Korean Job Discussion Forums

[vassalage]

I was just told I was dropped from SMOE.

I have 2 years experience, a tefl, and 3 great reference letters. 1 from the owners of the hagwan I worked at my first year and another from the head teacher there and one from the head coordinator for the EPIK program in my area. I am currently applying from New Zealand.

The SMOE application required me to write in the school I worked at when I worked for EPIK. When I worked for EPIK I was asked if I was going to renew but myself and my partner decided to go travelling. As far as I knew I had left there with no hard feelings.

The recruiter said she called the school and talked to my co teacher a mrs lee (I have no idea who that is as both my old coteachers were teaching elsewhere) ughh. Apparently she gave me a bad reference. First off I never put her down as a reference so I have no idea why they talked with her.

Although I felt I had left on good terms with the school there were however a lot of issues with the school, such as them wanting me to take over for a gypo in translating korean textbooks Which we had issues about when they said i should just try my best even thou my korean language knowledge was close to nil.

They explained to me I would be teaching half the class and my coteacher would teach the other. No problem. The first coteacher told me I was better than the last teacher they had and that she thought i was a good teacher. Then they switched out coteachers half way through the year and the next one asked what we should do so I explained the previous process which she agreed to but I now had to submit a lesson plan for every class. No problem.

Then they were getting me to do extra hours everyday in an english simulation lab which I wasn't getting paid for. I just decided not to make a big deal about it since it was about 2 months before my contract ended. No problem.

Then they go and ask me to prepare and teach the whole class. That is where I protested as I was already doing the extra hours every day in the sim lab on top of the after school classes I was teaching 3 times a week. I explained if I was to do all the work the should really be paying me for the extra hours I was putting in and explained about my contract and the hours I was to be working.

Then she calls me into the principals office (while I am helping another teacher) with her the principal and the vice. The only one who speaks English to defend me is the one that just dragged me in there. They start yelling at me in Korean. It progresses like this for another 15 minutes. Me trying to explain my contract while they tell me I am to teach for the full 40 hours if they say so. So then they start calling around to people who are in charge and get some man who I have never heard of to yell at me on a cell phone and tell me I am supposed to do whatever they say...I explain politely no sorry that isn't what my contract says. Meanwhile the 3 of them are sitting there smugly looking at me as I am getting my telling off.

I hand the phone back after the guy gets angry and starts yelling at me to "transport-AH the phone to the vicey principal". Fine I do and they get all angry after talking to him and start madly calling a bunch of people on the list they have in front of them. They finally call the EPIK government office and speak to the head guy there who asks to speak to me. I explain my situation and he says ok and to hand the phone back. They get told and then hang up and are angry. Then they try to call other randoms but are having no luck. At this point I get upset and tell to please excuse me as I leave the room.

Afterwards the vice prinicpal comes in with the coteacher and they apologize and say they didn't understand the contract. I accept their apology the coteacher says she will continue to teach her half and then they cut down on my hours of work that I was doing extra. Sweet.

So now I have this phantom Mrs Lee giving me bad references and I am P!SSED off! I have no idea what to do and I am worried that the other positions I applied for with other government agencies might have the same results.

[bundangbabo]

I've been through this myself - they won't believe your word over a Koreans word!

Add to the fact that lots of American teachers are coming at this moment in time - public schools are cherrypicking - I don't fancy a New Zealander getting onto the SMOE books at this moment in time.

I'm off to China for my next contract by the way.

[vassalage]

[Ramen]

You are done and finished in Korea. You will never ever work in Korea.

You gotta remember that it's always your fault for them not understanding the contract.

You caused them to lose their face. In fact, you rip their face off.

[bundangbabo]

[TheUrbanMyth]

[Tobias]

[Whistleblower]

You've been "ddong-chimmed".

[rationality]

[JJJ]

No surprise regarding the bad reference. They will smile and tell you they love you and tell the next school that you were the worst teacher they ever say. Supposedly I am the worst teacher in Seoul according to the last employer even though they begged me to renew with them. I didn't, so I guess that deserves a bad review to whoever calls them asking about me.

Sorry to hear about your situation. Good luck.

[JJJ]

No surprise regarding the bad reference. They will smile and tell you they love you and tell the next school that you were the worst teacher they ever saw. Supposedly I am the worst teacher in Seoul according to the last employer even though they begged me to renew with them. I didn't, so I guess that deserves a bad review to whoever calls them asking about me.

