you would even with experience as the holder of a graduate degree by teaching at an American high school.
Supposedly, you'd earn $35,000 a year in the U.S. high school with those credentials and have $18,000 left after paying taxes and housing. But in Korea you'd have $25,000 left.
The first figure is dead wrong. A typical MA holder without experience earns more and considerably more with experience, as much as $45,000 with just a year or two under your belt in major metro areas. Yes, you'd have to pay for housing but in most instances it would provide MUCH more living space and far better amenities, if not location.
What's bizarre is that they are also recruiting from other English-speaking countries, as indicated in the advertisement. Go figure.
Have you also received this ad? Do you know anyone who's fallen for it? Poor saps.
By the way, they say you only need to teach 30 hours a week but, guess what, in an American high school you'd be teaching fewer hours (5 days X 5 one hour classes per day). Neither figure accounts for prep time either. |
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ChinaBoy
Joined: 17 Feb 2007
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| Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2009 5:27 pm Post subject: |
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Wow. So wrong on so many points.
First, you're surprised you got an email from Korea while you're in Hong Kong. Why you're shocked by this I haven't got a clue.
Secondly, $35,000 a year for a MA holder teaching U.S. high school seems high. Don't you think it matters where you are? There are a lot more high schools in the States than just the east and west coasts. Salaries are low.
They use USD to advertise in ALL the English-speaking countries because everyone knows what it's worth.
Park English is a legitimate, reputable recruiter and 100s of people on this board will agree. |
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sojusucks
Joined: 31 May 2008
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| Posted: Thu Jan 22, 2009 10:46 pm Post subject: |
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Welcome to Korea, where corrupt schools are looking for young, gullible idiots.
Perhaps that is why GEPIK isn't connecting teachers and schools anymore and we all know that reputable recruiters focuses on repeat teachers are far fewer than the number of recruiters focusing on first-year teachers. It smells like a scam to me. |
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moosehead
Joined: 05 May 2007
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| Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2009 1:56 am Post subject: |
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| ChinaBoy wrote: |
Park English is a legitimate, reputable recruiter and 100s of people on this board will agree. |
I've had more than one K tell me there is no such thing as an honest recruiter - that virtually ALL of them are dishonest and will do anything to get paid.
it kind of reminds me of what Americans think of used car salesmen. I think in K, that's about where recruiters are in the hierarchy of job respect (or lack of). |
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aka Dave
Joined: 02 May 2008
Location: Down by the river
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| Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2009 3:11 am Post subject: |
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Yeah, that's not true. I have an M.A. and two years doctoral work, and I started at 46,000ish teaching high school in California. Every graduate unit earns you salary, so if you have a lot, you start fairly high. This is negotiated by the teacher's union and is statewide, as far as I know, since it's the CTA.
Furthermore, the value of the health insurance/retirement most teachers get is considerable.
edit:
They could have said teaching h.s. in certain districts totally sucks (I had a French 1 class with 45 students!), but you could say the same thing about teaching in hagwon's.
And don't underestimate teaching time in an American h.s. You spend a *lot* of time grading homework if you're a diligent foreign language teacher. If you have 150 students (a conservative number) that's 150 chapter tests every 7 class days or so. I guess if you did a bunch of multiple choice tests you could get away with it, and some crappy teachers do that. |
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ManintheMiddle
Joined: 20 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2009 9:20 am Post subject: |
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ChinaBoy replied:
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| First, you're surprised you got an email from Korea while you're in Hong Kong. Why you're shocked by this I haven't got a clue. |
Well, for starters, genius, HK pays better than anything in Korea at any comparable level of teaching.
| Quote: |
| Secondly, $35,000 a year for a MA holder teaching U.S. high school seems high. Don't you think it matters where you are? There are a lot more high schools in the States than just the east and west coasts. Salaries are low. |
Brilliant point; you're now the sharpest of the dull pencils in the box. High? High? Get serious, bruddah. First off, the ad didn't specify where you'd earn less--it generalized. Second, in most locales where pay is lower so is the cost of living--and considerably lower than anywhere in Korea.
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| They use USD to advertise in ALL the English-speaking countries because everyone knows what it's worth. |
What has that got to do with the price of tea in China, Boy?
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| Park English is a legitimate, reputable recruiter and 100s of people on this board will agree. |
Yes, and you've been working for them long enough to know who butters your bread, haven't you? And if you do work for them, why that'd be yet another reason I'd give this recruiter a wide berth. Get my d-r-i-f-t?