Sorry to hear about your situation. Good luck.

[Tobias]

This sort of makes sense, at least for an issue in SK.

Hear me out, and understand I've heard of this happening to others who were 'wanted' by their employers.

Again we revisit the dreaded face issue, surprise, surprise.

If you walk away from a school that wants you to renew, could that make someone at the school lose face, face that must be maintained by giving you a bad reference? I saw this situation happen to a colleague earlier this year. Said colleague was in line to easily get a contract extension, but didn't want to stay. The school more or less begged her to stick around, but she left. The love she was feeling turned quickly to hostility, and now the school won't give her a reference letter or do anything else to help her get another job.

You can claim you left an outfit on good terms, but word of mouth spoken by a foreigner is pretty much worthless when paired against the word of a native. And Koreans will lie through their teeth, as you (probably) already know, to save face.

[vassalage]

The most frustrating part about this is I have no idea who this person is who is calling themselves my old coteacher and giving me a bad reference! Just wait till I get back to Korea! They will be getting a very pissed off visit from me. We explained to them that we would be leaving to travel. It has almost been a year since I was in Korea and stuff like this was why we wanted to leave in the first place.

You would think that a reference from some random woman at the school would count for less than a written letter from the head district coordinator for the whole program.

And do they even have the right to call the school considering they weren't put down as a reference...but there I go again...applying western rules to Korea....if that was the case they wouldn't be asking such moronic not to mention discriminatory questions on the SMOE application...such as "have you or were you HIV positive?" Didn't know you could come back from something like that...KIMCHI CURES AGAIN

[Tobias]

Here's a tip that may tell you who the hell this person is:

Call the school and claim you're a hogwart owner in Korea and you need to get a reference on <your name> so you can move forward with hiring. Better yet, have a Korean friend posing as a recruiter do it, if you have any Korean friends who will.

Fight fire with fire/lies with lies.

[Robot_Teacher]

Can't ESL jobs still be had even if you have a bad reference or no reference? Can you apply to individual PS schools, thus, bypassing SMOE?

It appears to be not OK to jump ship if staying in Korea even though most people do it in today's world the world over unlike back in olden days when people stayed on in the same company for life or at least 20 years. This is not the 1st time I've seen and heard about OP's problem. It's tough to get good references at home too. Even if you did a good job for months or perhaps a few years, it's still tough to get that glowing insightful review that your potential new employer absolutely needs to be inspired enough to actually hire you. It's almost a jealousy of another employer having you and dishonor to your ex to leave them. What do you call that? Human emotions and distorted perceptions are very real in business, it's not a true merit system anywhere you go. I'm still baffled by how it's successfully played out other than strategies based on nepotism, favoritism, bribes, social status, etc. Back home, good old fashioned practical values such as integrity and work ethic sure got me nowhere, but being used and abused by many managers.

Also after 1 year or longer, your references may not be with your ex employer any longer as turnover happens frequently so no one may not honestly be able to comment on you which gets you nowhere in the job search process. Also office staff, executives, and HR may not know anything about how you did your job or how you performed as they never monitor your classes or work due to having no interest or they have jobs to do themselves. It's just the way it is. What a catch 22 this career issue really is? For years, I've argued that requiring references is an unreliable way to assess candidates and prevents good candidates from having a chance for a foot in the door, especially young candidates, career changers, and those out of the loop due to being abroad or in military service. This always seemed to be an employment barrier for me back home despite my good work ethic, not having done wrong like skimming the till or inventory, nor a criminal, and actually working my butt off for them. You'd think after handling millions of dollars of cash with no losses and selling at a profit, they could give you a great reference, but they don't care. You'd think after doing a stellar job with high esteem and work ethic, they could allow you to continue by giving you a reference that works, but they're vindictive due to being pissy over the loss of having you do all their work in making their business operate in a harmonious fashion at a profit. Valuable ex employees get the worst reviews, becuase employers are hating on them for leaving. This is not just Korea, it's the way of the world.

Seems like you have to pay someone or be related to someone in high places to get anyone to vouch for you in a way that gets you the job. Often friends and self employed relatives fabricate glowing references for candidates.

I'd also take the previous posters advice on getting a Korean to inquire a reference on you just to see. I wonder if it can be considered a case of slander if a big fat gross lie?