Whether they're reputable or not wasn't the main issue, either. But if they misrepresent matters in an international ad, what's to stop them from doing it in their operations?
Anyhow, the point is that they're trying to entice teachers under false pretenses. Got it now? |
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jurassic82
Joined: 21 Jun 2006
Location: Somewhere!!!!
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| Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2009 10:44 am Post subject: |
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| Wow! Another pointless argument on Dave's ESL. Get a life and move on the both of you. |
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gangpae
Joined: 03 Sep 2007
Location: Busan
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| Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2009 11:37 am Post subject: |
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| A slightly exaggerated claim by a recruiter. Thanks for the heads up. |
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ChinaBoy
Joined: 17 Feb 2007
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| Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2009 1:58 pm Post subject: |
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| jurassic82 wrote: |
| Wow! Another pointless argument on Dave's ESL. Get a life and move on the both of you. |
I made one post. What is wrong with that? Most of these idiots on here post for pages and pages and pages of the same useless argument.
Sorry that I didn't see this email as out of line. |
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Gamecock
Joined: 26 Nov 2003
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| Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2009 2:29 pm Post subject: |
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aka Dave wrote:
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| And don't underestimate teaching time in an American h.s. |
This is true. I was a high school English teacher in the States. Any 30 hour hogwan teaching gig is FAR less work than you will put in as a public school teacher back home. I had 1-2 hours of grading to do almost every night at home, because there was no way I could get it done in the schoolday.
ManintheMiddle wrote:
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Brilliant point; you're now the sharpest of the dull pencils in the box. High? High? Get serious, bruddah. First off, the ad didn't specify where you'd earn less--it generalized. Second, in most locales where pay is lower so is the cost of living--and considerably lower than anywhere in Korea. |
Steve, how long has it been since you lived and worked back home? In rural locales where the pay is less, the cost of living is NOT considerable lower than Korea. Maybe you pay a little less for meat in the supermarket, but figuring in the chunk of taxes taken out of your salary + car insurance and other expenses (even my public school health insurance had started to suck, with me paying more and more out of my pocket for a doctor's visit), it is ridiculous to say the cost of living is "considerably lower than anywhere in Korea."
I have a friend back home who is a teacher and just finished his Master's degree. He has 4 years experience teaching and his salary was just bumped to 41,000. So I would say that the recruiter exaggerated, yes, but not that much. |
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marlow
Joined: 06 Feb 2005
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| Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2009 4:45 pm Post subject: Re: NOTICE OF FALSE CLAIMS IN RECRUITER'S EMAIL ADS |
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| ManintheMiddle wrote: |
The big selling point is that as a FIRST YEAR EFL teacher working for them you can make more than you would even with experience as the holder of a graduate degree by teaching at an American high school.
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And did they mention you can make basically the same salary without much promotion for each and every year after the first year? |
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Chet Wautlands
Joined: 11 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2009 4:49 pm Post subject: |
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| Go outside and take a walk. |
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wylies99
Joined: 13 May 2006
Location: I'm one cool cat!
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| Posted: Fri Jan 23, 2009 9:41 pm Post subject: |
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| ChinaBoy wrote: |
They use USD to advertise in ALL the English-speaking countries because everyone knows what it's worth.
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Then why are SO MANY recruiters making claims that 1,000 won = $1?  LIARS are telling LIES! |
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ManintheMiddle
Joined: 20 Oct 2008
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| Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2009 8:23 pm Post subject: |
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marlow marveled:
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| And did they mention you can make basically the same salary without much promotion for each and every year after the first year? |
A very good point indeed; the gift that keeps on NOT giving.
Korea takes the cake when it comes to recruiting misrepresentation and contract violations in Asia in my view. |
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marlow
Joined: 06 Feb 2005
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| Posted: Sat Jan 24, 2009 9:22 pm Post subject: |
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| ManintheMiddle wrote: |
marlow marveled:
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| And did they mention you can make basically the same salary without much promotion for each and every year after the first year? |
A very good point indeed; the gift that keeps on NOT giving.
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It definitely stops giving fast. I wouldn't mind the lack of pay promotion if I got any more respect, but one quickly learns foreigners are forever removed from the Korean heirarchy of promotion and increased respect. Or not so quickly for me.... Seven years of close observation would lead me to dispute anyone's claim that foreigners would ever achieve deep respect from a Korean workplace. |
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